Care and Feeding of Bridle Leather - Calling all Leather Gurus

[pingable]

What is the recommended products for caring and feeing of bridle leather. From everything that I've looked at, they all see to recommend saddle soap.



On various other threads, they suggest saddle soap is extremely alkaline and will destroy leather, etc.



I'm not looking to ~refurbish~ neglected bridle leather surfaces. I just want to add moisture back into it.



It's my understanding that saddle soap is generally finished with Oil so it's best to ~feed~ oil based products to it - not water based.

 

[Roger Koh]

Is this the leather type we are going to talk about?



#1 Vegetable Tanned Leathers also known as Vachetta made popular by Luois Vuitton and Coach bags.

#2 Fatliquoring at pH 5.0

#3 Fats and Oils suck in by the leather structure leaving the water behind.

Example of Leather products using this same leather type…you can add on for discussion





Furnishing by "Geogetti"

Typical Saddle (This is dyed black).

Louis Vuitton Bag Trim

Roger Koh

Leather Doctor

 

[Volvonaut]

So I am just getting into dealing with leather. I was curious about the thing where that leather absorbed the fats & oils. Is that something people ever do to car seats?



My car seats (Volvo 780 by Bertone) resemble the two Geogetti stools, maybe thicker though. They're worse than these pictures convey and are somewhat brittle, but there's just one minor tear. I would love to do something dramatic to revitalize and future-proof them.

 

[Roger Koh]

These pictures show Ford King Ranch Aniline Leather being hydrated with a pH 3.3 hydrator and fatliquored with a pH 5.0 fatliquor.



If leathers of any types including nubuck and suede can be hydrated, it can be fatliquored.



And it can make the leather as soft and as strong as you wish to the maximum tear strength avoiding rips as you seen in this picture.



#1 Ford King Ranch Aniline Leathers

#2 A pH 3.3 hydrator at work

#3 A pH 5.0 fatliquor at work

Roger Koh

Leather Doctor®