An actual Leather Conditioner recipe

[ScottWolf]

UPDATE: here are a few other variations on the original recipe that I have tried and found to be good to go.

*alternative ingredients*

• 2 tbs. of coconut oil
• 2 or 3 tbs. of beeswax (depending on how firm you like it)
• ¼ cup of sweet almond oil
• ¼ cup of castor oil

 

Another variation of ingredients that works as well, but will cost more has the following ingredients:

 

25g | 0.88oz  Beeswax

25g | 0.88oz  Shea butter

17g | .6oz      Jojoba ( beads or oil)

17g | .6oz      Castor oil

17g | .6oz      Coconut oil

2 teaspoons   Anhydrous Lanolin

 

**If you want to make any of these recipes tacky, add tree/pine resin. This can be bought on Amazon in rock form. You will need to crush it with a hammer if the rocks are large. Add it to the mix and allow to melt while stirring it in with the other ingredients. You may want to melt it first in a separate pot until it is liquid and then add it to to your other ingredients. Start with a small amount (19g / .7 oz) in a test batch to determine how tacky you want it before doing a larger batch or using more resin.

[TonyV]

Sound like great balm recipes.  I'll have ti try some.

 

Just a quick nit-pick though,  There is no such thing as "organic" beeswax. Nor organic honey, for that matter.  Honey bees range 2 miles, and in some cases up to 3 miles to forage. In a circle with a 2 mile radius there is about 18,000 acres.  So unless the beekeeper has total control over the organic growing practices of that entire 18,000+ acres, it can't be certified organic.  

I call my honey 'raw', unfiltered' honey and my beeswax is all natural.  But it's not organic.  If you're paying extra for wax or honey  because of that "organic" label, your supplier has seen coming from a long way off.

Edited February 21, 2021 by TonyV

[ScottWolf]

Just bumping this to the top with an update. I know some of you like to use things like NFO and Mineral oils, etc. I was curious and played around with them, and the above recipe works just fine as long as you keep the ratios balanced. The beeswax and mineral oil mixture looks a lot like petroleum jelly , just firmer in its consistency and not as sticky. It puts a nice shine on a piece of leather, as well as brings faded color back to life on worn pieces. I'd use other conditioners before hand if you really want to condition the leather and only use the beeswax/MO mixture as a final dressing to give it a bit of shine and bring some color out. 

I had similar results with the beeswax and NFO mixture but found that adding Lanolin to the mixture made for a decent conditioner and softener of stiff leather pieces without having to worry about over saturation of the leather with NFO. 

[Atalanta]

Since I have to make a batch of other beeswax blends, I thought I'd concoct some of this and try it instead of the Satin Sheen. The piece I want to use it on has been dyed with Eco Flo waterstain. Will this mesh with the stain or will it make the stain more likely to rub off? I need to condition these pieces because the staining has made them really really stiff (5 applications of stain with 12+ hours drying in between to get even close to the color I want).

I'm planning to adjust the recipe as follows (based on what I have on hand).

Homemade Leather Balm

1part beeswax

1 part shea butter (or 1/2 shea butter and 1/2 coconut oil)

2 parts sweet almond/jojoba oil (or other not-too-greasy liquid oil)

Plus some tea tree and orange or lemon essential oils (I have the tea tree, use it in a lot of things, but have to check on the citrus)

 

The homemade wood butter is a very similar recipe:

1 part beeswax

4 parts mineral oil

 

[Cumberland Highpower]

Tony V I thought that myself when I saw the packing in the photo.  When I saw "organic" I thought maybe from hives not treated for mites, etc??   But unless you plan to eat it and want to be a real nit pick it's kinda a so what?  Maybe he used it because it's what he found in Kroger?

Edited September 18, 2021 by Cumberland Highpower

[ScottWolf]

6 hours ago, Atalanta said:

Since I have to make a batch of other beeswax blends, I thought I'd concoct some of this and try it instead of the Satin Sheen. The piece I want to use it on has been dyed with Eco Flo waterstain. Will this mesh with the stain or will it make the stain more likely to rub off? I need to condition these pieces because the staining has made them really really stiff (5 applications of stain with 12+ hours drying in between to get even close to the color I want).

