Craftsmanship > Accoutrements

What do all y'all use on your leather goods?

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rickevans:
I am working on a new buffalo hide shooting bag and a new belt. After staining they sure look dull.  Do you guys use shoe polish, wax, mink oil, saddle soap or what to give the leather a nice healthy look?

Rick

Gordon H.Kemp:
A lot depends on what your end goal is. I use saddle soap and neatsfoot oil. If you want waterproof to be the main point then a wax will work or bear grease or other animal fat. Of corse there are modern waterproofing compounds and chemicals that are supposed to be 100% effective. A lot depends on how HC you want to be or if you just want to look good cosmeticly . I also use bore butter if I have nothing else.

Indiana:
I use pecard leather dressing to condition leather.  It will also impart a nice shine upon the leather.  It's the best dressing I have found and was reccomended to me by someone who has been trying to find the "right" leather dressing for a few decades now.  It's not PC, but it works.

cb:
Rick - part of that dullness may be due to the dye - not sure what you used but if it's a commercial leather dye you should buff it well with a clean, dry cloth before adding any kind of finish.
Commercial dyes are basically a powdered pigment suspended in a liquid carrier (i.e. alcohol, toluene, etc) and when the carrier evaporates off it leaves a fine residue of the powder which will leave a dull finish and will also rub off if not removed prior to finishing - thus the need to buff well.

A commercial version of a PC finish is Montana Pitchblend - a mix of beeswax, mink oil, and pine pitch - and one of my favorites and after 48 years being in the leather crafting biz I've tried about everything.
Otherwise if you want to stay as PC as possible you can make your own dubbin - which is a mix of tallow or lard (NOT Crisco, but real lard), beeswax, and oil - the oil can be olive oil, mink oil, neatsfoot, or cod liver - bear is great if you can get it.
One mix I use is 5 parts lard, 5 parts beeswax, and 1 or two parts extra virgin olive oil, depending on how thick I want it - melt together over a low fire or use a double boiler, por off and let cool. Apply in LIGHT coats, let absorb, and buff with a dry cloth for a low gloss satin shene. FWIW - OVER oiling leather is one of the worst things one can do - leather is best at 18-22% "oil", more than that and it can and will breakdown the cell walls, leading to damage.

As noted there are many more finishes from traditional (i.e. Hubbard's Shoe Grease and Sno Seal) to modern hi-tech (i.e.  Resolene).......

tg:
Hubbards is pretty good stuff. I got mine free for several years, the owner gave me the dented cans, it is pretty much the same as brewers pitch, he would not say exactly what it was but he did say it would not hurt you if you lined a drinking vessel with it.

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