This thread will probably suggest the following: Pecard's, Renapur, Vaseline, Obenauf's, jojoba, some other things (that are all the same as the former, which are all the same) and nothing.
Depending on how old the jacket is, nothing may well work best.
"Lexol" works fine for what it is. It's a watery, lighter to medium duty product primarily intended for horse products, boots, saddles, tack and for farily frequent re-applicaiton. I used it for years prior to joining this forum and being schooled on more "proper" leather maintenance products (For jackets verses tack). Any good search of this forum will give you lots of options to peruse.
To the OP a more specific set of questions...tell us about your jacket. What leather is it made of? Do you know if it's chrome or vegtable tanned? Who is the maker and what is the vintage? All of this data would help to make a more informed reccommendation for your jacket.
I used Pecard's on an original Cable Raincoat A-2 and a 1960s Mary Quant leather jacket. Both reacted well to a bit of light work - I applied it using my fingers to avoid overdoing it - and certainly made them more wearable. I know John Chapman uses vaseline on his jackets, but I tend to prefer leather-specific materials.
Lexol is good but because it is a liquid it can saturate the leather and make it soggy feeling. So it sort of depends on how dry the leather is and how receptive it is to the conditioner. For instance if it’s a shiny jacket with some rough dry spots you’ll get uneven absorption... it will really suck it up too n the nonshiny spots.
I prefer Obenauf’s LP and Obenauf’s leather oil for deep conditioning, plus some saphir neutral gloss wax and venetian leather balm for adding shine. But I used lexol for years. It works but is too liquidy I think.
PS for what it’s worth a lot of guys are into the old beat up broken in rough looking jacket— that’s the “never condition” crowd. Others like to maintain their leather pieces like new— that’s the “frequently condition “ crowd. I’m in the second camp.
Difficult to provide recommendation without knowing the age and condition of the A2 leather. Having said to, having delt with many types of new and old leather and clothing items (including satchels), Leatherique (recommended by Aero) should be a safe option. It is favored by BMW crowd to restore car seat. The car seat takes a lot of beating, surface abrasion, stretch, compression, that a jacket probably would never endure. If the BMW people likes it, it's good enough for my jacket.
Also, I too have a question for the forum today. The rack where I hang my jackets is next to the baseboard heater of the house. Not that the heater is 100 degrees, but given the contrast of room temp (74 average) and the wall side where the jackets hang, the sleeves of the jackets are warmer, but not hot and not being cooked.
So, I wonder if I should consider a coating/sealing type of conditioners, like Obenauf, or Vasoline, to coat the sleeves. It's the same concept as putting lipbalm in winter and when visiting Las Vegas.
I've liked my results with Lexol. Be sure to shake it up really, really well before using.
I recommend using a hair dryer when deep conditioning. Warm the leather, and it will soak the conditioner up like a sponge and go deeper.
Rather than re-writing some of this, I'll re-post something I wrote in another thread:
The key to Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP is heat. Or more aptly, warmth. A hair dryer. You can use an oven, but even on the lowest setting, it is still too hot. I think "warm" on most ovens is 150°F. In my opinion, that is far too hot and beyond necessity for us. The leather will soak up Obenauf's like water to a dry sponge with the addition of heat. It's not as easy as shake>spray>wipe like Lexol, but I also feel Obenauf's gives far superior protection and conditioning. On the other hand, Lexol won't get sucked down into the threading with a spray and a wipe like Obenauf's does. Different needs and desires though. If you're waterproofing something, you want all the stitching holes to swell or fill with the product. That's not really the goal --though it can't hurt-- if you're just conditioning. That addition of heat doesn't hurt when using Lexol either.
I should also add that unless you really goop a lot on (ie too much), warming the leather with a hair dryer can replace the need to buff off excess conditioner. To me, getting the leather to suck in more conditioner is more desirable than wasting product with buffing it off.
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