Restoration of leather slings

[Patrick Chadwick]

How sweaty are your fingers?

I can't play a brass wind instrument without wearing gloves!
If I do, there's a lovely set of black etched fingerprints the next day!

[gew8805]

Ah, I see......

[csmjms]

Thanks everyone for the advise; the big common advise was stay away from the petroleum products.

[Patrick Chadwick]

stay away from the petroleum products

100% correct. Because what keeps the leather supple is some sort of animal fat or related product - whether lanolin, neatsfoot oil, or the sweat off my grubby fingers.

And petroleum products dissolve animal fats, such as lanolin and neatsfoot oil, and whatever natural fatty elements were in the leather before - and are not good for my skin either!

[gunner]

Good advices saddler! As a colleague i can say that we have a lot of products over here to, but there are only some good ones. I prefer the leather oil made by Effax. Here´s a link

effax | Effax Leder-Öl

[Patrick Chadwick]

I just looked it up:

"Effax Leder-Öl
Das Beste
Nährt, pflegt und schützt alle Glattleder vor Feuchtigkeit. Lanolin, echter Tran und weitere wertvolle, lederpflegende Substanzen sorgen für Langlebigkeit und damit für die Verlässlichkeit ihres Lederequipments – ein großes Plus für Ihre Sicherheit. Säure- und harzfrei. Durch den integrierten Pinsel leicht anzuwenden.
Enthält: Pflegeölmischung, Fette, Fischtran"

Who knows what the other oils and fats are (note: lanolin is also an ingredient mentioned here), but "Fischtran" could be something as non-exotic as cod-liver oil!

- Has anyone tried cod-liver oil on leather?

Patrick

[gunner]

Patrick,

that is only in veeeery small dosage in the leather oil otherwise it would smell like a old fishing boat. Cod-liver oil is an older way to tan leather. They used different grease and cod oil or whale oil too. Tanned leather like this was water resistant and used at rifle slings, shoes, leather gear and for carriage roofs. And it rehfreshes leather and makes it resistant to humidity( water not the leather oil) I use it since years for all my leather gear and it is great. And the best, if you´re in troubles you can chew your rifle sling for the healthy cod-liver oil! Bluaarghh!

[Warren]

Ko-Cho-Line is available in Canada through WILTON TACK Lt. at $12.95 a can. You can order it on the net by doing a Wilton TACK Ltd. search and they accept paypal (yuk!!), but they do have it.
Just ordered a can and it is on the way.

[saddler]

Contacted Carr Day & Martin last week about the Data Sheets for Ko-Cho-Line
...as of today, no response

Will try phoning them if I have had no reply by the end of the week

[Johnny Peppers]

Some advocate that using no preservative is best for the leather, but in some cases that is not an option. This is a rare Luger holster that was so dry that the outer glaze was falling off. Even keeping it carefully wrapped in a towel, the leather continued to flake off. Finally it was treated with Pecards, and the leather is now stabilized. Some don't like Pecards, but in this case it works.