Old leather smell

[nikanita]

We have bought a lovely old leather saddle for daughters pony but it has that "old leather" smell. We have cleaned it with saddle soap, oiled it and tried huntsmans conditioning cream but still has that smell. Any suggestions for getting it to smell nicer?

 

[EffyCorsten]

One of the best smells around is old leather smell =D

 

[mirage]

I agree,gorgeous smell.My husband has a cologne called 'Spanish leather' which is my favourite.

 

[cremedemonthe]

One of the tricks of the trade to make old saddlery smell like new leather is to get some cod liver oil, wring a cotton lint free cloth out in it and gently rub a VERY thin film over the flesh side (the under side) and where you can't get to the flesh side such as seat and panel, then on the grain side (top side).
You are not trying to condition leather just apply a very thin dressing/film.
I have people come into my workshop after I've dressed my hide with cod liver oil and say what a lovely leathery smell, yet if I shove a bottle of cod liver oil up their snouts they turn their noses up!
If we are selling secondhand saddlery, we use this method to give it the right smell.
Cod liver oil is used in some of the tanning process to stuff the hides full of fats, greases and oils but remember too much can weaken the cell structure on the hide, rot out certain types of threads ands darken the hide, use sparingly, Oz (Saddler est 1988)