Leather Dressing

[lou1661]

Hi Guys,
Im after some advice on the best sort of leather dressing, i notice that mink oil and neatsfoot oil both seem popular on here, are they more or less the same or is one more suited to certain applications than the other? im after using it on boots belts and sheaths?
Or is there a fabulous product that i have missed reading about?. DO the oils leave the surface like dubbin does, eg. a dust magnet?

Cheers
Lou

P.s. I can only appologise if you are reading this because you thought the title ment something different

 

[Jedadiah]

Hi Lou,

i've not had any experience with Mink oil, however there is something about Neatisfoot you should know. There are two types, Neatisfoot oil and Neatisfoot compound. The compound has had some chemical additives. Not that it should make much difference, but i used compound on some of my early sheaths and found it left a yellowish residue. Not sure if it is yellow due to the dye i had used. Anyway, why is it you want it for boot's? If you want a decent water resistant dressing for your boots i'd use Nikwax Aqueous wax. does what it says on the tin and works a treat. If you want a dressing on your sheath, i'd go for waxing on the outside and a little Neatisfoot oil inside. Compound would do as well, but i'm wary of the yellow residue now. Hope this helps!

 

[Ogri the trog]

No experience of mink oil either but I do use other stuff,
The famed Renapur demonstrated at many country shows is a good leather treatment - though I use its cheaper cousin "Effax" twice the quantity and half the price from farm/horsey places. To keep things looking good as well as in good condition, I alternate standard boot polish and a leather treatment/conditioner. I use Neatsfoot oil as well and allow a good length of time for the oil to soak in to the leather before using.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[big_swede]

In the category 'fabulous product that i have missed reading about' I can recommend an old school leather dressing I found at my local cobbler, it is a mixture of fat, wax and tar (!). It renews, softens and waterproofs leathers excellently, plus as a bonus gives it an really nice smell. (some might not agree on the last point, well, screw them!). Though it darkens the leather a bit, I haven't found anything that comes near it in its waterproofing properties. A tinder pouch treated with this mixture hanging on my belt during 9 hours of rain (quite varying in intensity though) was dry as, hmm, as tinder on the inside.

If you are interested I can see if I can find the actual contents

 

[shep]

Olive oil and beeswax melted together 60:40 works nicely for treating leather. It does darken it quite a bit though.

Once it's set, the paste can be carried around for rubbing into things that need a bit of a touch up.

 

[Seagull]

Hi Guys,
Im after some advice on the best sort of leather dressing, i notice that mink oil and neatsfoot oil both seem popular on here, are they more or less the same or is one more suited to certain applications than the other? im after using it on boots belts and sheaths?
Or is there a fabulous product that i have missed reading about?. DO the oils leave the surface like dubbin does, eg. a dust magnet?

Cheers
Lou

P.s. I can only appologise if you are reading this because you thought the title ment something different

We've all got favoured mixes or straight applications, Lou.
I tend to use neatsfoot whenever I want to keep something supple, like a belt or a pouch in thickish leather.
For boots, its Nikwax or a standard polish to which I add about 30% beeswax.

I prefer full leather sheaths to be a little on the harder side, so these get a painting with hot beeswax, then the once over with the wife's hairdryer.(wax'n'melt)

Where the lack of suppleness isn't an issue, then I use the full hot wax dip.

Ceeg

 

[Jedadiah]

In the category 'fabulous product that i have missed reading about' I can recommend an old school leather dressing I found at my local cobbler, it is a mixture of fat, wax and tar (!). It renews, softens and waterproofs leathers excellently, plus as a bonus gives it an really nice smell. (some might not agree on the last point, well, screw them!). Though it darkens the leather a bit, I haven't found anything that comes near it in its waterproofing properties. A tinder pouch treated with this mixture hanging on my belt during 9 hours of rain (quite varying in intensity though) was dry as, hmm, as tinder on the inside.

If you are interested I can see if I can find the actual contents

Hi Swede,

does it smell like wood smoke? I used to use some on my Lundhags (Many moon's ago) and i think it was called Ledergris or something like that. Haven't seen any in ages. Works a treat and smells like a smokey autumn night! Lovely!

 

[John Fenna]

Ah Jed
That just means "leather grease" or if you like "leatherdressing"....
Whatever happened to good old Dubbin?
OK it used to rot your boots stiches but it kept the boots supple and watewrproof and smelt great...
a bit like woodsmoke.....

 

[Jedadiah]

Cheers John,

i feel a bit of a charlie now, me and my gifts with languages. Did dubbin smell of woodsmoke? The stuff i put on my footie boot's as a kid did'nt, however, i was in Yorkshire then so that delightful smell was probably stolen before i got it!

 

[big_swede]

Hi Swede,

does it smell like wood smoke? I used to use some on my Lundhags (Many moon's ago) and i think it was called Ledergris or something like that. Haven't seen any in ages. Works a treat and smells like a smokey autumn night! Lovely!

Yep, that's it! It smells of smoke and tar (much like an old mano'war I reckon ) Lundhags have one version for sale, but there is other brands as well, I gather that it can't be that hard mixing it yourself.