Leather advice - vaseline over leather cleaner?
Question:I have a leather wallet, its really un-comfy and needs to be softened at least a bit before i wear it.
ive used some special leather cleaner it says it "cleans, feeds, protects, softens" leather but if anything its made the leather go even harder!
would vaseline be better to rub into the leather?
also ive heard a that saddle soap softens leather but wrecks/rots it, that true?..
thanks alot in advance..
Chris
Answers:
You need to use a good quality water based foam leather cleaner.
DO NOT use anything containing oils, waxes or silicones. (Most 'conditioners' contain waxes or oils) and furniture polish contains silicones
BABY WIPES are the worst thing you can use as they will destroy the finish on your leather. They are very strong alkiline cleaners to neutralise urine (acid) on babys skin so they are not the right thing to use on leather.
Saddle soap is too harsh.
A lot of leather wipes contain chemicals which will also destroy the finish or leave residues on the leather which will damage it. They are not cheap in the long run as you would need a lot to clean a whole leather sofa. A bottle of foam cleaner should do your furniture 1-2 times.
Fairy liquid contains more salt these days to get dishes clean and this will break the finish down on your leather. This has been verified by the manufacturers (as with the baby wipes).
You should also follow cleaning with a good water based leather protector which will act like a 'scotchgard' and inhibit dirt and stains from being absorbed and make cleaning easier the next time.
Dry leather needs rehydrating with water and oils and waxes should not be used as the natural oils do not dry out of leather. Wiping over with a damp cloth regularly will help to do this.
Adding more oils into leather will disturb the balance of the leather and cause problems. It will also attract more dirt and body oils which you need to prevent especially as a walet is handled so much.
Try dampng the leather either with water or leather cleaner and then heat the leather with a hairdryer and massaging it, this should relax the fibres.
Source(s):
www.LTTsolutions.net
Leather care consultants to the furniture and cleaning industries
try the vaseline and see , wont do any harm anyway
You should see if you can get some old fashioned dubbin, it was used to put on footballs and that softens, or linseed oil as that softens. Vaseline tends to leave things smeary and you can never get rid of it all.
I can suggest you use olive oil, use cotton wool ,add a little to the cotton wool and gently rub. this will soften the leather . leave for a few min´s then wipe with a soft cloth, think it would be much better than the vaseline
I have a leather three piece suite and use baby wipes on that which cleans and softens the leather, A
been using endust on my leather couch and chairs. on the back of it you can see what it will work on. pledge works too. i also use them on marble.
you perv
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