So how should you clean tack?

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chaps89

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Reading back after searching various posts about tack cleaning and am now totally confused. Can some-one please enlighten me?!
1) If tack is new and not terribly soft/supple, what is the best way of helping soften it up?
2) What is the difference between cleansers, conditioners, oils, waxes, saddle soap, balsam etc?
3) Are there any ingredients to look out for- either to avoid or that are desirable? (If tack cleaning stuff even contains ingredients lists?!)

I normally use warm water with a dishcloth, wrung out & go over tack to remove any dirt. Now there seems to be cleansers or cleaners available, are these worth the money?
Follow by flexalan or kaoachalin if it has got particularly wet, wiped over the next day followed by saddle soap or just saddle soap straight away if not overly dirty/wet.
Bought my saddle from a respected saddler who gave me a really greasey product to put on it (it was years ago & I can't for the life of me remember what it is, sorry, small white round tub with lid that screws on/off & a green label) but I didn't get on with it for love nor money, then had carr day & martin leather conditioner (beige tub, bright orange product) but that felt sticky, currently using NAF soft soap (was a freebie with something so been using it because it was there!)
So what should I be doing?

Thankyou in advance & sorry if I sound like a numpty :o I actually enjoy tack cleaning but haven't ever really thought about what products to use/ the science behind using different things, thought it was all just personal preference but searching a few old threads made me wonder!
 
Ok . Generally , as you do now ... hand hot clean water (change it regularly) and a cloth not a sponge ( sponge holds too much water and soddens the leather) wring out as much water as you can.
Now comes the difficult bit .... as leather is skin it can vary as to what it needs ... is it dry , wet , scuffed , split/cracked etc etc and what you are going to do with it . If its going into storage or not used a lot , creams and greases are a good item . I love the soft soap as they are a mixture of soap and oil , a little goes a long way , it will soften and feed the leather. A good day to day product.
If you put soap on leather thats not clean thats when it goes tacky .
Oil if dry or stiff but not too much as it will soften it too much and leather will stretch and become floppy and stitching can rip thru the leather when under pressure.
 
everyone seems to have different methods and products.
personally, I use Carr and day and martin saddle soap and warm water, then I use Hamanol and leave it to work in before polishing.
my dad uses kao-cho-line only.
 
For all stiff leather I would use neatsfoot oil regularly on the reverse side and keep doing it until the leather doesn't soak it up and the leather becomes supple - you should do this at least once a month and more regularly if the tack is getting very wet and muddy or on new tack. but as "somethingillremember" says don't drown it in oil as it might become too soft.

For cleaning use saddle soap to actually clean it after use, but make sure that your cloth is damp not wet, you don't want the soap lathering up.

All of the other stuff tends to be great short term and gives a nice shiny clean appearance but tends to build up layers of grease, you can't beat the old fashioned way !
 
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A little while ago I discovered "Horseman's One Step", fantastic stuff, BUT drawback is (a) it isn't cheap and (b) you'll soon find you've used the tub. But it IS pretty damn good stuff for cleaning mucky tack if you're in a rush, plus boots. You can also clean the stuff that you wouldn't normally do with tradditional saddle soap, i.e. I've got a pair of half-leather, half-webbed reins and this stuff will do both without needing to buy a separate product.

But echo previous poster in that you can't really beat the old fashioned way i.e. glycerine saddle soap bar plus the pre-requisite elbow grease! Cheap, cheerful and endures the test of time.
 
I'm another one for the old fashioned way. I find tack cleaning quite therapeutic. I will admit to using parade gloss shoe polish on the show stuff after I've cleaned it. I once spent an entire hour long programme polishing the seat of my saddle. How the jockey stayed on I have no idea!!
 
Some of the tack cleaning advice I read makes me literally cringe :D Though I've read worse on another forum (washing LEATHER tack IN THE WASHING MACHINE! soaking in buckets of oil...putting it in the oven to warm the oil through...Bejeezus, I've never read owt like it :D)
 
I'm very much a clean with hot water then apply saddle soap with elbow grease type. All tack gets a soaking in oil in the autumn (to 'waterproof' for winter) or if new/dry. My bridles are over 15 years old and still in very smart condition.
I have a question to put out there though, noticed my pride and joy Equipe jumping saddle getting that green tinge that older saddles seem to aquire, mentioned it at the Amerigo stand at a show and they said it's due to the glycerine in saddle soap. I was advised to use oil to remove the staining and not use saddle soap again. The oil tip works but takes time and effort, leather eventually comes up looking like new but what should I now use to maintain/polish?
 
I use a sponge with hot water to clean grease etc off, dry off with a tea towel and leave for 10 mins then use Effax leather balm. Bridle always gets taken apart, stirrups and leathers taken off etc.

Works for me!! Gets done before and after every days hunting and once a week thereafter.
 
I currently use a cloth to take sweat/dirt off, and then Urad tack cream (beige pot, brown lid) to make it nice and shiny. I can clean 4/5 saddles and 4/5 breastplates using tha method in about 10 minutes.

