Softning up old leather?

[Arizona Cattleman]

The old chaps of my dad are real stiff, and I would like to wear them for CAS.  Any ideas the best way to make them pliable again?

AZ Cattleman

[GunClick Rick]

Mink oil???

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

AC, I use Lexoil conditioner, I'm not sure how it would work one really old leather though, but it sure will soften it up, Skidmores Leather Cream will also soften them up and condition them at the same time, these are the main conditioners that I use, I'm sure others will chime in here with there choice, saddle soap is another that is used, with the leather being quit old you really need to know what will be the best way to do it, if you have a pro close by you might want to let him see these chaps and get a hands on opinion. If they were mine, and they hadn't belonged to my Dad, I would go ahead and do my thing, but when they were your Dads, that's a hard call.


                     Regards

                 tEN wOLVES  .

[White Buffalo Chip]

Howdy AC,
In the distant past(5-7yrs) I brought a set of
mc saddlebags back to life using a little bit of
Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvinator. I think it was
at Tandy. Can't tell you if it will darken the
leather as the bags were black, but it did soften
them up nicely and lasted for a couple of yrs.

WBC

[Arizona Cattleman]

Thanks Pards, I'll look into your solutions, anyone else want to chime in I would appreciate any and all suggestions.

AZ Cattleman

[Slowhand Bob]

I am old and out of touch, but I still use neatsfoot oil to help the leather through its aging/drying process and to a limited degree, bring it back from the brink.  I think that for the most part neatsfoot oil got a bad reputation due to over application, to the extreme in many cases.  As a boy we used to literally soak our baseball gloves in the stuff, supposedly building a pocket and this poor practice was also used by far to many other folks performing more critical leather chores around the farm and ranch.  When I look at my little fat dogs running around the house I realize that one can actually love a thing to death! 

Though I am sure that modern science has found much better by now, but I am just past change.  I can accept that there are better things coming along all the time but it is a bit hard to tolerate when so many bash an old standard with unsubstantiated statements.  I will never buy into the stuff that so many supposed old salts claim about neatsfoot oil destroying leather and its stitching.  I promise you that a fair share of the leather artifacts surviving in museums around the world were exposed to neatsfoot on more than a few occasions and, within the last twenty years, several listed neatsfoot as a part of their maintenance plan.     

[Arizona Cattleman]

Well I got some Dr. Jacksons Hide Rejuvenator and tried it out on the rifle scabbard.  Since I have to take the scabbard appart due to rotten stiching, I decided to use them as my test.  Wow, great stuff.  After I took all of the old stiching out and the copper rivets out and layed it out flat, I first cleaned the leather with Lexol Leather Cleaner, then treated with the Hide Rejuvenator.  The dark brown old leather is really a beautiful cordavan color.  Amazing stuff. The leather is soft and flexable now.  Now to restich and put new rivets in.  Picture to follow this weekend.

AZ Cattleman

[Dr. Bob]

Great news!  Looknig forward to the pictures!

[Irish Dave]

One word:

KO-CHO-LINE

It's a Brit product and is the best I've ever seen or used.

[Freedom]

another vote for "Skidmore's" leather cream... good stuff!!.

I think it was WC that posted a while back about using Skids to return an old crunchy saddle to usable condition again..