Leather Treatment??

[SpottedBull]

What type of leather treatment do you use to preserve the leather and when do you apply it in the building process?

I have been using mink oil because it was easy to get. A friend just sent me a big tub of bear grease that I plan on using on my next project.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I use neatsfoot oil ( The pure stuff) and transparant kiwi shoe polish. :idunno: :idunno:

 

[MeatStick]

Mink oil, I grease it up when what your making is done. I have never been able to catch a neat to squeeze the oil from their feet.

 

[LaBonte]

I use a mix known as dubbin, there are various recipes - basically tallow (deer, bear, etc, or in a pinch good no salt lard), a bit of oil (neatsfoot, EVOO, or bear generally), and some bees wax - I also add a bit of pine pitch for the anti-microbial properties as well as the nice smell.
Melt it altogether and adjust the oil content until you get a paste consistency similar to saddle soap when cool.
You can get basically the same thing already made up by buying Montana Pitch blend.

FYI - neats foot oil originally was made from the leg bones of young cattle - today most is based on lard.
While mink oil is a good product I don't use it since it comes from China and I try me best not to buy goods from there for various reasons of my own.

 

[gmarc]

I use a 1/1 mix of beeswax and clarified beef tallow on my old time leather....and shooting patches

 

[ladysmithtrading]

http://www.whitesboots.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29836


whites leather preservative, all you need

 

[Rifleman1776]

A leather worker once told me almost any kind of oil would work fine. I use neatsfoot, even the compound kind, mink, beeswax with other stuff. All seems to work just fine.

 

[codymobley]

I use beef tallow, cod liver oil, and beeswax mixed in a 2:1:1 ratio, for shoe uppers I will add pure neetsfoot oil into the mixture (2:1:1:1)warm it up and apply it blood warm by rubbing it in by hand.