British WWII era leather work restoration

[Micheal Doyne]

Hi all,

I have a number of items if WWII leather items, some of these are still in regular, semi regular use, principally telescope (signals and sct reg) cases. I have two questions, any idea what thread was used on these as some is perishing?
I do a quite a bit of diy leather work but for this I use modern sail thread which is man made. While I find it fine for new build items or things of less historic value I don’t think would look correct. Additionally what conditioning products to people use on dry or cracked leather?

Cheers

Information

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[Surpmil]

Aussie Leather Balm is said to be very good. The traditional "British Museum Leather Treatment" was half anhydrous lanolin and half Neat's foot oil IIRC, but of course what's sold as the latter these days probably hasn't even come within sight of a real Neat's foot.

Some good info here and here, and here.

Can't help on the thread. Best to ask on a leather working forum.

[Sunray]

Helping dry or cracked leather is a preservation thing vs restoration. Leather being a natural thing that ages. You can't "uncrack" leather. However, you can try saddle soap(the stuff is not cheap). Regular shoe polish is good for preserving leather. It's basically wax with colouring.
Is sail thread polyester? Been doing leather work for eons myself using nothing but waxed linen. Neither one will be much use with damaged leather though. Likely pull right through.

[Micheal Doyne]

The items are good but drying, I have some real Neats foot and saddle soap so will try that.
I will try looking for some waxed linen thread, and see how that pans out.
Thanks

[Sunray]

"...waxed linen thread..." There a Tandy's Leather in the UK? Dunno if it'd be worth buying on-line. Otherwise, it comes from leather crafter shops and maybe a fabric shop. You'll want glover's or embroidery needles too. They have larger eye holes.
Try these guys.
UK Leathercraft supplies by Mail Order.Leather, tools, hardware & sundries, in stock
A net search for 'Leather Crafting England' turned up 3,430,000 results.

[skiprat]

Le Prevo Leathers home page
a good supplier of all things leather and a good source of information, the Mink oil (golden and paste) are less messy than any of the oils and rub in well,

[Micheal Doyne]

Cheers guys.
Once I looked for linen rather than cotton thread all became a lot simpler! I’ve been using neets foot applied periodically until the leather looses its papery feel, which seems to be working. I will add some photos once I’ve done the re stitching.