Leather and Leather Care

by Waterhole Leather

The Story of a Natural Beauty

Leather is a natural material made from the hides of animals. Just as no two animals are exactly alike, no two pieces of leather are identical. In addition to its own genetic heritage, each hide bears the little nicks and scars that marked the animal during its lifetime. These natural characteristics are not defects and are considered marks of distinction in "Full Grain" leather, adding to the unique appeal of each finished product. When a more uniform appearance is required, the leather can be sanded to produce what is called a "corrected grain".

The Structure of the Hide

When hides are converted to leather, all nonessential parts of the original animal hide are removed, leaving only the surface "grain" and middle "corium layers". It is the remarkable structure of this corium - made up of millions of microscopic fibers, twisted and interwoven by nature - that gives leather its highly tensile strength and other desirable qualities.

The Tanning Process

In the tanning process, the hides are chemically cured to prevent deterioration. The chemicals used in this process also enhance the flexibility of leather and improve its ability to with stand extreme humidity and temperatures. Tanning is followed by another process that restores the natural lubricants lost during the conversion of raw hide into finished leather.

Tips for Leather Care

• Always hang leather coats on wide, padded hangers. Use show trees in shoes and boots. Stuff empty handbags with tissues to retain their shape.

• Do not store leather goods in plastic bags or other nonporous covers. If clothing must be stored in a garment bag, keep it open for ventilation.

• Allow wet or damp leather to air-dry naturally away from any source of heat. Apply a little conditioner when the leather is nearly dry to restore flexibility. Follow this with a full conditioning treatment when the leather is completely dried.

• In winter promptly remove and salt deposits from shoes and boots by sponging with clear water; then follow with the treatment recommended above for wet or damp leather.

• To prevent mildew, protect leather from excessive humidity. In a dry environment, to prevent it from drying out and cracking, regularly condition leather.

• Do not use waxes, silicon products or other leather preparations that impair the ability of the leather to "Breathe"

• Never use caustic household chemicals to clean leather. Avoid leather preparations that contain alcohol or petroleum distillates, such as turpentine and mineral spirits.

• Use of Mink oil or other animal fats will darken leather. Animal fat can turn rancid, causing the stitching and leather to rot.

We recommend the following

To retain its beauty and other qualities, leather requires frequent conditioning to replace the natural lubricants lost during normal use. With the proper care, leather can be protected from excessive dryness that can cause it to crack, and from moisture that may cause it to swell or mildew.

Because unprotected leather is susceptible to spotting from water and other liquids, a newly purchase leather item should be treated immediately to help prevent permanent stains from occurring.

The use of too much oil or wax, however can clog pores, cause leather to lose its ability to allow air in and moisture out, for the best protection, we recommend Lexol or Apple Brand Leather Care® , a light cleaner and conditioner that is highly effective and very easy to use.

These clean with out stripping natural oils, conditions with out clogging pores, and provides water resistance with out sealing the leather surface, it prevents leather from drying out and cracking, and protects against staining and discoloration that can occur from contact with water, body oil and other soiling agents.

You can use Leather Care for all smooth leather, and even delicate exotics such as eel and snakeskin.

Because it contains no petroleum distillates ( e.g. turpentine or mineral spirits ), it will not "pull" color and is safe for even bright and light fashion tones.

Never use preparations made for smooth leather on suede or rough out leather. Use only cleaners or preparations made specifically for suede, such as Apple Brand Gardé® Rain and Stain Repellent and Suede & Fabric Care®.

Gardé Rain and Stain Repellent keeps leather, suede and fabrics water repellent and stain resistant. It also helps prevent damaging salt stains.

Suede & Fabric Care Safely removes most oil based and water based stains from all colorfast handbags, shoes and clothing. It leaves no ring when used.

For tack cleaning and maintenance please read below:

Leather for tack and saddles is a wonderful product. It can last for years and years, “BUT” it needs some care and maintenance. Leather has to be cleaned regularly and occasionally conditioned. This prevents mold, mildew, dry-out, cracking which can make your tack fail and possibly injure the horse or rider. Many barns are damp, musty, and warm, making mold a great threat to leather. Mold is spread by airborne spores that attach to sticky surfaces. Mold will spread and decompose leather, one must remember leather is an organic natural product and can decompose. Mold feeds on organic residue, such as oils, sweats, and saliva on the leather surface. It then breaks down the protein bonds between the leather fibers and weakens the leather, this can not be reversed once it happens, your item needs to be replaced at this time. Another problem that usually follows mold is mildew. This can create a real bad odor as well as helping to deteriorate your leather.

Leather needs to be stored in breathable warm dry conditions never put in plastic bags.