 

 

It shouldn't cause it to rub off, as I often use this as a sealer to items I have dyed, but using Fiebings/Angelus dyes. Just be sure to wipe down/buff the stained pieces with a soft rag/t-shirt to remove excess stain as much as possible, then apply the conditioner. You may get a little rub off/color at first on the rag,  but nothing to be concerned about.

[ScottWolf]

An update to this post on a slightly different list of ingredients and some results. Since posting the original recipe and variations of ingredients one can use, I've been using the following ingredients with very good results, especially for very dry and or damaged leather items. The idea is to replace some of the ingredients that are lost over time, age, and neglect to basically  re-fatliquor the leather. I've used it on very old and stiff leather as well as normal healthy leather with good results. This also remains true to an all natural ingredient recipe. Ingredients used are: Beeswax, Lanolin, Tallow (beef), vitamin E.

The Tallow I used is derived from 100% pure high end Waygu beef and has a soft buttery consistency and no odor to speak of. The brand I used is from South Chicago packing and is food grade. I use the Vitamin E in the mix, as it is an antioxidant  and retards any of the ingredients used from oxidizing ( some refer to this as going rancid). The Lanolin and Beeswax is self explanatory in its usefulness and in adding stability to the product. 

So I used this recipe to test out the effectiveness of having added the tallow in the mix to see how well it works at fatliquoring already processed/finished leather. Specifically, very stiff and old, dried out leather that had been exposed to the elements as well as sweat.After making it, it resembled my previous picture in this thread where I used lanolin, in its appearance and consistency. Mixture ratios were consistent with the ones I posted in the original post. 

Here is what I have found to date. After having applied it to the very dry and stiff leather and letting it sit a day or two between multiple applications, the leather had softened up and was no longer stiff and could be bent/flexed without the fear of breaking/cracking the leather. On sections where the surface grain had already cracked and was hard, it was now soft to the touch and pliable. The leather also looked healthier and returned to its natural depth of color. The leather was no longer cardboard stiff or brittle and was soft workable leather. I also applied it to still flexible leather as a typical conditioner would be used on a leather item and found that it works just as well at bringing out a vibrant and healthy looking end result. The addition of the tallow as an ingredient, definitely makes a difference in how this conditioner recipe works compared to the others already mentioned in this thread. It may not be a conditioner that you'd use all of the time, but it is ideal to have a tin for those pieces of leather that require more than the usual conditioner ingredients. 

[Atalanta]

So I used the recipe I concocted on the bag I made. The repeated dying had made the top carved part quite stiff. I conditioned both the topside and underside repeatedly after dying and before painting. I had to flex it some and its still stiff but more pliable. I buffed the dyed pieces until there wasn't any rub-off and there wasn't really any rub-off when I conditioned. 

[JayEhl]

Hi, 

Cruising through this thread I am experiencing the cracked leather from a bend in a belt I just put together for the wife.   The leather is a belt blank from Tandy and I skived the bend on the flesh side to about half to make it easier to fold.  After dyeing a couple of coats of Eco-Flo black dye and a couple of coats of resolene it is now cracking.   Did I put too much resolene?  Can I go back and add dye and try to reseal.   Should I have used a conditioner as mentioned in this thread before I tried to bend it?      

I have attached a photo to better explain.  (don't mind the dog -- he's my hangaround) 
I appreciate and value your knowledge and thank you in advance.! 

[chuck123wapati]

23 hours ago, JayEhl said:

Hi, 

Cruising through this thread I am experiencing the cracked leather from a bend in a belt I just put together for the wife.   The leather is a belt blank from Tandy and I skived the bend on the flesh side to about half to make it easier to fold.  After dyeing a couple of coats of Eco-Flo black dye and a couple of coats of resolene it is now cracking.   Did I put too much resolene?  Can I go back and add dye and try to reseal.   Should I have used a conditioner as mentioned in this thread before I tried to bend it?      

I have attached a photo to better explain.  (don't mind the dog -- he's my hangaround) 
I appreciate and value your knowledge and thank you in advance.! 

you need to wet form the bend before applying the finish.