Re: Pecard Leather Care
What is in Pecards? Why should I care as long as it works with no detrimental effects. I simply have more important things to do than try to research every bottle of bore cleaner, each bronze brush, or coating on the cleaning rod that I purchase. As long as they work as intended I have no problem. As to darkening leather, I have never had it to darken leather that had a glaze or hard finish on it. On leather that does not have a highly finished surface, anything will darken it slightly, but not so much as to be objectionable. In fact on many 1912 and 1916 holsters for the 1911 Colt that have started to dry out, the Pecards brings a rich color back to the leather.
I was given a box of 1907 slings dated from 1917 thru 1944 that had been folded and put away for approximately 50 years. The slings had dried out, and had virtually petrified in the folded up position. I carefully straightened them out as much as possible and applied liberal coats of Pecards. The slings are now supple enough to thread onto the sling swivels of 1903 Springfields and M1 Rifles. I would not use them for match shooting, but for display purposes they look great considering they had once been almost rock hard.
I have no idea who had the post on Pecards softening holsters and really have no intention of searching for it either. You might find it in the archives if it is really important that you know.
Moisture can be anything that causes an object to be moist or wet. Oil will wet anything down just as well as water. If water was all that was needed for moisture, women would not need all the "moisturizers" that they use.
Cracking in leather can also be caused from improper tanning techniques, and the fibers of the leather are breaking down due to the original tanning process. Leathers in this condition simply can't be left to their own accord to breath moisture in and out. They need treating. Take a look at the holster on page 29 or Kenyon's "Luger: The Multi-National Pistol". My friend recently purchased the companion piece to this pistol and the holster is in the same identical condition. The pistol and holster had been in a bank safe deposit box for almost 30 years, and the holster had dried out to the point of where dust from the holster came off on your hands or the cloth the holster was wrapped in. It simply had to have help in a hurry, and Pecards has stopped the deterioration of the leather. The condition of the holsters which were more than likely made at the same time would suggest that the tanning process was not exactly right.
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