Neatsfoot oil for Holster?

In high school chemistry you were taught that "like dissolves like". Pecards, neatsfoot oil (or mink oil or other oil), saddle oils, and greases of any kind are petroleum-based solvents of varying viscosity. They each dissolve organic fibers (leather!) at differing rates and are good for protecting leather in rain. Therefore, each of these products will accelerate the breakdown of your leather holsters into the red dust all leather eventually becomes. Treatment with these products may be familiar to you from seeing "red rot" on leather at gun shows. Dissolved leather crumbles. Goos and oils suitable for modern leather items seeing routine use have a very different purpose than you are trying to accomplish by preserving your holster in as new a condition as possible for as long as possible.


You can not "moisturize" or "nourish" leather. You CAN maintain the proper moisture levels in the surrounding air. Leather is very porous and equalizes moisture content with the surrounding air. The only way to moisturize leather is to keep the surrounding air moist--something recommended to a level of 60%. Variation in moisture or temperature is bad.


There are no commercial goos that will help your old leather--be warned these treatments are harmful to your holsters.


Be careful whose advice you listen to--gun show Bob? Whatever you do, if you are not a chemist and conservator specializing in leather, paper, cloth or other organic historicals, follow the rules of the conservator:

DO NOTHING THAT CAN NOT BE REVERSED (the first and best rule to remember)!!!!!:


Keep light low (UV catalizes the breakdown of leather fibers), temp and humidity stable (cool and 55-65%), reduce stress on the object, keep the object clean from dirt and dust.


Dave

holster collector