Leather conditioner?

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GBov

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I have read that sometimes people put a leather conditioner onto their newly done rabbit hides. What is it and why use it?

And does it effect the feel of the suede feeling of the hide side?
 
I use a neatsfoot based tanning oil , or a brush on syn-tan with the oil already blended in.
Most leather conditioners have the same main ingredient.
So I'd assume the leather conditioner is being used in place of tanning oil?


Products sold as "leather conditioner" usually costs a whole lot more than pure neatsfoot, or products sold as tanning oil. I try to avoid overpriced gimmicky stuff..


Using one shouldn't ruin any sueded feeling though, if anything, the correct amount of oil makes a pelt feel softer.
 
Olive oil works great. It's used by some of the top saddle makers in the country and I've had great results using on my tack and belts. Any oil can darken leather though so just be aware.
 
Thanks Zass! :D

I am trying an experiment with three dried fryer hides in the dryer with some shoes. I had to stop due to the noise at bedtime but so far, with 2, 20 min. goes, one hide is looking really good with the other two looking not to bad.

Tomorrow I will put many more shoes in the drum and just keep turning the dryer on when it finishes each air dry cycle and see how they turn out.

But, with no tanning agent of any kind, I was wondering if I should put some conditioner or something on them once finished?
 
You can try shaking olive oil with some warm water(to blend it), and then quickly sponging it on before the oil and water separates. Then returning it to the dryer to finish. The reason I'm recommending mixing it down is because over oiling can be worse than not oiling at all. It's much much easier to accidentally over-oil a rabbit pelt than some bark tanned saddle leather.

I'm making some hair-off whitetail leather right now using nothing but black walnut hulls and Murphy's oil soap. My test scrap came out beautiful.
 
If you get neatsfoot look for bulk pure neatsfoot and not neatsfoot compound. The latter has petroleum products added that can increase the odds of rot and poorer longterm results. That only makes people use the compounds more often so more damage can be done. You can dilute pure neatsfoot yourself if necessary but it's well worth the extra cost. Of course I am talking more from experience of cattle leather finished in various ways for use around horses, including what we covered in equine science college classes about tack care, and I love deerskin items for myself. I get these deerskin hiking boots every 5 years when the not deerskin parts start to fall apart and locally made deerskin gloves every other year while retiring the last pair to more damaging jobs.
 
I don't know why it didn't occur to me earlier...oil-soap(or any kind of soap) can be used an an emulsifier for olive oil. A drop (or more) added to the solution makes spreading it on the hide evenly much easier.
 
Zass":bbn22bok said:
I don't know why it didn't occur to me earlier...oil-soap(or any kind of soap) can be used an an emulsifier for olive oil. A drop (or more) added to the solution makes spreading it on the hide evenly much easier.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that trick I'll definitely have to try it. Thanks Zass!
 
alforddm":2x0e6xbt said:
Zass":2x0e6xbt said:
I don't know why it didn't occur to me earlier...oil-soap(or any kind of soap) can be used an an emulsifier for olive oil. A drop (or more) added to the solution makes spreading it on the hide evenly much easier.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that trick I'll definitely have to try it. Thanks Zass!
Click to expand...


That would be only if you wanted dilute the olive oil with water. Maybe not so useful for saddle leather, but might help prevent over oiling of a rabbit skin.
 

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