Leather Cup Washers

Neatsfoot Oil is good, or one of the specialist greases for waterproofing leather.

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

I have often wondered how you get the oil out of a Neats Foot, anybody know?

Martin P

Probably similar to shearing the hair off a MO

Personally, I'd recommend Mars Oil, available from any good tack shop. It revitalises hardened leathers & stuffs them with oil, keeping them supple thereafter.

It is quite thin & I'd warm some in a tin (smells a bit mind) and lay the cup washers in it for a couple of days before attempting to bend or straighten them.

I think that's a trade name for Neatsfoot Oil.

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

"Neatsfoot oil is a yellow oil rendered and purified from the feet and shin bones (not the hooves) of cattle. It is used as a conditioning, softening and preservative for leather, and remains liquid down to a low temperature.

Neatsfoot oil is produced much less than it once was. Currently, the shins and feet of cattle are usually rendered along with the rest of the body. Also, many products sold as neatsfoot oil are actually diluted with petroleum oil, which is bad for leather.

The best quality neatsfoot oil comes from the legs of calves. The fat in animals' legs generally has a lower melting point than the body fat which means that it is more fluid and easier to use at lower temperatures making it more effective for treating leather.

'Neat' in the oil's name comes from an old term for animals of the genus Bos, especially cattle."

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

Thanks to all who responded, went to the local horse spares shop and asked for advice and the reply was Mars oil. They are now soaking in a dish of that, so see what happens over the next week or two. Paul.

Don't leave them in too long, Paul. Super saturation may cause the collagen fibres to separate.

After soaking & gentle manipulation, press them in layers of newspaper to remove excess oil.

I've been a Friend of Mars Oil for forty years. It has kept my feet dry on many a dewy mountainside and its distinctive pong awakens memories of the Island during TT week & soggy leathers, wet through despite the best that natural products could do! Rain at eighty plus does penetrate so ....

Please. Tell us you applied it to your boots.

knowing Kim it may be some kind of Viking ritual to put Neat's-foot oil on your feet instead of leather :-))

Martin P

Boots? A man of my predilections doesn't wear boots for hill walking - of course it was applied directly to the feet.

I'm told the line of oily footprints on Pen-y-van has only just faded after thirty years in the wild. Good stuff, Mars Oil.

Regards,

Kim