Traveling leather oil?

[Professor Honeyfuggler]

At the start of the summer I bought a 2' dark oiled leather gunbelt at Cabela's and ordered a pair of holsters to try to work out the best configuration for me before I invested in custom leathe. I also hung an unoiled natural leather sheath on the belt, behind the right hand holster. Over the knife handle I hung a large, natural colored buckshin pouch for spent cartridges by a thong loop.

End of the summer, the knife sheath is now darkened about 3/4 of the way down, fully dark and oily at the belt loop and then tapering down, and the pouch is darkened about halfway, more on the back than the front. Seems like the oil in the belt did some traveling!

Leaves me with 2 questions:

1. What kind of oil should I put on the sheath and pouch now to even out the darkening? Neatsfoot?

2. If I want to prevent something like that happening in the future, is there any good way to stop oiled leather from soaking oil into whatever it contacts?

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy Professor Honeyfuggler

        Sorry to here your problem, it seems some makers like to soak there leather in oil, problem being is the leather will only absorb so much of it, and the excess remains and comes off on your clothes and other items, you could try spritzing your leather with Rubbing Alcohol, and then rubbing as much of the oil off that you can, some pards will use corn meal, this will absorb some of the oil too. Just put your oily leather in a paper bag and put the corned meal in the bag and shake it up, leave it in the bag for a few days and then dust it off, the only problem with this method is if your gun leather isn't lined, the corn meal will want to stick on the flesh side of the leather, for me if it is unlined I would just use the alcohol.
       If you put Neatsfoot oil on your buck skin, it will darken it more than you would most likely want, I think I would just leave it along, and let it have some character,
       The answer to your last question, I would try to stay away from gun leather that has been overly oiled, you will just end up with the same problem, I over oiled some gun leather when I first got into leather work, and three years later it still oozes oil, maybe another year or two and it will dry out , LOL

                         Sorry I can't help you more, maybe one the other Pards has some ides on this.

                                                           Regards

                                                       tEN wOLVES     

[GunClick Rick]

Would mink oil work? Try puttin it in a bag of kitty litter too,that's what the mechanics used at the shop when i was operating heavy equipment.

[Professor Honeyfuggler]

I over oiled some gun leather when I first got into leather work, and three years later it still oozes oil, maybe another year or two and it will dry out    

Thanks for the great suggestion Ten Wolves. I appreciate it. Sounds like a winner.

Hey for that gun leather you've got that's oozing oil, why don't you try putting it in a bag with some cornmeal. 

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Thanks for the great suggestion Ten Wolves. I appreciate it. Sounds like a winner.

Hey for that gun leather you've got that's oozing oil, why don't you try putting it in a bag with some cornmeal.  

 LOL, Your right, I should practice what I preach, but on this one I'm just curios as to how long it's going to take to dry out, I guess if it was my only gun rig I would need to use the corn meal, but I have so many rigs it's not a problem, check back with me in a year or two, it should be a little dryer by then, this was a good lesson for me, and taught me to use Neatsfoot oil in moderation.

                                      Best Regards, and I hope this will help you

                                             tEN wOLVES