bored?

[blendedfamily]

So I got bored this week and decided to clean my leathers. I'm broke as a joke, and these things are fading fast. Faced with the dilemma of shipping them off and having them cleaned and conditioned for 150 bucks, I figured I'd give it a whirl myself. I threw them in the bath tub with some Dawn soap, let them air dry for a couple days, then slapped on some conditioner I got from Tandy Leatherworks.


before:




in the tub:


after:




Are they cleaner? Who knows. Do they smell any better? Not really. The leather is still pretty hard, especially around the arm pits and wrists, where it typically fails first. I guess I'll have to see if there is any difference after the conditioner sets in. If it buys me another month or two, I'd say its a win, considering it was only a couple hours time and 10 bucks.

[ZiaThunder]

For the black marks..... Mr Clean Magic eraser works fantastic.

For cleaning leather you should use Ivory soap, it doesn't damage the leather like some of the other soaps can.

When you are using leather conditioner on stiff leather. rub it on, let it set for a bit. then rub more on while bending and twisting the leather. It what I used to have to do with new leather stuff for the horses. Nothing softens up and breaks in a saddle faster or better then almost soaking it in olive oil.

[ZF67]

Nice job! I do basically the same thing. But when they are about 1/2 dry, i put them on and use leather car interior conditioner and baseball mit oil (neatsfoot oil) on a rag. Seems to work good. let us know how they feel when u strut around in them

[blendedfamily]

I'll try that trick. I used dawn because I figured, "shit, they clean baby ducks with this crap". I'm using Mr. Jackson's conditioner, I've used 4way before with decent results, but I figured I'd give this one a try.