Collar of Vintage Leather Jacket Cracking - Causes and Remedies

[Melvin]

I bought an old 1960s/70s NYPD leather jacket recently. The collar was fine. In vintage leather jackets I find the collar is the first thing to go due to sweat and skin oil I guess.. In the jackets I've owned it's taken from 2 to 10 years for a collar to begin cracking.

In this jacket I experienced something unusual. After wearing it around the house to see if fit felt good I noticed a single crack in the collar had appeared. I promptly cleaned the leather with Glacier degreasing leather cleaner, waited a day for it to dry and then applied a thin coating of Neatsfoot oil, waited a day for it to be absorbed and then applied mink oil to the collar area as a sealant to prevent further exposure to sweat and oil.

So I wore the jacket for a little while today took it off and guess what? A second crack had appeared next to the first one to keep it company. Felt like I was in a low comedy skit.

I've worn the jacket for maybe 2 hours max. I doubt my skin oil was the cause but I'm flummoxed as to why the jacket seems to be dissolving on contact with me. I once overconditioned a jacket and the leather got too soft and abraded easily as a result but that's not the case here.

My questions are:

What the hell is happening? Could previously embedded sweat and skin oils have been reactivated or a more advanced process of corrosion catalyzed by new exposure to skin oil/sweat/warmth/etc.?

What more could I have done/can I do to arrest the degradation of the leather?

I'll repeat, the jacket looked fine when I got it. I've owned many vintage leather jackets but I've never experienced anything like this so quickly.

 

[Blackadder]

I am no expert but if I may venture a guess:
What you are thinking about is abrasive materials that pull moisture out of a leather thereby making it brittle. That is true. The leather is weakened by losing flexibility and when you bend it, it cracks. Oil does moisturize the leather restoring certain flexibility.
However, there is also the wear and tear.
The top layer or layers of fiber are the first to get thinner and weakened by wear and as you said your sweat and environment etc. When you wear it, it invariably gets bent and the thinned/weakened layer(s) break i.e. the tear part. Oil in this case can only act as coating/adhesive trying to hold and protect the weakened layer(s) but cannot actually restore it(them).
From what you say, that spot of your jacket could be weaker than the rest even though you cannot see it with your eyes. And let's not forget even brand new leather has weak spots sometimes.

 

[Monitor]

Sorry to hear that, Melvin. Did the leather crack all the way through, or just on the surface? It's probably the protective coating that's cracking. Depending on the chemicals used in the tanning process, the top layer of fibers penetrated by the protective sheen may not be able to absorb the leather conditioner anymore. It's why sometimes we top layer of the leather flaking off.

 

[Melvin]

I am no expert but if I may venture a guess:
What you are thinking about is abrasive materials that pull moisture out of a leather thereby making it brittle. That is true. The leather is weakened by losing flexibility and when you bend it, it cracks. Oil does moisturize the leather restoring certain flexibility.
However, there is also the wear and tear.
The top layer or layers of fiber are the first to get thinner and weakened by wear and as you said your sweat and environment etc. When you wear it, it invariably gets bent and the thinned/weakened layer(s) break i.e. the tear part. Oil in this case can only act as coating/adhesive trying to hold and protect the weakened layer(s) but cannot actually restore it(them).
From what you say, that spot of your jacket could be weaker than the rest even though you cannot see it with your eyes. And let's not forget even brand new leather has weak spots sometimes.

Yeah but we're talking a few hours of total wear on a used jacket. The jacket apparently had been well worn by the previous owner. You'd think if the leather there was thin it would already show damage. It looked pristine.

A couple hours wear and a crack appears. I then cleaned with Glacier, lubricated with Neatsfoot oil and protected with mink oil. Another relatively small amount of wear and another crack.

I'm wondering if there's any precedent for this anyone's experienced with used jackets.

I'm also wondering about the science behind it and how to arrest further damage. The leather in the collar looks and feels O.K. - no different than the rest of the jacket. Could the leather be dessicated or bad without looking or feeling it?

Sorry to hear that, Melvin. Did the leather crack all the way through, or just on the surface? It's probably the protective coating that's cracking. Depending on the chemicals used in the tanning process, the top layer of fibers penetrated by the protective sheen may not be able to absorb the leather conditioner anymore. It's why sometimes we top layer of the leather flaking off.

All the way through. Vertical splits on the back of the collar.

 

[Seb Lucas]

The damage may well be done before you buy and not show up till you wear it. Bad luck more than anything.

Neatsfoot oil and mink oil are not great. They can rot stitching and hide. I know some people swear by them, I have also heard horror stories. A leather bag I had fell to pieces after the use of neat foot oil. I know that John Chapman of Goodwear (a bt of a sage when it comes to leather) advises against using these products.

 

[Sloan1874]

John recommends using only Vaseline, doesn't he? I

 

[Blackadder]

As Seb said, I meant the weakening by long term wear on account of it being a vintage jacket. The weak spot is not broken so may look fine but it is nevertheless weakened. The weakened spot will crack only if you bend it, so the spot will be fine if it is left hanging but once you wear it and the leather fold up, it cracks. But then that's just a guess. Afterall I don't know the history or condition e.g. if the previous owner(s) left it untouched/unworn for years then all may seem fine until you bought it and start wearing it and applying force to it.

There isn't much one can do except to apply oil conditioner etc with the hope that they will hold. People do use adhesive to repair cracked leather, often on vintage jackets too. IMO, to test for weak spot is not to simply touch it but to bend and pull the leather. That way you can see how the leather surface responds to force. As said even new leather has weak spots, spots that are thinner than other parts or where the layers are loose.

