Thread: Homemade Leather Preservative / Waterproofing

Forum discussions on leather preservatives and waterproofing seem to bring out a range of opinions and product endorsements. There are potential pitfalls with leather treatments. While wanting to prevent dried and cracked leather and add suppleness in the right places along with waterproofing, will the leather still breath? Possibly not as well. Will it instead become too soft so the lace hooks on boots rip out or some of the structural integrity is lost so there is no longer sufficient ankle support? What about causing failure of the adhesives and the soles falling off, or accelerating the breakdown of the leather itself rather than preserving, and the same of any non-synthetic stitching? Some boot manufacturers specifically exclude some, or all, alternatives to their own proprietary leather care products - often those containing oils. Whether the reasons are genuine or simply a means through the warranty conditions to generate additional revenue is uncertain. Others on here say they have used traditional dubbin all their lives with no issues whatsoever. What is certain though is that waxes or oils and Gore-Tex do not go together! These are usually all considerations for boots whereas they might be less so for treating say a leather jacket.

Should the product be based on beeswax alone, or perhaps lanolin, or other animal by-products like neatsfoot, or something altogether different? Past threads have shown that Huberd’s Grease and Sno-Seal are two of the more popular products on here. What do these products contain? Huberd’s is based on an unspecified wax (thought to be beeswax), pine tar, and petroleum distillates. The Sno-seal is much the same without the tar. There are no doubt other ingredients as well, and the above is only what is revealed in the online MSDS. I don’t know what is in the Gregor Chemie Lederpflege und Imprägniermittel other than silicone, but being German it should provide efficient treatment.

Price-wise most products run at $15-20 per 100mls for the common smaller package sizes, so I thought I’d look into homemade – see if I could make a bulk brew on the cheap, and then post links to the sources of the ingredients for anyone else who was interested in doing likewise.




Beeswax seemed to be the way to go, but is not easy to apply without being blended with oils or solvents to make a softer mixture. I assembled the ingredients for one of the homemade beeswax blend recipes that turned up from an online search and ended up with the following, so can proudly claim all natural ingredients along with no nasty chemicals. No doubt any leather so treated will be restored, fed, pampered, and nourished in equal measure. Please note in view of my earlier comments that this is indeed a beeswax formula but with an oil base.

Almond Oil : Castor Oil : Beeswax : Coconut Butter

Approximate mix ratios of the above by volume: 2 : 2 : 1 : 1


As at September 2019 the below link to the ingredients I purchased:

Coconut Butter, 400grams, $5.49
https://www.paknsaveonline.co.nz/pro...re-coconut-oil

Almond Oil, 1litre, $15.00
https://www.purenature.co.nz/product...=9399134781484

Castor Oil, 1litre, $12.00
https://www.purenature.co.nz/collect.../castor-oil-bp

Beeswax, 500grams, $13:00
https://www.purenature.co.nz/collect...ynthetic-blend


From my investigation, smaller packaged sizes than these are not cost effective and tend to be marketed as organic with hiked pricing. If you know where any of the above can be sourced in smaller amounts AND at proportionally lower cost please share the details.

I used a part-synthetic beeswax blend. Not that I dislike the smell of beeswax, but I wanted this leather treatment to have as little odour as possible, and the finished mix did end up having very little at all. Substituting natural beeswax will restore the smell. Another place to get beeswax locally here in Wellington is National Candle who offer door sales for hobbyists.




Preparation began by mixing together the oils in the above supplied volumes and then heating to around 70°C at which temperature the beeswax can be added and will melt into the mix on stirring. Be a little careful with direct heating as all the ingredients will burn quite nicely if given the chance. Once the wax was blended in, the mix was poured out into containers and left to set on standing. And it’s as easy as that. The blend of the ingredients is apparently non-critical, the oil-to-wax ratio setting the finished consistency and so can be tweaked accordingly.




Problem:

I now have roughly 3 litres of leather conditioner/waterproofing, much of which I may never get around to using. Obviously the resulting final volume was anticipated when I purchased the ingredients, so I also got in some small aluminium screw-top tins through AliExpress for packaging.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32999855606.html


Here is a deal:

For Forum members who have private messaged me in the past and want to try out this concoction, contact me again with your address and you can have a 150ml sample free of charge, as long as the rather limited stocks last. Ideally you would also then transfer $5 to cover the cost of the tin and the $3.50 NZPost prepaid bag, though I won’t be bothered policing this. The contents itself however comes compliments of Puffin.

There is one caveat however:

At some later date you must add to this thread so we know how this worked out on your stuff, be it boots, jackets, man-bag, etc. Being comprised of only food/cosmetic-grade constituents; if you used it for a lip balm, sunscreen, for frying up back steaks in an emergency, or other uses, please report this. Don’t be shy.




