Hoping for info about leather-product smells

[RFrolic]

Hello all,

This is likely to be a more unusual question, but I'm disabled and products with strong scents send me into days of migraines and/or vertigo. (I wear a chlorine-gas respirator and work outside in the open air, but they'll still take me down even with those precautions.) Buying a lot of products it turns out I can't use is cost-prohibitive, so I'm hoping to get some thoughts on the topic.

I'm looking for opinions on dyes, conditioning oils, and similar leather products. Which products do you find have pungent smells? Are there ones you've found that don't really have much noticeable smell? Do the water-based dyes have less smell than the oil- or alcohol-based dyes? Opinions on neatsfoot vs mink oil vs other easily accessible oils in terms of their smells? Does Resolene have a smell, and are there less-smelly sealer alternatives if it's pungent? Do antiquing finishes have a strong smell?

What I've already figured out:
Fiebing's Leathercraft Cement and LePage Low-VOC contact cement have next-to-no smell and are fine for me, so I'm probably covered for the adhesives category (I do understand that unfortunately the Low VOC won't be as effective as a pungent, heavy-duty cement like Barge).

In regards to dyes, paints, and edge treatments, the only exposure I've had so far is Edge-Kote (noticeable smell, caused a headache after a few minutes of exposure; it would get worse with longer exposure) and Angelus acrylic leather paint (noticeable smell but didn't seem to upset my system, though I only risked a few minutes so far).

Anyone have any thoughts? I know I'll still need to test things that folks think might be safe, and I know people's sense of smell varies. I'm just hoping to figure out products to definitely steer clear of and things that *might* be okay. (Even if all I get is "product X has a strong smell, I have no clue what might smell less" replies, that still helps a lot. Knowing what to avoid is half the battle! And if it turns out that every product for a particular technique smells strong, I'll avoid projects that would require using that technique.)

Edited March 12, 2021 by RFrolic

[Hardrada]

Can't really be of much help, since it's YOUR nose that must make the final determination. I find the scents of quite some of the stuff in this business awesome... but then again, I used to eat white glue when I was in elementary school.

FWIW, gum tragacanth has a very strong smell: not unpleasant (to me), but strong. You might want to stay clear of that one.

The (possible) good news is that Tokonole burnishing agent is not stinky. If you work in a well-ventilated area with the current coming from your back, I'd bet you wouldn't notice it.

I detect very little if any odour coming from Uniters edge paint, but if you heat it with a fileteuse it will give off some scent.

I guess contact cement is essentially out of your league. You may need to stick to water-based cements like Renia's Aquilim 315. But in our latitudes these cements are ruined by freezing and thus cannot be shipped in the winter.

By far, the most unpleasant product I've handled is neatsfoot oil. Its charnel house smell almost makes me gag. I'd rather spend 5 minutes smelling contact cement than 30 seconds smelling pure neatsfoot oil.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Hardrada

[klutes]

Wow Shows everyone’s sniffer is different. I find that tragacanth and neatsfoot oil has very little odor. Sorry for you having such issues. Must me rough having that condition.

[mike02130]

11 hours ago, Hardrada said:

The (possible) good news is that Tokonole burnishing agent is not stinky. If you work in a well-ventilated area with the current coming from your back, I'd bet you wouldn't notice it.

I detect very little if any odour (Odor-in American) coming from Uniters edge paint, but if you heat it with a fileteuse it will give off some scent.

What he said.

[Rahere]

Another approach might be the Glove Box, working with the products in a sealed environment such that everything can be moved outside before opening by a helper. Whilst the pro kit is expensive, I saw at least one DIY design from psilocybin users which should work, using hardware store materials (3" toilet flanges, silicon sealant) within a restricted budget.

[RFrolic]

Thanks all! Awesome, I'll pick up some Tokonole. I've seen in neatsfoot reviews that it can have an intense odor (and from what I read, neatsfoot oil compound is even more likely to be pungent than pure neatsfoot oil).

The funny thing is that "charnel house smell" isn't an automatic no - I'm a taxidermist and the odor of death doesn't phase me at all. (I have to leave the chemical stages of tanning to the other people in my company, since I can't handle those chemicals. But I do plenty of skinning, dissection, helping to prep pelts/skins for tanning, and making mounts.) There's a big difference in my body's reactions to natural pungent smells (decay, skunk, BO, feces, etc are fine brain-wise) and synthetic smells or altered natural smells (essential oils are just concentrated natural odors but they'll still take me out). I suspect neatsfoot would fall under "altered natural" and I should steer clear.

I'll look up the Uniters edge paint. (Does anyone know if the Angelus acrylics be used for edging? I didn't seem to react to that within my few-minute trial.)

Edited March 13, 2021 by RFrolic
Added a paragraph break for easier reading