Best products/techniques to use for old, dry tack to make usable and supple again?

[appaloosacaz]

Hi,

Due to a lot of reasons my boy has been in a field for the past year and hasn't been ridden, my tack has also been neglected.

I was wondering what products/techniques people have for bringing it back to its former glory? Unfortunately it has become a little crispy.....

I have neatsfoot oil already but I hear mixed opinions on it so I was just looking for what people do to get their tack nice again?

Thanks

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

"Creme de Menthe" (think I've spelt it right??) on here is the expert in this.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Koach-a-line is brilliant at bringing dry leather back to life, but don't wear cream jodhs if you treat your saddle!

 

[paddi22]

our saddle maker says he uses the

Absorbine Horsemans One Step ​

https://www.triequestrian.ie/produc...zbLCS7-yUvsyQh4IAjavWlLCaXH1dxhmYhFvNyptM36Lw
https://www.triequestrian.ie/produc...zbLCS7-yUvsyQh4IAjavWlLCaXH1dxhmYhFvNyptM36Lw

 

[Reacher]

"Creme de Menthe" (think I've spelt it right??) on here is the expert in this.

If you message @cremedemonthe and ask him to send his article on caring for leather and a recipe to make conditioner . Or you could buy some from his website https://www.unicornleather.co.uk/

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I use Renapur conditioner

 

[nikkimariet]

Koach-a-line is brilliant at bringing dry leather back to life, but don't wear cream jodhs if you treat your saddle!

This stuff is great, and you can’t go wrong with a good neatsfoot oil either.

 

[sbloom]

I use and stock the conditioner from @cremedemonthe but would add pure neatsfoot (not compound) for very dry unused leather, then use his conditioner going forwards.

Stitching was rotted when it was cotton/linen, it's nearly always nylon now and the danger is making leather floppy, of stretching the fibres apart, hence it's best only used when leather is super neglected (unless the leather/saddle manufacturer says different of course).

 

[holeymoley]

I’ll probably get shot to smithereens for this but if it’s really in a bad way then neatsfoot oil. Let that soak in for a while, then treat it as normal with a decent conditioner.

 

[lynz88]

Passier Lederbalsm is amazing stuff

 

[Trot_on]

Flaxalan is my go too for old tack

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Koach-a-line is brilliant at bringing dry leather back to life, but don't wear cream jodhs if you treat your saddle!

This ^ Super stuff really works well on old neglected tack.

 

[dorsetladette]

I've recently brought an old set of driving harness back to life with warm neatsfoot. (the way my dad used to do it) by warming it it absorbs into the leather more (or seems to anyway). It's now wrapped in oily cotton/flannelette pillow cases to help save it drying out again before I treat it again.

Probably not the most up to date method but it's how I remember my dad keeping his harness supple when the ponies were turned away for the winter.

 

[sbloom]

I've recently brought an old set of driving harness back to life with warm neatsfoot. (the way my dad used to do it) by warming it it absorbs into the leather more (or seems to anyway). It's now wrapped in oily cotton/flannelette pillow cases to help save it drying out again before I treat it again.

Probably not the most up to date method but it's how I remember my dad keeping his harness supple when the ponies were turned away for the winter.

No, it's perfectly good, though I'd then add a waxy conditioner over the outside, oil doesn't keep moisture in the leather but wax does. @cremedemonthe's conditioner is the business for this.

 

[rabatsa]

Be aware of over oiling leather. The fibres swell/push apart and the leather loses its strength.

 

[sbloom]

Be aware of over oiling leather. The fibres swell/push apart and the leather loses its strength.

100%, use sparingly and only on very dry leather, unless otherwise directed by a manufacturer, though even then I'd caution against regular use of oil.