Perhaps if this turns out by consensus to be a good thing, then brewing up batches may become a regional Forum activity where the resulting volume can be split amongst a group?

Thanks @Puffin I’ll try it on my redwing boots first and let you know.

Always thought "animal products for animal products" and "plant for plant"
IE I wouldn't put plant oils on leather. Neatsfoot is pretty much it, and you can usually get feet/ shin bones from butchers for free, bit of mutton fat helps on stitching if you can keep away from rats.

Good onya for doing this tho.

My package arrived today thanks @Puffin hopefully I can try it out soon

my 3 pairs of boots that have been given the treatment look and feel great.Thanks Puffin....look forward to seeing how well it holds up.

I haven't forgotten either @Puffin shamefully I haven't used it yet but will write a review when I have

Thank you @Puffin
I appreciate all the research and care you have taken to put this together!
I am really looking forward to test your product and I am pretty sure it's going to be great



...I don’t know what is in the Gregor Chemie Lederpflege und Imprägniermittel other than silicone, but being German it should provide efficient treatment.
I found these ingredients are in the above:

Water,heavy solvent, Naphta, Dimethylpolysiloxan, natural and synthetic wax, Stearicacid, Oleicacid, Pigment (black), Phtalacidproof Glycerin, Lanolinacid, Triethanolamine.
Hope that helps

On a slightly different note @Puffin do you have the program “Mountain Men” on in NZ?

There’s a trapper on the program that talks about just this and how the cured skins today don’t breath because of all the chemicals in them.
Now he was talking about a big Wapiti skin that he was doing and after fleshing it out and taking all the hair off he called for his wife to bring the “Brains”, (Wife and I are watching this) anyway he then shows us how he slowly brings these elk brains to the boil and makes a thin broth which he then with a big brush paints onto the hide. Explaining that this will cure the hide but also let it breath.
He explains that this is the Indian way of tanning skins. I turn to the Wife and say wonder how long it took them to figure that one out...just as he turns to the camera as says exactly that

Anyway I wonder if that would help with what your trying to do here?
The consistency looks very similar to the second photo from the bottom. Red deer brains would be similar to elk.

This is the guy mind you I have a sneaking suspicion it’s really Rushy

I’ve polished my Redwing’s that I’ve had for 25 years and we’re starting to dry out, they look good. Thanks @Puffin. I’ll give them another going over and let you know.
I’m thinking for using puffin dubbin on one work boot and kiwi on the other to see which is best.

Thanks @Puffin.
Arrived in the mail today
I used it on my knife sheaths first and must say I am impressed!
First my postie delivered it around lunchtime and it was bloody hot in the mailbox and it stayed firm and smooth which was surprisingly good.
I applied it to three knife sheaths which have been treated a few month prior with leather and saddle cream, but lost their shine fairly quick.
Your leatherfat applies light and smooth and seems to really nourish the leather.
Wife who knows a thing or two about putting together lotions and potions was very impressed with it too.
It's not sticky yet stays moisturized, has no smell, just very cool stuff!
I added some pics from before and after.

Before


After


Before


After

This looks like it could be my new favourite leather fat

Originally Posted by Sideshow

On a slightly different note @Puffin do you have the program “Mountain Men” on in NZ?

There’s a trapper on the program that talks about just this and how the cured skins today don’t breath because of all the chemicals in them.
Now he was talking about a big Wapiti skin that he was doing and after fleshing it out and taking all the hair off he called for his wife to bring the “Brains”, (Wife and I are watching this) anyway he then shows us how he slowly brings these elk brains to the boil and makes a thin broth which he then with a big brush paints onto the hide. Explaining that this will cure the hide but also let it breath.
He explains that this is the Indian way of tanning skins. I turn to the Wife and say wonder how long it took them to figure that one out...just as he turns to the camera as says exactly that

Anyway I wonder if that would help with what your trying to do here?
The consistency looks very similar to the second photo from the bottom. Red deer brains would be similar to elk.

This is the guyAttachment 125371 mind you I have a sneaking suspicion it’s really Rushy

thats not ryshu -lookat the jaw.its old winnie peters bruvver from anover muvver and good to see he found a use for a polis brain!

@Puffin still got any?

I'd certainly buy some

All handed out sorry.

I've had quite a few additional requests to purchase tins - enough to make me realise that the purpose of my original post can't have been very clear: the idea was to provide the info so that members could buy the ingredients and brew up their own supply, for much less than the cost of shop-bought equivalent. You'll end up with 3 litres though, so maybe split it among a few mates.