 

[Blackadder]

John recommends using only Vaseline, doesn't he? I

Vaseline does not get absorbed. Vaseline acts as a protective coat to prevent loss of moist from within only. If you have a new jacket, you can use vaseline to keep rain etc from pulling the oil out of the leather but once the leather dried up, you need oil/conditioner.

 

[ButteMT61]

John recommends using only Vaseline, doesn't he? I

He does. And contrary to what Black posted, indeed it gets absorbed, but not at a fast rate. That's one reason why I use my bare fingers and apply very sparingly. Been really happy with it to be honest.

 

[Blackadder]

Well vasline jelly original is 100% petroleum jelly. I don't see how it can be absorb as it is not water solluble. I learned that from my doctor. Here is what another doctor says about petroleum jelly.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/21/vaseline-petroleum-jelly_n_4136226.html
Anyway,I have only used vaseline on myself and not my leather, so I would not know how if it gets absorbed into leather.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Yes, it does get absorbed into the leather. Ignore the doctor - leather is not living skin.

 

[Seb Lucas]

The next thing you generally hear is that neatsfoot oil is better than vaseline because vas is petroleum based and neatsfoot is natural product. Actually vas is ph balanced and totally benign. Natural products are not necessarily benign - cyanide is totally natural as is nicotine…. Natural products can go rancid and create damage.

 

[leafandarrow]

I say it depends on storage conditions after it was used. Leather simply has a shelf life, and that life is affected by how it was used. I for instance have picked up a new-old-stock 70s schott perfecto in Palm Springs, that, because it was stored unworn in zero humidity, looked amazing, but actually crumbled apart when I tried wearing it. Similarly I had a lovely half belt in reverse steer from the 30s that was a bit tough/rough and dry, but totally wearable, so I used saphir suede conditioner on it, and at the next normal wearing, the leather had softened to the point that reaching for my keys tore the cuff nearly off the arm. I've given up on pre 70s vintage leather for daily wear simply because one cannot judge how much time an item has left before the protein in the skin starts breaking up.

 

[Blackadder]

Yes, it does get absorbed into the leather. Ignore the doctor - leather is not living skin.

Seeing how I constantly ignored his advice to quit smoking so why not this as well.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I promptly cleaned the leather with Glacier degreasing leather cleaner, waited a day for it to dry and then applied a thin coating of Neatsfoot oil, waited a day for it to be absorbed and then applied mink oil to the collar area as a sealant

Big mistake !. .....The coat has obviously been badly stored & the leather has dried out. To have had a chance of saving the leather you should have applied thin coats of leather conditioner over a period of time & of course not bent or stressed the leather until it was completely nourished. The second problem of uncared for leather is dry rot, once it has started to break down the leather there is nothing you can do, likewise, when the surface has cracked, there is little you can do.
Avoid using animal fats on your leathers in future, especially on clothing, pure neatsfoot oil & mink oil may be OK on an old pair of outdoor boots or horse tack, but not for much else, they weaken the leather fibres, dry the leather out over time & encourage mould... Leather conditioners & waxes are much better for maintaining leather, even uncolored shoe polish will give good results.
I'm afaid your collar is going to continue to crack when ever the leather surface is under tension. What would I do ? it may be too late for conditioner now that the leather is soaked in oils so I would try & rub in some wax, preferably something containing bee's wax, in the hope of lubricating the surface to reduce further cracking. If however the leather is indeed under fungal attack, a new collar will be needed. If you keep your vintage leather nourished by applying conditioners & wax & few times a year, (too many applications can be as bad as none at all) & store them in an atmosphere neither too humid nor too dry, there isn't any reason why the leather should crack unless the quality of the leather wasn't too good in the first place.

 

[Big J]

In my annual summer battle against high humidity induced molding, I am often forced to wash leather items in luke-warm water with pH neutral soap, and then rinse well, and leave them in direct sunlight to dry. Afterwards I always wipe down with a cloth drenched in vaseline (which is also pH neutral), leave for a couple of hours, then wipe off the excess. I've been doing this for a couple of years, all my leather items are good, no discoloration, nice and supple, and no rotting of the stitching.

 

[nick123]

I suspect all of my leathers have starting experiencing mold in this heat. I'd be very surprised if they make it out alive this summer.

 

[navetsea]

same exact thing happened to my belt I haven't worn in years, the first few minutes after I tried it on, few fresh cracks formed, I bet that jacket of yours has not been worn for years, only kept in that same position, until the leather is mummified in that form, once you bend it around by wearing it, it cracks.

I read somewhere neatsfoot oil is bad because it make microtears into the leather structure that's why they feel soft after applying it yet in long term usage it will ruin the leather completely, mink oil said to be better because it only lubricate the fiber structure...

back to my belt, I applied leather conditioner (lanolin I think) on it and mink oil together, and let it sit for days until I forgot about it, and then it becomes supple again, but those tears I mentioned before stayed permanent.

 

[Big J]

I suspect all of my leathers have starting experiencing mold in this heat. I'd be very surprised if they make it out alive this summer.

I've got some boots that were furry with mold last year. They're fine now. You can save leather.

 

[feltfan]

I have had a similar experience with the leather sweatband of some vintage hats.
The leather looked perfect, or nearly unworn, but after one or two days wearing the
hat, the leather disintegrates. Perhaps one can save the leather by treating in advance,
perhaps not. I suspect I treated the leather with Lexol before wearing at least some of
the times this has happened. Sometimes the leather is simply too old and has in some
way become compromised, either due to prolonged dryness or unseen mold or trapped
skin oils and salts.

That said, there are certainly plenty of pre-70s leather jackets that are in fine shape
and quite wearable. I have a couple. But there is certainly risk associated with buying
old leather goods.