 

[honetpot]

If you message @cremedemonthe and ask him to send his article on caring for leather and a recipe to make conditioner . Or you could buy some from his website https://www.ucornleather.co.uk/

All my tack is vintage, even the newest is twenty years old, all in useable condition and I have over the years tried various leather cleaners, and conditioners, so just out of interest I ordered a trial pot, just to see how it compared to my normal conditioner.
All I would say is it not a beginneers treatment, it was applied on a warm day outside, and it takes work, so its not a quick fix. I had a saddle which must be forty years old that had been stood for two years, my biggest problem now is stopping them from drying out, so even in storage they get a good do every couple of years, so I used the cream, its more like a tub of soft wax on one side and my normal conditioner, Stubben Leather cream, on the other.
I am not saying its a bad treatment, but for the price, the amount of time for the finnish, the Stubben leather cream won hands down, and I ended up finishing the test cream side off with the Stubben. I think of leather conditioner like hand cream, they are both treating skin, they need to be absorbed, not be too tacky, and I like a nice smell. If its really dry it gets a treatment, left stripped overnight in a warm room for it to absorb compleatly, then lightly retreated and then put together.
I am lazy, I was taught you cleaned tack every time used, but as a compramise unless its become wet, it get cleaned with water, buckles undone, and leather cream applied, to all surfaces every third use. The problem with modern leather is its often had a finnish applied to make it look shiney but it prevents any conditioner being absorbed so you have to work harder of the unfinished surface. So my vintage tack long is easier to maintain and look good long term, even if they are used almost every day
What I found interesting in the information sheet provided by Unicorn leather is the advice to use cod liver oil. By accident I ended up using Liquid Gold furniture restorer, its a very fine oil you can apply with a brush, on those areas that are difficult to reach with fingers.

 

[Northern Hare]

I always found Stubben Hamanol Leather Care to be excellent - it's in an orange and white tube.

 

[Reacher]

All my tack is vintage, even the newest is twenty years old, all in useable condition and I have over the years tried various leather cleaners, and conditioners, so just out of interest I ordered a trial pot, just to see how it compared to my normal conditioner.
All I would say is it not a beginneers treatment, it was applied on a warm day outside, and it takes work, so its not a quick fix. I had a saddle which must be forty years old that had been stood for two years, my biggest problem now is stopping them from drying out, so even in storage they get a good do every couple of years, so I used the cream, its more like a tub of soft wax on one side and my normal conditioner, Stubben Leather cream, on the other.
I am not saying its a bad treatment, but for the price, the amount of time for the finnish, the Stubben leather cream won hands down, and I ended up finishing the test cream side off with the Stubben. I think of leather conditioner like hand cream, they are both treating skin, they need to be absorbed, not be too tacky, and I like a nice smell. If its really dry it gets a treatment, left stripped overnight in a warm room for it to absorb compleatly, then lightly retreated and then put together.
I am lazy, I was taught you cleaned tack every time used, but as a compramise unless its become wet, it get cleaned with water, buckles undone, and leather cream applied, to all surfaces every third use. The problem with modern leather is its often had a finnish applied to make it look shiney but it prevents any conditioner being absorbed so you have to work harder of the unfinished surface. So my vintage tack long is easier to maintain and look good long term, even if they are used almost every day
What I found interesting in the information sheet provided by Unicorn leather is the advice to use cod liver oil. By accident I ended up using Liquid Gold furniture restorer, its a very fine oil you can apply with a brush, on those areas that are difficult to reach with fingers.

Yes, agree the commercial conditioners are easier / quicker to use. I was concerned by all the nasty chemicals in the commercial products and (being lazy too) I don’t clean as often as I should so am happy to use the traditional recipe which you can make yourself cost effectively

 

[sbloom]

Easy to use products generally contain a lot of oil or solvents. Oz's stuff needs to be used warm and rubbed in well. It's the business and it will need doing half the number of times you'd use the Stubben. Hamanol isn't the worst product for sure, there are plenty that are okay, but in these, often as not, the good stuff is only just about outweighing the harmful, in terms of ingredients.