I also recommend Belvoir two stage tack cleaner. Spray cleaner on, wipe off, spray conditioner on, leave.
 
:D
Capriole said:
Some of the tack cleaning advice I read makes me literally cringe :D Though I've read worse on another forum (washing LEATHER tack IN THE WASHING MACHINE! soaking in buckets of oil...putting it in the oven to warm the oil through...Bejeezus, I've never read owt like it :D)
Click to expand...

OMG when I was around 12 I remember asking my mum to clean my bridle before a show while I went and plaited pony up. When I got home she was sitting at the table rubbing it with vaseline having just put it through the washing machine... she thought my old block of glycerine Carr Day & Martin was too 'filthy' to use.

Oddly it came up like new. All the cream stitching was cream again, and all the dirt off with the vaseline putting the shine back. I think she did it deliberately to stop me asking again, it worked on that front :D
 
I wash it down with a damp warm cloth to remove dirt, sometimes i use carr and day tack cleaner to remove the grease. I bought some lovely soap of eBay which apparently is used by army soliders to condition the leather boots, well it really gives the leather a beautiful shine. My boots looked patent afterward!
 
The thought of putting it in the washing machine scares me :o Think I won't be following that method. Capriole - if the advice is making you :o what do you suggest out of interest?
I fully strip clean (can't stand people that 'clean' tack every use but is wiped over with a dirty sponge, too much saddle soap & not taken apart so it all builds up in the keepers & buckles, yuck) tack (bridle, using cocktail sticks for the holes, and take saddle leathers off & girth out of girth guard etc) and put in the effort to make sure tack is completely clean using rag & warm water (kept clean) so not sure why this method would get sticky tack using one brand of product and not another, odd.
The horsemans one step stuff wasn't as bad as I feared (I was expecting something like £20 for a tub!) tho I'm sceptical about it cleaning tack & then conditioning too, do you not have to wipe/clean with damp cloth first with this? How can a product do both cleaning and conditioning?
Never been a fan of the traditional belvoir glycerine bar, but maybe thats because I've only come across it being used in riding schools by kids with sponges & too much water which causes nasty mess!
Polonaise would be interesting in finding a day to day use cream/soap/conditioner, just don't know what I should be looking at. Will look at Urad (are tehy always at the shows, name rings a bell, sure I've seen them at YHL etc), Effax & Hamanol tho, thanks for the recommendations :)
One of the things I miss about riding is not having tack to clean, I got my horses tack out and cleaned it for the sake of it the other day, it hadn't been used in months & isn't in storage as such, it's just on it's saddle rack in my bedroom, but I still enjoyed it, maybe I need to get out more...!
 
Horsemans One Step to clean it, microfibre cloth to wipe down any remaining dirt/grease, then effax balsam to condition.
I wipe reins, flashes/grackles, stirrup leathers etc with any tack wipe I have to hand after pretty much every use.
 
Renapur... can't recommend it highly enough.
Pricey and I am tight as ... but worth it. Never seen tack stand up to a drenching so well and look lovely.

No - not on commission :D
 
Step one) tack out of tack room and put in boot of car, drive car home.

Step two) plonk tack down infront of Mother with tack cleaning essentials and Take That in concert on the tv

Step three) leave Mother to sing along to Gary Barlow while washing half a years worth if dirt off the tack.

Step four) Take tack back to yard all nice a clean and then buy Mother a cream cake on the way home as a thank you.

:D:D
 
Warm water with a widgy bit of washing up soap, then spray on saddle soap.....until i re-found Dubbin!!
 
Great thread. There are a lot of new products around. Question ... What am I doing wrong to get mould on leather tack I haven't used for a while and how do I stop this happening? Is it simply because I'm not cleaning it properly?:o
 
slightlyconfused said:
Step one) tack out of tack room and put in boot of car, drive car home.

Step two) plonk tack down infront of Mother with tack cleaning essentials and Take That in concert on the tv

Step three) leave Mother to sing along to Gary Barlow while washing half a years worth if dirt off the tack.

Step four) Take tack back to yard all nice a clean and then buy Mother a cream cake on the way home as a thank you.

:D:D
Click to expand...

I like this one.

I spent years bunging my bridles in the washing machine :D and until recently I hadn't owned a leather saddle for over 15 years.

My bridles get oiled when I remember, new pretty bridle won't because I don't want it going darker.
 
Bridles are stripped down, wiped over with a damp sponge, scrubbed using soft soap and toothbrush, wiped with damp sponge again, then I go over the stitching, and any buckle or billet holes with an awl to make sure they aren't gunked up. Finally everything is wiped over with Prestige leather conditioner.

Saddle is streated similarly, except i normally go over the stitching and any hard to reach places with a soft toothbrush first to flick the dust out before I dampen everything.

And this reminds me I have two saddles to clean this weekend :rolleyes:
 
I've started using The Logical Range 'Allrounder' for removing grease/dirt. That stuff is brill! Only one i've used that actually works and very quickly. I then use Effax leather balm to condition.
 
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