Comprehensive leather sheath restoration thread?

[bodydamage]

I posted this in the Tinkering and Maintenance forum before I knew this sub-forum existed.. I received a few low monetary, but high sentimental value fillet knives that were my great grandfathers.. He was a very avid fisherman in Fla and the knives were used almost daily.. The sheaths are a bit worse for wear and could use a bit of freshening up.. I know there has to be some leather sheath restorative threads hanging around in here, I just cant find them. The rivets are a bit nasty on some of them and the sewing is starting to come loose on some others.. They aren't moldy and haven't been out in the rain or anything, they just need to be conditioned and generally tuned up..

Is there a general, "how to make old nasty sheaths look passable again" thread? Not just the leather, but the rivets as well..

 

[HoosierQ]

I like Obenhauf's HD Leather Preservative. It is a beeswax, propolis product with no nasty chemicals. Beeswas is always good but the propolis is the key to this product. Propolis is made (collected?) by honey bees. It is a natural anti-fungal and anti-microbial. They use it around the hive to keep mold and germs out and also as a sort of glue to seal up cracks and things in the hive. It is also used, mixed in mineral oil, to treat wooden cutting boards.

I like it a lot and it goes on with bare hands...body heat melts it. It comes in a plastic jar. It is harder than Sno-Seal which is really gooey and sticky.

You can get it on-line at lot's of places. I got it at a big on-line knife supplier in their "Sheath Care" section. Knivesshipfree, Cabelas, other places have it. Kinda expensive but a little goes a long way.

The stuff is famous among loggers and forest firefighters who wear expensive, heavy leather boots that see extreme abuse. A lot of these guys are resolved to buying a new pair of these $300 boots every year. There are stories of Obenhauf's making boots last a lot longer. I cannot verify this claim from direct experience. I've got it on my Danner boots but they don't get much abuse...they look good though.

I am posting this here because I just discovered this stuff and it really is nice to work with, works on wood too (I treated the handles of my 3 curley birch Roselli knives).