Paraffin in leather conditioner?

[Outdoorlifeofbrian]

Hi all!

Ok so I make my own Leather conditioner, 1 part beeswax, 1 part coconut butter and 1 part almond oil. It's been working perfectly for a year now, but I've been doing some reading an I've noticed that some people put paraffin in there conditioner. I cant find any information on what the paraffin contributes to the mix.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

 

[demographic]

You might well know this already but I'l mention it just in case.
In Britain we have two main types of Paraffin. The liquid fuel that people burn in stoves and the wax that gets used in cosmetics, hand creams, and all sorts of other stuff.

The Americans call our Paraffin liquid kerosene and the wax paraffin so its quite possible that its the wax that the recipe is referring to.

 

[British Red]

...and both can be used

Liquid Paraffin is predominantly an evaporative solvent but will also serve to soften hardened leather - although not as permanently as, for example, neetsfoot oil (which is the softening part of saddle soap), paraffin wax will set on and in the leather and contribute to the waterproofing and polishing.

 

[Outdoorlifeofbrian]

Perfect! Cheers guys, I read paraffin and just though of fuel aha! it all makes sense now!

 

[leon-1]

One of the old methods involved using "Russian Oil" which is derived from the bituminous tar from pine tar.