What leather conditioner do you use?

[Spoonbelly]

That photo is Jackie Kennedy with her parents.

 

[GriffDeLaGriff]

I got some pecards from ebay and put it on my CafeRacer age tan steerhide. It turned out sweet, a bit darker in the wear areas and the rest of the jacket came alive alot in term of color. It dried in a day and made the jacket a bit softer, i can highly recommend it. Im gonna use it on my wallet, wow i completely forgot this, now i gotta go and do it

 

[stelug]

Nivea: this is all I have used from some years with good resoults untill leather is not cracked or too dry. Is not a personal found but a lot of saddler (bike too) and reconditioner goes for it. This is my first post even if I have been reading for a long while and I like to add that as a long term biker I have a bounch of jackets (rearly too much indeed), some since 25 years, and I always treat them personally. At leats twice year, with a nourishing and cleaning compound (nivea, if is good to me will be good for my second skin) and some specific grease like collonil motorrad leatherplege. You may have a look at theme here and else if some seems a bit bulky or baggi this is due to the fact that I ride in winter too, with havvy garment underhttp://fotoalbum.virgilio.it/motard/fedora

 

[Peacoat]

Welcome to the Lounge, Stelug. Glad you decided to join.

 

[CC-1]

excellent source of leather products

Is anyone familiar with Dyo (Chemical Company) products? I have been using the creamy white leather balm for years ever since it was the only product recommended by Gokey for their Botte Sauvage boots- that's the real, old Gokey, not the Orvis neo-Gokey. The conditioner is the best stuff ever, light, completely non-sticky, leaves a shine- not a coating. Try for yourself though it can be a bit difficult to find. http://www.dyo.com/leather_catalog.html

 

[stelug]

Many thanks for Your's welcome Peacot. I would like to add that in my experience steer hide (such as my Highwayman Aero and Dainese and the real old Cafè racer) reacts better to Collonil. For horses (new Aeroleather Cafè racer or my dark brown jacket) mink oil is way batter. I don't know the reason but I see the effects: if I use mink oil on steer it do not seems to obtain the same nourishing effect than on HH. Buffalo too like better collonil than mink http://fotoalbum.virgilio.it/motard/fedora

 

[mattfink]

I've used both Pecards Antique and Pecards Motorcycle and they both work great. I've never had a waxy residue ever and I use it quite bit in my leatherworking endeavors.

 

[ShrunkinCowboy]

I've used Pecards Antique on some older motorcycle jackets I own (Brooks Brothers, Bristol, & Hein Gericke), and it has worked out fine.

 

[Misterp]

My old 2nd hand Vanson Enfield (in black heavy weight cow), needs some treatment. Someone at Vanson told me I "can use other peoples leather conditioner as long as its a lotion base and not a straight oil". Does that mean any dressing is ok ? I see on this thread one is using Pecard, another Obenauf, Langlitz and so on.

I'm in Europe, it's impossible to find any Vanson conditioner, or I should import one bottle for an outrageaous shipping price.

On Ebay, I can pick many products from Pecard: antique dressing, motorcycle lotion or dressing, regular leather. Great, but which one should I choose then ?

I have a neats foot oil based dressing, would it be okay to use or not ?

Any ideas ?

 

[Peacoat]

I think all the formulations are the same (or essentially the same). The different names are used to "segment" the market--a marketing ploy to sell more product. If you go with the regular leather Pecard, you can't go wrong. As you were advised by the company to stay away from the oil based conditioners, I wouldn't use the neats foot oil.

 

[jimmer_5]

I think a lot of the confusion with conditioners has to do with the way the leather is tanned. For example, my White's, Wesco, and Nick's boots are made with Oil Tanned leather, and the treatments they recommend are a "bee oil" liquid and a thick beeswax paste (they call it a leather preservative). By the way, the oil and paste from White's, Nick's, and Wesco are all virtually the same in my opinion.

