What to do with damaged leather items

[gew8805]

aarondhgraham, while I don't approve of Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator (the use of a Vaseline type product in it's contents alone says enough about that, too much petroleum from that source alone), I do agree with the spirit of your post, you agreed precisely with what I said in mine when you said "Do not over oil the leather,,, The worst mistake is to drench dried up leather in neatsfoot oil". Re-read what I said and you will see I advised that you should proceed slowly when doing this work and only use small amounts of PURE neatsfoot oil at a time. Reapply lightly as needed, neatsfoot oil will soak in more quickly than any modern, artificial goop, better in fact, requiring fewer applications than the thicker greases. Believe me, I have been at this for over 40 years and I have "been there and done that".

Seaspriter, you gave good advice and I especially appreciate your naming the contents of Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvinator. But I do ask that you avoid comparison of a restoration of a military rifle and a piece of leather gear, they were made for two different purposes with different expectations of durability and the rifle will long outlast the leather item when both start out new together. While the leather item was designed to be durable and was made of durable material, it was a throw away item that could be replaced easily when it was a common piece of military gear - it no longer is. I do not preach solely preservation as Aragorn243 seems to feel, I am a fan of restoration for use as long as an item is not rare or in as new condition, and without having it in had or at least good, detailed photos of the item I can not make that judgement call so I am happy to err on the side of caution. At the risk of offending the holster's owner (I do not intend to) I have to say that the holster in question is probably not a rare type and it sounds to be in only borderline collectible condition - it can be used. The advice I gave in the above thread was given to be on the safe side, if Aragorn243 were an experienced leather worker, I would have given more detailed info. Of course if he were experienced he would not have had to ask the question in the first place so I will will not say more on a public forum, this is best done in a face to face situation with the item in hand. He has shown many times on this forum that he is capable of good work even when inexperienced and I am sure that he will do well in this effort as well.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[henry r]

I am a fan of restoration for use as long as an item is not rare or in as new condition

to add one to this (my personal biggest hate) restoring a well cared for and unmolested but aged original. thankfully it doesn't seem common here, but you see it far too regularly on car forums and it makes me want to cry every time.