Leather Care

Message

Henriettaah · Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:14 pm

I've got my new Swift armoured jacket which I am really pleased with

In fact, I've got it on now under the pretense of 'breaking it in'

Its great! After all these years, I've finally got my own biking jacket - leather, padded, armoured, lined.. even with keprotec bits down the inner arms

Anyway, I want to take good care of it, and am wondering what others use to care for their leather. (My neighbour was laughing and saying "No cleaning! And get it a bit scuffed!"

) I always remember we cared for the horses tack with saddle soap and neatsfoot oil.. too much neatsfoot can rot the stitching, but are there products which can help waterproof the leather and keep it supple?

bikeguy joe · Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:26 am

I have a jacket that's 16 years old....I've always just used saddle soap and some neat's foot oil. I use both sparingly, like once a year, mostly to get the coating of bugs off.

Scuffing it up a bit goes back to the "old days" when you wanted your leather to look well worn- even if you only wore it on a rare occasion. (wanna be's and posers) I used to know a Harley guy who would use his leather as a ground cloth when he worked on cars ect. just to make it look "old". Dumb.

I got this leather from the J.C. Whitney catalog for 88 dollars 16 years ago.....http://tinypic.com/dy856r.jpg

Henriettaah · Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:57 am

Hey thats cool... but where'd you get the old man wearing it??!

ejshotgun · Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:53 am

I use saddle soap for cleaning and mink oil paste.

bikeguy joe · Sat Sep 24, 2005 1:01 pm

Henriettaah wrote:Hey thats cool... but where'd you get the old man wearing it??!

Spiff · #6 Unread post by **Spiff** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:01 am

Some people swear by Lexol.

I've not tried it yet, but I intend to.

Wizzard · #7 Unread post by **Wizzard** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 6:49 am

I'm a big believer in Mink Oil . For cleaning I use a product made by STP called Son Of A Gun .
Regards, Wizzard

Craig7220 · #8 Unread post by **Craig7220** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 8:00 am

I've used mink oil for years. One of my leather jackets is 23 years old and still looks in good shape.

JCS · #9 Unread post by **JCS** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:13 am

Lexol. I've been using it for years and have been more than pleased.

c-los · #10 Unread post by **c-los** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 8:36 pm

I wipe it down with a damp cloth and coat it liberally with bick 4 leather conditioner. if its really dirty use a BIT of saddle soap or bick 3 leather cleaner.