6 Months After Completion

santee · February 04, 2009, 08:15:55 AM

Okay, so you are all finished with your project, and you've put a topcoat on (Skidmore's, Leather Balm, Bag-Kote, Carnauba, etc.)

If you oil it or condition it later on, will those finishes allow it to penetrate?

Springfield Slim · February 04, 2009, 10:58:09 AM

Seems to me this is a self solving problem. If nothing can get in, then nothing much got out, and it won't need conditioning. IMHO. Seems like after 6 months it should't need much anyway. Most of my holsters go years without me doing anything more than just wiping them off.

Ten Wolves Fiveshooter · February 04, 2009, 11:43:14 AM

Howdy Santee

Once you have put your finish on your leather, your pretty much done, if down the road you see that your leather looks a little dry, you can just add a light coat of Skidmores Leather Cream, that's what's so nice about this stuff it's very user friendly, but you shouldn't need to do this for a while, just like Springfied Slim said all you need to do is just keep it clean, and wipe it off when it gets dusty or dirty. if you had a really neglected piece of leather, I'd put some LEXOIL on it and work it in , and after dry do your Skidmores.

tEN wOLVES

santee · February 04, 2009, 02:00:41 PM

Well, I live in Arizona. Stuff dries out pretty quickly in this here desert. If I put a wet shirt outside, it's dry in 15 minutes!
Appreciate the response, guys.

Springfield Slim · February 05, 2009, 05:43:18 PM

Yeah, but the shirt has water on it and the leather has oil in it, not quite the same thing. Water evaporates out of your radiator on your car but the oil pretty much stays put, just gets burned. Two different conditions.

Ten Wolves Fiveshooter · February 05, 2009, 07:20:22 PM

I think Springfield Slim and I are on the same page with this, and I stand by my earlier statement.....

tEN wOLVES

Mogorilla · February 05, 2009, 07:57:20 PM

As a chemist, I can tell you oil has a vapor pressure just like any other liquid, generically the thicker the oil, the lower the vapor pressure. i.e. car oil will burn off before it evaporates. On the other hand, I put a coat of olive oil on my cast iron skillet when I am done with it, a week later it needs some more. My experience has been that different grades of leather "hold" the oil differently. I bought a batch of veg tanned that get enough, I can wipe it with neatsfoot every day and it never seems to be finished. better grade leather and one coat will do the trick. I would imagine the more dense the pores of the leather, the better it would hold it. just my $0.02, but I have only been doing this stuff as a hobby for ~5 years, so more experience would be appreciated.

Ten Wolves Fiveshooter · February 05, 2009, 08:47:33 PM

Quote from: Mogorilla on February 05, 2009, 07:57:20 PM
As a chemist, I can tell you oil has a vapor pressure just like any other liquid, generically the thicker the oil, the lower the vapor pressure. i.e. car oil will burn off before it evaporates. On the other hand, I put a coat of olive oil on my cast iron skillet when I am done with it, a week later it needs some more. My experience has been that different grades of leather "hold" the oil differently. I bought a batch of veg tanned that get enough, I can wipe it with neatsfoot every day and it never seems to be finished. better grade leather and one coat will do the trick. I would imagine the more dense the pores of the leather, the better it would hold it. just my $0.02, but I have only been doing this stuff as a hobby for ~5 years, so more experience would be appreciated.

Howdy Mongo

In response to your post, I have several holsters and rigs that go back to 1966- 1977, these were made by Alfonso Penada, they are quality rigs, and all I do to keep them in good shape is keep them inside the house in the same environment as I live in, I keep the dust build up off them and every few years I check them thoroughly for dryness, if I think they need attention, I would use a little Neatsfoot oil and rub it in, but since I've found Skidmores Leather Cream, ( thanks to Cowboy WC ) that's about all I use to maintain my leather , " IF IT NEEDS IT " if not I just wipe them of and try to keep the leather clean. Your right about the different quality in leather, I've had some gun leather from Mexico that looked good when I bought it, and it was cheap, and after a few years , I found out why it was cheap, it got so dry, even after oiling that the holster finally fell off the belt, at that time I didn't know that much about leather, and just wrote it off, but it was the cheap dried leather that caused this, so now I don't worry about spending a little more to get better leather, if Santee's rig is drying out this fast it is possible that it didn't get enough oil during the finishing process, which he could always add more and work it in, but then he will have to careful not to over do it, in a hot climate like Arizona any extra oil could bleed out on his cloths. not being able to see the leather in person makes it hard to call. ( IMHO )

tEN wOLVES

santee · February 06, 2009, 08:02:36 AM

Well, nothing is getting dry right now since it is all well conditioned. I was just thinking about the long haul.

Apparently, I've been misinformed in the past about leather maintenance and an arid climate. Thanks for setting the record straight.

Ten Wolves Fiveshooter · February 06, 2009, 07:52:18 PM

Quote from: santee on February 06, 2009, 08:02:36 AM
Well, nothing is getting dry right now since it is all well conditioned. I was just thinking about the long haul.

Apparently, I've been misinformed in the past about leather maintenance and an arid climate. Thanks for setting the record straight.

Santee I think your climate is pretty much like ours here in sunny California, just keep your leather clean, and if it starts to look a little dry, use some Skidmores on it and it will do fine, don't leave your leather in the trunk of your car or in your garage these are bad environments for your leather.

tEN wOLVES

RollingThunder · February 10, 2009, 06:24:54 PM

I don't have Skidmore's anywhere around here. We usually use Blackrock. Good stuff.

Ten Wolves Fiveshooter · February 10, 2009, 08:13:41 PM

RT, they're not around here either, just go to www.skidmores.com they will be happy to send it to you. I/we use the leather cream, with great results.

tEN wOLVES