oiling leather?

[dazco]

I was wondering....i have a pair of deerskin gloves and today i found and bought another pair but this one with long gauntlets. I use them in warm to slightly cold weather and i have a pair of heavy lined gauntlets for real cold. Anyways, it was just a little chilly today and when i tried the new deerskin/gauntlets i was happy to find they kept my hands considerably warmer than my old deerskins. The do look smoother, IE: less porous. But that led me to think about oiling them and whether that would make them further impervious to cold. And thoughts on that?

 

[CarlS]

Oiling them will most certainly keep them soft and more waterproof. If they are more waterproof, they will be more windproof.

 

[Rocky]

As Carl mentioned, using a good leather treatment will make them soft and probably waterproof (depending on what you use) but it won't make them any warmer. They would be warmer from the point of view of not your skin not being wet, but the leather treatment won't add any insulation effect.
Riding along on a sunny but cold day will be just as cold on the hands at speed. The cold wind will still wick away the heat from your hands.

 

[DaveM]

So what sort of oil would you put on something like this. I have always used Dubbin on my leathers and it has worked well

http://www.johan-potgieter.com/dubbin.shtml

 

[dazco]

i see. I just figured that the oil would make the pores in the leather less open and hence allow less wind thru. oh well, these gloves are still much warmer than my last deerskins, which is really odd since they are both the same thickness with no liner. Maybe the old gloves are so dried out oil WOULD help them in this regard. Anyways, i spent $40 on gloves and $125 on a leather jacket this weekend and i'm much warmer without any more layers that usual. Found the perfect jacket on sale regularly $345, so i made out like a bandit there. Funny.....i asked at another forum once about whether leather would be warmer than my heavy fur lined levi jacket and a lot of people told me no. Man were they wrong ! I've been looking for a leather jacket for 3+ years now and it wasn't till now that i found one at a great price that fit well and looked like i want.

 

[DaveM]

Well I go to admit I am still using my leather and I don't think I will change. I found riding in snow it was around the warmest I had at the time

 

[The Seeker]

Leather, as a material itself, is about THE most windproof thing you can use for jackets, gloves, boots, etc. Waterproofing it is a MUST. And since leather doesn't come cheap, it only makes sense to take care of it. It also makes it eventually LOOK better than when it was new.

Waterproofing it would tend to help it's porousness, but the difference (I think) would be negligible to you.

I maintain about 8-10 horse saddles (some I am a bit neglectful of...LOL), and recommend a neatsfoot oil and/or a creme conditioner or Lexol. See pages 1 and 2 here: http://www.sstack.com/jump.jsp?itemID=150&itemType=CATEGORY&iMainCat=133&iSubCat=150&level=2

 

[dazco]

Is that stuff good for a new jacket like mine? it's Italian leather thats got a nice finish that is sorta glossy. I know they put some sort of sealer or finish over some leather and i don't know if it has that or if oil would harm it. The gloves on the other hand are obviously raw leather.

 

[The Seeker]

With that type of outer finish, you probably only want to use a light spray-on conditioner. I wouldn't use an oil or anything that would penetrate and perhaps dull your gloss.

 

[dazco]

thats what i figured. I guess it should be left alone till it gets so old the finish is gone and it's raw again, which will be when someone else owns it cuz i won't likely be around by then. I do by the way have lexol that i used on my car seats. But i think i shouldn't have because it didn't seem to do any good and it too has a finish to it. maybe i'll try it on my gloves,....first my old ones that are all faded and dried out. might be why they let more wind thru.

 

[The Seeker]

You should always clean leather (with saddle soap) before you treat it with anything. If you don't, you only cause the dirt to penetrate into the leather which will make it break-down faster.

Car seats should be cleaned with saddle soap. Then ewhen they are completely dry, you buff them with soft terry cloth. You can then add a creme conditioner to restore the oils and fat. Again, buff them with terry cloth.

 

[The Seeker]

I have work saddles that were only worth around $400.00. But I have show saddles that are worth as much as $8000.00 (depending on the brand and the amount of silver on them).

When you have that much invested in leather (not to mention halters, etc).....you tend to care for them a lot.

 

[dazco]

I do clean the seats first. I use a solution of woolite (recommended my i think it's mercedes) and water, then lexol. Still it seems as tho the lexol does nothing really, possibly because it's finished leather.

 

[The Seeker]

It's definitely helping even though you don't actually see the results. First, cleaning them takes out the dirty parts and makes them look clean. Second, the conditioner, while not seeming to do much, is keeping them more supple and will stop them from drying and cracking.

I'm not sure I agree with Mercedes on the Woolite thing. Saddle soap would definitely be better for leather. It's got the things leather needs to restore "health" to the leather and won't break-down the fats and oils in the leather. Woolite's "soap" would tend to remove those things if used too often.

 

[dazco]

well, i'm at 40k or so and the seats are fine so i'm not gonna worry about that. But i'll try lexol on my old gloves and if it helps i'll use it on the new ones once they have a little time on them.

 

[dazco]

Wow....now i know what lexol does ! Like i said, on my car seats i couldn't tell that it did anything because the leather is finished and i really don't think it penetrates the finish. But my old deerskin gloves....man, what a difference ! They were 3.5 years old and were mostly grey looking from being so dried out. i don't know what i never thought to do this, but i lexol'd them and they just turned jet black again and became supple as can be. And i have little doubt they will be more resistant to wind penetration. I think thats why my new deerskins are so much better at wind protection....the old ones were just so dried out. It makes sense it would work mainly or only on raw leather. Kinda reminds me of how furniture polish always touts itself and preserving the wood when in actuality the wood is covered by clear coats of lacquer or poly !!! You're polishing the finish, not the wood. Of course no leather product is going to tell you it works mainly or only on raw leather because they wouldn't sell as much !
In any case, great stuff when used where it's really needed !

 

[Lioness]

I don't do anything to my leather - just wear it. I mean have you ever seen farmers oiling their cows? Do cows get cold? :y24: :y24:

 

[CarlS]

:y24: :y24:

What, you all don't oil your cattle over there? :y114:

 

[DaveM]

:y24: :y24: :y24: :y115:

 

[Rocky]

I've heard of greased pigs but not oily cows :ya2: