Home-made leather protectors

K

Kevin the grey

Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Messages
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I was hunting around for saddle-soap and couldn,t scare any up locally except for a dried up can at a local shoemaker . Steve Poll kindly offered to send me some . I wanted to look around locally so as to make sure that would be necessary .

I scared up a homemade version on the net that uses pure soap , neetsfoot oil and beeswax .

Fun to make , very similar in color to the product I remember and so far does a fair job . I have used it to clean up a smooth finished quiver and to freshen up a nice piece of chamois deer hide I picked up in my quest for the soap . I also used it to take out some sweat stains from an armguard which may be one of saddle soaps original uses .

While saddle-soap is not reccomended for suede or other open surfaces I figured the unique properties of a Chamois would make up for this . It came out very nice and except for a couple of creases left in the skin due to its incredible softness you could say its new .

I am wondering if I could make a durable water resistant finish for smooth leather by using just the neetsfoot and beeswax . I want to leave out the pure soap as I intend to use a fair amount . The soap is not harsh . I still think it is best used in applications where surface cleansing is needed and not where it is left a little deeper in the leather .

Do any of you guys use natural leather protectors that won,t leave a slighty greasy finish ? I know about mink oil and other forms of dubbin .

I am thinking the beeswax would be fairly hard with the neetsfoot making it a little pliable . I just hope the odor of honey from the beeswax won,t attract any ursine inquisitors as there are enough out there already who cannot bear my writing . L:O:L
 
A logger friend in Washington state swears by boiled linseed oil and beeswax. He cuts the beeswax up into shavings with a drawknife first, so they melt into the hot oil faster. Sometimes puts in some turpentine too, as a thinner. Boiled linseed is a "drying oil," so it won't stay greasy after the drying process (polymerization) is finished. You will want to buff off any excess though, after it's been standing for perhaps an hour. A thick-ish film left on the surface gets a bit gummy.

I usually add a small dollop of pine tar as well, cause I'm a wooden boat freak and cause I like the smell. But it's not necessary, though it darkens things up nicely, and adds a bit of fungus protection. Too much though, and the mixture won't harden.

BTW, mix this in a double boiler, and outside. It smells strongly (esp. with turps!), and is a major fire hazard.
 
Thanks Tom .
Hmmm fungus protection ? Is that a comment on my writing ? L:O:L

It sounds like an interesting idea . It might not be the way I want to go for this particular application though I may try it out on a test piece . It does seem like a good one to try out for future needs .
 
We wooden boat freaks have this thing about rot, you know? Nope, nothing personal.:D

You can take the pine tar thing too far though; there's a place on the web that sells salt-water soap that includes some tar. The tar's good for psoriasis etc., but mostly it's in the soap to make you smell like a sailor ... in a good way.:D
 
Tom ? I don,t mind strong piny smells in the house . They help cover up eighty pound twelve year old Malamute flatus and a fifty year old Irishman,s Blarney . No flatus . (Too delicate) L:O:L
 
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