For leather jackets you are more likely to find Chrome tanned or Naked (unfinished) leather. These types of leather require different kinds of treatment. Thus far, I have used Lexol on my old Motorcycle jacket (it's the only one old enough that I felt it needed a refreshing. For what it's worth, the only negative effect that I can see is that the leather became creaky and squeaky again! I never saw that one coming!

The biggest issue for me is the argument between natural and man-made conditioners. I am still confused by that one. Also, if anyone has had bad experiences using Lexol, let me know. I know it is used regualrly on Saddles, which are made of leather, and cost much more than a good leather jacket.....

 

[Peacoat]

I have used Lexol for years on English tack, including saddles, with good results. I got a new Devocoux saddle (French) about 4 years ago. Interestingly, the company recommended not using Lexol. Instead it recommended its own conditioner, which has a texture similar to Pecard. I have followed the company's recommendation. I still use Lexol on my other tack, but use Devocoux's cleaner and conditioner on my Devocoux saddle and a German conditioner (texture similar to Pecard) on my other saddles.

 

[Philalethes]

Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvenation is a lanolin-based colorless, odorless great way to bring old or new leathers back to life. We have to worry about killing 1940s cotton thread so we never try to use Lexol or anything else that I've heard questionable results with. You can get this above-mentioned stuff at Tandy Leathers and I'm convinced that it's the VERY BEST stuff around, whether it's for a new Aero, a 1940s Buco, a 1980s Vanson, or, really, anything leather...even if it's stitched with cotton thread (a few of the "new" jacket manufacturers still use cotton thread for authenticity...it might be cotton-wrapped polyester)...

The review of Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator on Amazon says that it is a very good product but really darkens the hides. Does anyone have experience with this? I am looking to restore a ~1950 G-1, so I'm not sure if darkening the hide would be a problem.

 

[Elmonteman]

Leatherique products were the ones that the founder of Aero recommended for old jackets. It is one of the leather maintenance products sold on the Aero site. Since it comes from the US you could probably order it cheaper locally. http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/product-detail.php?id=182

 

[mstrstvns]

One option for leather is mink oil but one of the things that makes mink oil so good as a leather treatment is it's high palmitoleic acid content. One oil that has an even higher content is Sea Buckthorn oil. Like mink oil Sea Buckthorn oil is great for your skin and likewise, it is very stabile when applied to leather products. It's price varies quite a lot so I recommend really searching around for the best price.

 

[apap]

I've used Lexol conditioner for 20 years with no issues. Obenaufs HP is great for boots.

 

[Monitor]

Since I can't get my hands on none of the TFL tested and approved brands like Pecards and Obenauf's (only one European seller on eBay has Pecard but they don't ship internationally, and importing the stuff from the USA would cost me way too much), what other reliable product available in Europe would you guys recommend for treating leather jackets? Everything I can buy locally is silicone based which from I understand should be avoided.

I've heard people mentioning Nivea creme? Is that... okay?

What about Ballistol? Some people swear by it and I know it does wonders to firearms but is it any good for treating leather?

Something I can mix up at home?

 

[handymike]

What about the "Elephant" stuff that Jan Solo swore by?

 

[tonypaj]

Since I can't get my hands on none of the TFL tested and approved brands like Pecards and Obenauf's (only one European seller on eBay has Pecard but they don't ship internationally, and importing the stuff from the USA would cost me way too much), what other reliable product available in Europe would you guys recommend for treating leather jackets? Everything I can buy locally is silicone based which from I understand should be avoided.

I've heard people mentioning Nivea creme? Is that... okay?

What about Ballistol? Some people swear by it and I know it does wonders to firearms but is it any good for treating leather?

Something I can mix up at home?

Try here:

http://www.antiqueleatherdressing.co.uk/shopping/olshop.shtml

They ship to France, which is still Europe

 

[Sloan1874]

That's the shop I got mine from.