A dry clean tack room with the door closed to avoid mold spores from the damp areas of the barn to enter is best. Avoid windows where sunlight can enter also as you do not want a hot room to store leather in.

Cracking in leather will get deeper and deeper and end up breaking sooner or later. This can endanger the horse and rider. Prevention methods of keeping your tack in good shape will prevent this. You spend a lot of money on tack for your horse, consider it an investment. You buy a car you wash it and take care of it. But I have seen many people ride the horse take the tack off and just drape it over something or toss it into a corner. Only takes on a couple of minutes to wash off the sweat and dirt from the ride, and protect your investment.

Leather care products fall into 3 categories

Soaps and cleaners

Conditioners

Combination products

Soaps and cleaners

Natural oils in new leather and those added to leather to maintain strength and suppleness attract dirt, mold and mildew. Dirt’s works into the leather and abrades the fibers causing the leather to crack, Leather cleaner removes both dirt and oils, and not any cleaner can be used, they have to be designed for leather because of leathers organic composition.

Household cleaners will dry out and damage the leather.

Main purpose of leather cleaners is to remove the salts and sweats and dirt from your ride. You want to use neutral pH-balanced leather cleaner pH of 7 is considered neutral.

Lower is acidic and higher are alkaline, we try to avoid using these levels and stay with neutral.

Saddle soap is one of the oldest and most basic cleaners. has additives such as glycerin and moisturizers. It is also widely misunderstood and misused. It was originally used to carry oils and conditioning agents into leather during tanning. They called it soap because it was basically a fat liquor and it pushed the tanning agents into the leather. So it is mainly a conditioner and not a cleaner though rubbing it onto a saddle will remove surface dirt. But think of this when you take a shower to you use soap then just towel dry? Of course not it would leave soap residue all over you. The same with cleaners on tack, it must be rinsed off to remove all the residue. So using saddle soap or any leather cleaner you must rinse off the residue and wipe dry before using conditioners.

Conditioners

These lubricate the fibers and help prevent cracking and splitting. Recently companies have come up with sophisticated conditioners as alternatives to the old standby Neats-foot oil, mink oil, lanolin and other natural oils can dark leather each time you use them. Though they are the best for softening and preserving if not over used. Synthetic conditioners such as Lexol and leather care are like a mayonnaise type fat liquor they bond with the fibers and is absorbed and they do not darken the leather or change color.

One thing to remember when conditioning is to not over due it. More is not generally better with conditioning. Think of your leather as a sponge, it can only hold so much. If you happen to use to much conditioner and find it getting on your cloths etc just wash it with the leather cleaners it will take off the excess. Leather needs to be cleaned more than conditioned.

Combination products

These are great for regular cleaning as it will replace some of the oils lost in regular cleaning. But once a year your tack out to have a good cleaning and conditioning done.

There are many products on the market for leather care and not one of them is the best for all leather. 2 basic types of leather is vegetable tanning and chrome (oil) tanning. Vegetable tanning is used a lot in western saddles. Chrome is used more in English saddles.

Natural oils like Neats foot work great in vegetable leather but chrome tanned is better to use one like Lexol.

Main thing is to protect your investment in tack and saddles. The only reason you should have to buy a new piece of tack or saddle is because you want a change. Not because you had to replace a piece. And be aware of “deals” on used or new tack. You get what you pay for. Leather has had some new processes, like bonded leather. This is a particle board version of leather. It is ground up leather fibers bonded by adhesives to make sheets of leather for products, normally you will not find a structural piece of equipment with this leather, but saddle bags and accessories are being made from this you will know by the price. Another is embossed leather. This is stronger as it is a cowhide split (suede) that has been run through a machine to make it look top grain. How else can you get a office chair all leather high back for 100.00 looks great and is leather. But will fuzz up back to suede with use.

Here we have halters and bridles and saddles. Again you get what you pay for. I continually get customers coming in for a clip broken on a haler and want to know whey it costs 15.00 to replace it when they only spent 20 on the halter to start with. Well solid brass clips run about 3 bucks and it takes over 30 min to hand stitch them back in. first the old stitching has to be removed then hand stitched because one must reuse existing holes in leather as a machine might add more holes thus weakening the piece. Now a 100.00 halter to replace the same part still only costs 15.00.

Main differences is quality of leather used, quality of hardware used. More expensive models use solid brass or stainless hardware were cheaper ones use die cast plated hardware and are riveted together a lot of times compared to stitching. Die cast breaks very easy. Solid brass is a lot stronger and stainless is very strong. So less chance of a more expensive one to break. Saddles the best is custom made for you and your horse. But off the rack prices can not be beaten. Have to weigh your preferences and budget to see which works the best for you.