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Leather care

Hambone

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Article for your review and discussion:
 

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Everyone seems to have their own favorite process for preserving old leather, but applying almost any preservative to it is almost certainly the wrong thing to do. Here's why.

Pecard's, neat's foot oil, silicone greases and the like will actually accelerate the long-term deterioration process. These are all designed to soften, preserve, and waterproof footwear that isn't meant to last for more than a few years.

Leather is simply dead animal skin, after all. Given time, it will rot, and nothing can totally arrest the process. The rate at which the item rots has much to do with the quality of the original tanning process, and so cannot really be predicted. Really old leather will simply not last forever, regardless of what's done to preserve it. That's why we see so few leather items from the 19th century and before. We have few or no leather items from medieval and Roman times (other than volumes on vellum) and this is why.

If one is really concerned, one should keep leather away from moisture (including humidity) and sunlight. Loosely rigging that original sling to your collectable rifle in a climate controlled safe is a good option. I have other leather items stored in sealed plastic freezer bags in dark cabinets. A small dessicant packet in each bag helps preserve metal parts as well.

I have one of the unissued Portuguese M1937As (98Ks) that were brought into the country a few years back. These had been stored in sealed crates since leaving the Mauser factory in 1941. Mine still has the original sling rigged to it. It's never been removed from the gun, and is in original new condition, as is the rifle. Water proof, light proof storage preserved both.

Almost regardless of what we do, these leather objects will be rotted away in a couple of centuries, or so desicated that they cannot be handled without falling apart. So, enjoy them today. With the proper care, your prized WWII rifle will probably survive, but associated leather items will most likely not.

How do you explain centuries old leather artifacts still in decent shape?

You need to back claims and opinions with citation to some authority. This site is one where information is pretty heavily vetted. Our FAQ on leather:
http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?782-Leather-care
 
In my collection I have a Pickelhaube that is well over 100 years old and still is in good condition, but I need to take care of it otherwise it will disintrigate.
Also in the past I had leather sword scabards that were +200 years old, they were also in good condition but I needed to take care of them to and that is polishing once a year with old fashioned leather polish.


Not treating antique leather objects is silly advice imo.


Cheers,
Peter
 
This is why I use Pecards, thanks Hambone for the article. It's a choice, preserve your leather items and accept the color change or enjoy them while they rot away. I choose to preserve.

Article for your review and discussion:
 
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I'd like to see data and scholarly articles on how/why Pecards hastens deterioration. I've looked for it. Leather deterioration is first a function of the leather itself and its tanning. Next is what it is used for and exposed to. After that, conservation. As Peter noted, properly tanned leather, properly conserved, can at least last hundreds of years because we have such leather that old.

Guys do note that the article I posted was written by someone connected with the sale of Pecards.
 
Personally, I say preserve it and enjoy. If you want to hear differently, just look at some of the other forums and the threads on helmets and liners. There are those that flip overs backwards when you say a liner has been treated. The thought is, I guess is that the helmet or other leather items for that matter , is altered and not as collectable. I say BS!
 
Another consideration is your length of stewardship. If you have a collection for 5-30 yrs that really isn't a long time? I hope on my watch that I see no leather decline, and will just leave my leather untreated. Also, no water or high humidity or huge temperature swings are planned.

Seems like adding the wrong (any) "stuff" to leather ultimately may accelerate breakdown. My plan is to let the next steward of my stuff make the tough decision. Maybe then there will be more concensus....
 
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I conserve paintings, not leather, but I have talked to museum conservators who work with leather and according to them, treating with Pecards or other store-bought conditioners will only serve to accelerate the destruction of the leather. It is my understanding that those conditioners/dressings can attract more airborne contaminants than untreated leather, and interact unfavorably with leather in the long-term.

The stability of leather greatly depends on the tanning process used, plus environmental conditions. I have leather in my collection that is 230+ years old. It has never been treated with any conditioners – partly the reason it still exists. Coating it with a commercial product is not something I would ever consider.

Leather conservators use consolidants such as Klucel G to conserve fragile leather, but never commercial leather treatment products. Klucel G is used because of its ability to be dissolved in alcohol, a solvent that minimizes the darkening of leather (as opposed to water). Treatment is kept to an absolute minimum. You don’t coat the whole object. For example, a conservator might use a consolidant on just the part of a leather sling where it is damaged, such as where it wraps around the sling loop, and leave the rest of the leather alone.

