Care for stiff old leather holster

[onehalfmvsquared]

I bought a bianchi leather shoulder holster off of e-gay and while it works, it's a bit dry and stiff.
I've always been a kydex guy. what do y'all recommend to do to soften and preserve the leather?

[Malamute]

I bought a bianchi leather shoulder holster off of e-gay and while it works, it's a bit dry and stiff.
I've always been a kydex guy. what do y'all recommend to do to soften and preserve the leather?

The one wild card with bianchi shoulder rigs is they use elastic in the body of the holster, at least the ones Im familiar with, the x15, so leather care products potentially may cause the elastic to croak. Some neatsfoot oil may work, but can stain shirts. Neatsfoot oil isnt the same as neatsfoot compund, thats a cheaper version, however both basically work.

My neighbor the leather maker uses murphys oil soap to make saddle soap with murphys mixed with water (1-3 or 1-4?), then sprays it on. Treat and clean several times, it gives moisture and other stuff to the leather, let dry overnight, treat with Skidmores leather conditioner or Blackrock leather conditioner, both are good, Blackrock was used in restoring old saddles by people I knew in the biz years ago, I dont know if its still the hot ticket or not. Whatever, do several light treatments, let it melt in, in sun light or warm spot, polish off with paper towels or rag, repeat several times. Neatsfoot is oil, the others are variations on waxes that help the leather.

[1slow]

Do not use neatsfoot oil, my understanding is that it breaks down leather fiber and damages stitching.
Wife used to ride horses, damaged one saddle with neatsfoot oil. Expensive mistake !
Lexol , saddle soap seem to work okay.
I would find out how the leather was tanned and what is advised to treat that type of leather .

[1slow]

The one wild card with bianchi shoulder rigs is they use elastic in the body of the holster, at least the ones Im familiar with, the x15, so leather care products potentially may cause the elastic to croak. Some neatsfoot oil may work, but can stain shirts. Neatsfoot oil isnt the same as neatsfoot compund, thats a cheaper version, however both basically work.

My neighbor the leather maker uses murphys oil soap to make saddle soap with murphys mixed with water (1-3 or 1-4?), then sprays it on. Treat and clean several times, it gives moisture and other stuff to the leather, let dry overnight, treat with Skidmores leather conditioner or Blackrock leather conditioner, both are good, Blackrock was used in restoring old saddles by people I knew in the biz years ago, I dont know if its still the hot ticket or not. Whatever, do several light treatments, let it melt in, in sun light or warm spot, polish off with paper towels or rag, repeat several times. Neatsfoot is oil, the others are variations on waxes that help the leather.

I appreciate your research. I’m not up to date.

[Malamute]

I appreciate your research. I’m not up to date.


FWIW, Im not very up to speed either, but had the neighbor over looking at some old leather I was messing with.

Ive heard variations om the "XXX damages leather and breaks down stitching" from various sources, including someone that worked at a boot repair shop. She said they only used Sno Seal, and it only had something/whatever beesxax/magic dust and didnt have something else/whatever, so Ive been using it on my boots and cartridge belts and such for a long time. In todays world you can get product safety sheets on about anything, and sno Seal wasnt exactly what they thought, but works well. Similar to the other products i mentioned. Ive used neatsfoot and neatsfoot compound also in the past and recently on various things, it hasnt caused any breakdown in anything Ive used it on, however there are different types of leather and stitching. The main downside is it is oil, and can transfer oil to your clothes to a degree.

We like there to be a single definitive answer to our questions, unfortunately, I cant give a definitive answer about any of it being perfect, or even bad, just different issues. I feel better about myself when i used Blackrock or Skidmores, Ill use whatever I have if i cant get what I want. I had a headstall, I dont even recall where it came from, maybe the dump, it hung on a nail on my porch for most of 20 years untouched, it was virtually new condition, but dried out badly. I needed a strap for a carbine case, I neatsfoot compounded the holy heck out of it and slowly worked it, instead of cracking and breaking, it softened up and is in use now. I didnt have enough of the good stuff to saturate it and rejuvenate it, so used the bad stuff, and it worked.

My neighbor the leather guy uses saddle soap as only a step in leather care not an end in itself, he treats dried out things several times with the spray and sheepskin wool pad, wipes it off and dries it overnight between treatments, then dries it and uses Skidmores or Blackrock. Using the spray bottle, I cleaned a saddle scabbard that had a lot of dried caked on horse sweat, the spray broke it down and flushed it off and i wiped it off, but after many go-rounds when done it looked good

[RevolverRob]

I'd start simple:

A damp cloth of warm water and a horse hair brush. Damp the leather and brush it dry and clean. Just brushing the leather will usually soften it up. The next thing is to oil it. I prefer lanolin, it oils and resists moisture. Spread it on liberally, work it into the pores with another horse hair brush. Buff it with a clean dry cloth to remove any excess. You can seal on top of that with beeswax, but that is really unnecessary.

You can get a set of horsehair brushes for cleaning shoes on Amazon along with a tube of lanolin. Lanolin is also great for your skin, makes an excellent lip balm, etc.

[JTQ]

Most holster makers, at least on their websites, recommend wax.

Milt Sparks https://www.miltsparks.com/questions/#1649974473200-e9afd06f-4cee

Kramer https://www.kramerleather.com/pages/faqs

High Noon https://highnoonholsters.com/faqs

[PNWTO]

I use Obenauf’s LP on pretty much all leather, probably overkill but it definitely has a Lazarus effect on older items.

The HD wax/paste is also great, but will darken the piece a little.

[Malamute]

Many of the better leather care products are wax based, with some other things added. Average leather thats relatively new and fresh doesnt need and moisture or oils, but older dried out often does, and the leather can crack and break if not given some moisture and/or oils back, in limited degrees.

Sweat, rain and other things, exposure to sunlight can end up drying out the leather as can just time. Sweat in particular is hard on leather. Its not terminal if cared for but the moisture and salts and gunk in sweat do need to be cleaned at some point. Like I said, theres not one simple answer for every leather type or situation.

One of the linked holster makers mentioned that holsters werent saddles etc, but they can end up having some of the same issues as saddles over time depending on how its used. Ive used the "wrong" treatment many times, and some of the things I used them on have been in intermittent to regular use for 40 or so years with no end in sight.

[RevolverRob]

I'll just note that Kiwi Neutral Polish - is paraffin wax with a petroleum additive to make it softer and to soften the leather underneath. Then some additives to make it easier to shine after application. Renaissance Wax is just a polyethylene wax - which seals over a surface. It does not rejuvenate dry leather, it isn't supposed to.

Lanolin or wool wax, is both an excellent emollient, to the point where it was originally used in Kiwi polish for the same purpose that petroleum additives are used now. And it dries water resistant, much like a proper wax.

FYI: Saddle soap is usually beeswax, lanolin, mink's oil - guess what it does? It softens leather and "draws dirt out" by filling in open pores which have soaked up sweat and dirt, with oil and emollient. Then, through scrubbing, it cleans.

They're all basically the same thing and do the same thing, except some are far more natural than others (Lanolin and some saddle soaps).

--

Damp cloth, horsehair brush, scrub.

Apply lanolin, scrub, wipe excess, and buff. If satisfied, stop.

If not satisfied apply beeswax, Renn wax, or another wax, buff.