use of saddle soap on leather gear

[itz3r1k]

I was just curious to know if you could use saddle soap on your leather gear. Oh and also i'm wondering if anyone on here has an 1842 Springfield there willing to sell for a good price.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: use of saddle soap on leather gear

Hallo!

IMHO...

NO.

For every personn who swears by saddle soap, there is one who swears at it. ;) :)

"Saddle Soap" was developed in the 1800's as a vehilce to get softening oils worked into the leather duirng and after the currying process by adding lanoln, glycerin, etc to soap. It was not meatn to "clean" leather by work oils into it.

"Saddle Soap" being part soap, is alkaline which damages leather and stitching. NUG, saddle soap is rubbberd into dirty leather which grinds the dirt particles deeper into the leather.

Leather is just dead skin that the tanning process prevent from excessive hardening and further falling apart into a pile of skin cells. Currying as part of the tanning process works oils (moisture) into the lskin cells to keep them from crumbling and falling apart particular when flexed and moved.

On the other extreme, excess oiling or moisture swells the cells causing them to "burst" or break down.

The key to a long-lived article of leather is to maintain a decent oil/moisture content. This can be down by drying out wet leathers and when dry lightly wiping with Neatsfoot Oil (not Neatsfoot Oil Compound), or with a beeswax/tallow grease mixture. Or, before winter storage, ust wiping down the leather items as houses can be drier than a desert in winter.

But again, if you Google "saddle soap" who will find myth buster articles right next to "how to clean with saddle soap" articles...

Curt

[Dbackfed]

Re: use of saddle soap on leather gear

Is there anything you can so to stop leather from "cracking" or is it irreversable once it begins?

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: use of saddle soap on leather gear

Hallo!

Ultimately, there is only so much back-and-forth movement leather can endure over time before the skin cell walls break down and or come part. Part of that process is the tannins used in making skin into leather. Another part is too low or too high levels of moisture drying out or expanding the cell structure. And another is cycles of
drying and over-wetting.

Not abusing and keeping the leather moisturized extends its live, but is not a quarantee against the inevitable "someday."

There are also problems caused by some of the compounds that are sold to "water-proof" that contain chemcials such as silicone and various salts or acids that are not that friendly to leather.

Some of us have had problems with the destruction of leather belts and accoutrements caused by the "iron dye" Period method of blackening leather where iron is dissolved in acid which then reacts with the tannins in the leather to produce a black color.

Historically, one of the reasons there tends to be "less" surviving of leather goods and leather accoutrements around the further one goes into the Past is that tanning/currying and preventative maintenance or lack of it only goes so far. IMHO, we as reenactors are not issued replacement accoutrements at the government's expense on a regular issuance cycle where they are intended only to last so long. More times than not, we like our kit to last much longer than a CW soldier had to deal with.

;)

As with saddle soap, others' mileage will vary...

Curt

[itz3r1k]

Re: use of saddle soap on leather gear

thanks for the information

[ACo.]

Re: use of saddle soap on leather gear

Two good and well thought out posts Herr Schmidt. Thanks for getting the right information out there.