If leather has been poorly processed, it’s not going to hold up well no matter what, so you’re going to have to live with degradation. Chances are the leather you are trying to preserve has already been made worse because some collector before you coated it with some type of store-bought conditioner. It is getting harder to find leather that has not had these conditioners applied to them, and I really dislike the darkening that occurs with these products. There are other conservation methods available.

It is important that Hambone pointed out that the article promoting the use of conditioners was written by someone who benefits from the sale of Pecards. If you look at any articles that promote leather treatments, they are generally written by collectors and not by people with advanced training such as conservation scientists. Bob in Ohio has the right idea – leave things alone, particularly if they have never been treated before.

Mike
 
Well said Mike. With any artifact, wood, leather, it is best to do nothing. There are a number of products that are terrible for leather which were previously slathered on it by collectors, such as mink oil, neatsfoot oil, etc. Pecards was "the" thing among collectors for the last 20 years. It's been abused by collectors who gooped it on. I've used Pecards sparingly on areas that were drying / flaking and it has helped from what I see. Ultimately, how leather was tanned, then used and stored determines its life. I've found that, for example, helmet liners subjected to extreme heat (attics) are in much worse shape than those in environments with some humidity.

Conventional wisdom with museum conservation, and particularly among collectors, seems to change from time to time. I've heard that Pecards is used by the Smithsonian and other museums, but I've never seen museum conservators state that. Probably internet lore.
 
Conventional wisdom with museum conservation, and particularly among collectors, seems to change from time to time. I've heard that Pecards is used by the Smithsonian and other museums, but I've never seen museum conservators state that. Probably internet lore.

I took a few conservation science courses at the Smithsonian a number of years ago, and the conservators I met would never have used Pecards, at least not in modern times – definitely internet lore. I also remember visiting a Smithsonian conservator when I first started out about 20 years ago and he was using Klucel G back then.

It would not surprise me though to hear that smaller museums, particularly small military museums, have coated their leather with Pecards. They just don’t have the funds or the desire to hire trained conservators, and they are only trying to do what they feel is in the best interest of the collection and do not realize the harm.

A friend of mine is a carpenter, and he jokes that sometimes he should call his work “brutal construction” instead of “fine woodworking”. Using Pecards or some other store-bought conditioner overall is like brutal construction, where using a conservation-grade consolidant with a tiny brush on only the affected parts is like fine woodworking.

If you’ve applied these commercial conditioners sparingly in the past, that’s at least better than having slopped it on, but it’s best to stop using them entirely.

Regards,
Mike
 
I have a little tub of Pecards which I bought in probably the early 90s. I've used it on slings which were dry rotting and it helped, or appeared to, and haven't seen further degradation in all that time. I've had helmet liners with dry and flaking areas which were arrested with it and you can't really tell it was applied. I'm friends with a longtime Civil War collector who's a true gunsmith and been at it about 40 years and his method for very old leather is conservative Pecards use, then when it dries he comes back with Renaissance Wax to seal in the Pecards moisture. He swears by that and has said other holsters, belts, cap boxes ,etc, the he would not have done this with have degraded and deteriorated.

I think there are folks who have abused Pecards, gooping it on and making a mess. The tub I have would likely last my lifetime if I did not use it on my shoes, hunting boots, work boots, etc.
 
Hambone, I’m beginning to think there is a network of military collectors who hold shares in the Pecards company. Better stop saying you only need one tub every 20 years or that will hurt profits! Who knows what they might do. l.o.l. Seriously, my intent is not to offend anyone who has used the stuff, but to get everyone to think like conservators if they feel they have to apply things to items in their collection. Sometimes, a treatment that looks good in our lifetime fails in the next, and ends up worse off than the untreated object whose owner did nothing beyond keeping it in a stable environment. If Pecards was the answer to treating aged leather objects, I think professional conservators worldwide would be using it instead of Klucel G and other consolidants.
 
mjn, again, well said. Your straightforward and learned advise on these topics is appreciated. What I normally do, if I do anything, is brush off / vacuum (handheld light suck) dust and dirt. If there is dry / cracking I have put a light wipe of Pecards, which seems to arrest that. That's about it. I've never reapplied it when it dries, or continuously applied it until the leather can's soak up anymore. I don't know that such an application will harm anything and it certainly seems to have an immediate effect on arresting the dry rot. My shelved closet, where the helmets are, has a certain amount of natural humidity that leather seems to like, but not enough to rust things.
 
