Linseed Oil on Leather?????

[rice1817]

Word got around that I did some leather work, so I have been fixing ball gloves on the side as a service for the local high school. Apparently, the ancient practice of oiling up the glove, putting a ball into it, and tying it up tight with string or rubber bands has fallen into disuse. Anyway, after repairing a first baseman's mit, I oiled up the leather with some bear grease I had laying around, same stuff I use on my hunting pouches. Imagine my surprise when the kid's old man told me that the glove was now too greasy, so he degreased the glove and hit it with linseed oil! Now I have used linseed on gun stocks before, but has anyone ever heard of using linseed oil on leather? I figured it would dry hard and crack the leather, but the Dad said it is all he ever used.

 

[Swampman]

I can't imagine using linseed oil on leather but google shows a couple of sites that give old recipes for it.
http://www.hewit.com/sd6-dres.htm

 

[BenKolb]

I tried some on a pair of gloves for hunting. Stunk like the dickens for months never took them in the woods but I would imagine the deer wouldve been on red alert as soon as I pulled them stink bombs out of the jeep. In retrospect though I probably used too much maybe a small amount wouldnt hurt But Im not going to experiment anymore since there is many more less offending options out there.

 

[rice1817]

From reading the link, I can see where I might want to try it for waterproofing leather....but for making the leather supple and flexible, I would think that neatsfoot would be much preferred. Yet I felt the glove that was treated with linseed and it was as flexible as any glove I have ever worked.

Just doesn't make sense.

 

[bioprof]

I've heard that pure linseed oil needs to be exposed to sunlight to dry. As long as it is on the inside of the glove, it should stay soft. If it is exposed to sunlight, I would think it would get stiff.

 

[Nifeman]

I've used deer tallow on my mocs and it seems to work well..