Musty/Mildewy Sheaths and Boxes

H

Happy Hippo

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I picked up a couple of knives from the 1980s from the fishing pond. The boxes and sheaths have a strong musty smell. I have been spraying the boxes with Lysol and it seems to be mitigating the musty smell. What can I do to take the smell out of the sheaths? I am a little perturbed at the seller because no mention of this was in the posting. He said I could return them, but they are nice knives and I would rather just try to fix it. I do have a super sense of smell, so it might be bothering me more than it would most people.
 
Sunlight will definitely kill the smell, but it’ll darken the leather and dry it out. I’d just set it on the back porch a couple few days then rub in a good conditioner. I use Venetian shoe cream. It’s what Horween recommends, and if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for me.
 
If it has mold spores on it, conditioning and rubbing will spread and feed the spores. This is the equivalent of putting new seed and miracle grow on your lawn.

I spray moldy musty leather with lysol inside and out. To the point of saturation If I have to cut the stitches to get to the inside of a sheath I do.

My feeling is if I can’t kill whatever is growing on the leather, then I’ll throw it away anyway.

After the item dries out. I rub it with bag balm, and re stitch it.

Bag Balm is basically vaseline with lanolin and parafin and an antiseptic.

The mold never comes back.

Obviously I’m not a museum curator so try this at your own risk. But it is what I’ve done for 30 years without issues.
 
Doesn’t Lysol crack the hell out of it? I know I got overspray on a nice pair of shoes once and the leather went all scaly and light spotted and warped looking where it landed. Conditioner made it look halfway decent again but…? Wonder what’s up with that.
 
I am going to try this. Spray Lysol on it to kill mold spores. But only let it sit for a minute. Then I will clean it with saddle soap. I will let it dry for about 24 hours. Then I will determine if the smell has abated. If it has, I will apply a conditioner and let sit in open air for a while. If it hasn't I will repeat.

Also, I have a Case knife that had very tarnished brass bolsters. I polished it with Flitz. But now I see the brass has some pitting. The pitting was somewht hidden by the tarnish. I suspect it corroded due to being stored with the sheath. Yes, a sheath issue again. The pitting is mostly in the area that was in contact with the sheath. What is the best way to get the pits out. I am thinking 800 grit wet sandpaper. Is 800 grit too fine to remove pits? Thanks for the comments so far.
 
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Happy Hippo said:
I am thinking 800 grit wet sandpaper. Is 800 grit too fine to remove pits? Thanks for the comments so far.
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Depends on how long you want to sand. I would think you will get there faster by starting with a courser grit, like 220. And then move up through the grits to 800, or whatever grit gives the shine/polish level that you want. If you change sanding directions 90 degrees every time you switch grits, it will make it easier to see when you have removed all the scratches from the grit before.

Brass is soft. So depending on how deep the pits are, you may do just fine stating at 800. You can go up to 1500, or 2000. depending in the polish level you want.

O.B.
 
To remove pits, start fine and go coarse (if you have to) til you see results. That way you don’t overshoot it by starting coarse as hell and having to sand out a bunch of deep scratches. Once you find the magic grit level, sand em all out then go finer until you’re happy with it.
 
AntDog said:
Doesn’t Lysol crack the hell out of it? I know I got overspray on a nice pair of shoes once and the leather went all scaly and light spotted and warped looking where it landed. Conditioner made it look halfway decent again but…? Wonder what’s up with that.
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I haven’t had that happen yet. I only ruined one thing with lysol. A leather electricians pouch. It actually melted. I guess it wasn’t really leather, even though it looked it.
 
DeSotoSky said:
I purchased a knife a couple years back with the most horrible tobacco smell. I stuck the sheath in a gallon ziplock full of baking soda. Completely forgot about it until this post. Wonder if I can find it this afternoon ;o)
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Yes, I never smoked. So when I get packages and products from a smoking household, it is gross and very noticeable.
 
So I did the Saddlesoap thing on the sheaths. Now I will wait for a day before putting some leather conditioner on it. It seemed like a lot of color/grime/dirt was being carried off. Right now, I think they are darker than when they started. I don't smell a musty smell right now but we will see tomorrow. The sheaths do smell like leather, for some reason.

For the brass bolsters, I used 800 grit followed by 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper with mineral oil. It took out most of the pitting. But it looks kinda like "brushed brass" right now. I suppose if I want it to be mirror shiny, I'll have to go to even higher grit. Or maybe use a buffing wheel on my Dremel with some Flitz. To be honest, I like the "brushed brass" look. Problem was, they make you buy a whole package for $9 a pop, so I already bought 400 (which I didn't use), 800, and 1000 grit.
 
Yep it stinks when you first have to buy it, but it doesn’t go bad and another project always comes up.

H Happy Hippo is you pm me your address, I’ll send you a piece of finer grit paper to finish.
 
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eveled said:
Yep it stinks when you first have to buy it, but it doesn’t go bad and another project always comes up.

H Happy Hippo is you pm me your address, I’ll send you a piece of finer grit paper to finish.
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I appreciate the offer but I can get it. But more importantly, if I did want to put a shinier finish on it, what grit would I use? Also, can I get that kind of finish by hand? Or, do I just need a buffing wheel on my Deemed while using something like Flitz?
 
Saddle soap and sunlight. Or just wash it with soap and water really well and air dry it out with a fan. If all else fails, maybe get a custom sheath lol.
 
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