Hambone, it sounds like you are being careful in your approach and you are only treating the affected parts of the leather, which is very conservator-like. The Pecards is still a mystery though. One thing to consider is that with commercial products their formulations are proprietary, and they can change that formulation at any time without the consumer knowing. Pecards will always be Pecards despite what’s in it. This is why conservators mainly use raw materials and make their own formulations. The effects can be studied more accurately that way.
 
The following documents discuss leather conditioners/dressings. The National Park Service document cites a few research studies. The Canadian Conservation Institute document includes more detailed care advice. Although Pecards and other commercial leather conditioners have undisclosed ingredients, they will fall into the categories of either oil and lanolin/wax mixtures, or oil emulsions.

National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/09-01.pdf

Canadian Conservation Institute:

http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/publications/notes/8-2_e.pdf
 
I know Advanced Guard Militaria hates Picard. I have a friend that says Baby Oil works good. Safe on your babies a....uhm.... tush! I have used Picard but have gone to just keeping in a controled environment and out of the suns harmful rays!
 
From Ken Niewiarowicz, owner of

www.germanhelmetsinc.com

The following is from the FAQ section of his web site. Arguably, no one knows more about German helmets, their componants, and their care. He's a member of the "don't touch it" school of leather preservation, as am I:

Question: I want to use a leather treatment product on the leather of my chinstrap or liner. Which do you recommend?

Answer: My answer is "None". This question is the subject of much debate. Some people say it is ok to use "Pecard". Some swear by other products that they have found down at the shoe-store. There are even brain-dead fools that will use mink-oil to soften and protect their liners/chinstraps. All of these products, to a certain degree, leave a film, alter the color and after a while cause further damage. The fact is, there is no way to rejuvenate old leather. If your leather is dry, cracked, or rotted; nothing can be done to bring it back. Proper storage is all than can be done to arrest the damage caused by age and improper storage. If the leather is in nice condition...people, please... Leave it alone. There are many times over the years when I saw a nice condition liner that has been "mink-oiled" by some idiot who was seeking to preserve its condition and essentially fix what wasn't broken. The end result invariably is a liner that is darkened and has the appearance and feel of a grease rag. If the leather is in nice shape, nothing need be added to it. Store it sensibly in an area of moderate temperature/humidity and it will out-last you.
 
I conserve paintings, not leather, but I have talked to museum conservators who work with leather and according to them, treating with Pecards or other store-bought conditioners will only serve to accelerate the destruction of the leather. It is my understanding that those conditioners/dressings can attract more airborne contaminants than untreated leather, and interact unfavorably with leather in the long-term.

The stability of leather greatly depends on the tanning process used, plus environmental conditions. I have leather in my collection that is 230+ years old. It has never been treated with any conditioners – partly the reason it still exists. Coating it with a commercial product is not something I would ever consider.

Leather conservators use consolidants such as Klucel G to conserve fragile leather, but never commercial leather treatment products. Klucel G is used because of its ability to be dissolved in alcohol, a solvent that minimizes the darkening of leather (as opposed to water). Treatment is kept to an absolute minimum. You don’t coat the whole object. For example, a conservator might use a consolidant on just the part of a leather sling where it is damaged, such as where it wraps around the sling loop, and leave the rest of the leather alone.

If leather has been poorly processed, it’s not going to hold up well no matter what, so you’re going to have to live with degradation. Chances are the leather you are trying to preserve has already been made worse because some collector before you coated it with some type of store-bought conditioner. It is getting harder to find leather that has not had these conditioners applied to them, and I really dislike the darkening that occurs with these products. There are other conservation methods available.

It is important that Hambone pointed out that the article promoting the use of conditioners was written by someone who benefits from the sale of Pecards. If you look at any articles that promote leather treatments, they are generally written by collectors and not by people with advanced training such as conservation scientists. Bob in Ohio has the right idea – leave things alone, particularly if they have never been treated before.

Mike

Careful, Mike, that's just your opinion, which hasn't been "vetted". We're real careful what we allow to be said here.
 

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