Ultimate Leather Conditioner Comparison (on Reddit)

[Cornelius]

Very curious to see how this turns out... please be sure to take some proper 'Before' & 'After' pics with same lighting & backdrop in each.

 

[Morecowbell]

Hi everyone -

First post so please be gentle. I just acquired this beast and am trying to figure out what leather conditioner to use on it. Its a Bronco A-2 in pretty rough shape, have been told its HH. I've had one recommendation from a knowledgeable person of a beeswax/carnuba polish, however that product is out of stock at the moment and TBH it seems to need more of a drink than a polish. Since a lot of the finish is gone I'm really just concerned about preservation if possible - any advice would be welcome, particularly any product or substance to avoid using on it.

Thanks!

 

[handymike]

Stay away from the wax on this one. Because of the loss of the finish, I would contact Dave Sheeley (@Maverickson). He restores these as well as makes new jackets. There might be more going on and you don’t want to “seal in” any problems.

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

Stay away from the wax on this one. Because of the loss of the finish, I would contact Dave Sheeley (@Maverickson). He restores these as well as makes new jackets. There might be more going on and you don’t want to “seal in” any problems.

good advice here. Looks like the top coat is gone. Is the finish more "suede" feeling? Definitely consult an expert in restoring.

 

[Morecowbell]

Yes, exactly. Runs the gamut from finish to partial finish to suede

 

[Peacoat]

We have needed more cowbell around here for a long time. Glad you decided to join us. Welcome to TFL.

I agree with @handymike about contacting an expert. For the normal thirsty jacket, I would just recommend Pecard, or some other quality preservative, and be done with it. But with the loss of the top coat, a different approach might be needed.

 

[Morecowbell]

Quick update - I fixed the tear, reinforced the upper left chest and sleeve, and moisturized with ADV Leather moisturizer. So far so good...and now if it keeps falling apart I can just keep fixing it

Before:

After:

The patch:

Special thanks to Ken at Aero Leather, Barb at Leather Care & Color and Jason at ADV Leather for all their time and help!

Clay

 

[handymike]

Ok, Urad seems to be the flavor of the month, so I ordered me up some to try it out...
My short answer: eeek! It’s like putting a plastic coating on your leather jacket...anyone remember Nu-Finish, the 1 step car paint restorer? It has a bit of a turpentine smell in the tub, and it is sticky at first once you put it on. It dries to a harder coating within a couple of minutes. Yes, it seems like it darkens the hide and gives that “new” kind of feel, but it is too much for me... and it makes the jacket stiff. I prefer the McGuires 3 step process for my car care. It might be more work, but other options/products do a better job of allowing the leather’s subtleties to remain. Thumbs down in my book!

I did the inside of the pocket (not the flap) and the little lip piece with the Urad. The rest of the jacket was conditioned with Pecards about 3-4 years ago.

Back of the collar with Urad (top piece), and back piece was conditioned with Pecards 3-4 years ago

Tenderly is another story. Made by the same people, it goes on like a cream or thick lotion, doesn’t smell, and takes awhile to dry/ soak in. I put it on my flaking old deerskin jacket, and at first I was blown away at how it somehow minimized the flaking and brought back the hide’s suppleness (not completely, but much better). Other products I’ve tried on this jacket have not done anything to fix the years of damage caused by poor storage. Pecards gummed it up, and Chamberlains dried out again after a week or so. The jacket it still drying from the treatment, so I will edit this post with an update in a few days...

 

[Mrfrown]

Curious for your results with the tenderly.

I do like the look Urad produced, especially because I felt the hide I treated had become dull and one-dimensional looking.

However it didn’t seem to do much to bring life back to the drier areas the way you’re talking about here.

If it helps I could see doing one then the other.

Reading the website it seems like they have another set up where you get conditioner and tenderly separately, and mix and apply them yourself. Dunno. A lot of choices there.

 

[Monitor]

So Urad is wax?

 

[handymike]

I think by coating the drier areas with shine, they become accentuated- especially if they are a different texture or lifting up. You might even see cracks you hadn’t noticed before. There is a reason I paint my walls with flat, low lustre or eggshell. Glossy shows all the imperfections while matte disguises them.

 

[handymike]

So Urad is wax?

No, more like a hard coating...I think of some of those acrylic sprays for protecting artwork done in pastels. There is no ingredient list. Blackrock has Carnauba wax and is a different finish and look. With the wax based ones you need to buff or brush to get a shine. With Urad it is just there when it dries.

 

[Cornelius]

Still in the Obenauf's Camp here, but always curious to hear the results of other's experiments.

 

[handymike]

I really like Obenauf's for shoes, boots, or anything you want to darken down a bit and weatherize. It’s great stuff to have in the toolkit. Had I known about it years ago, I never would’ve used Mink Oil.

 

[JMax]

The site does say to use back to back, or mix, Urad and Tenderly. Makes sense. Just like Dr. Jackson recommends the same with their leather conditioner and hide rejuvenator. My current go-to. I will try out the Urad combo.

I do use a “wax” called Renaissance to mitigate verdigris and rust on hardware, mostly snaps. It behaves more like an acrylic topcoat, as you say. I have a tiny container of it and it has, and will continue, to last me years.

 

[handymike]

Update on Tenderly-
After a few hours the Tenderly is developing a sheen- more like a waxy look as opposed to the Urad “mirror” finish. An analogy might be satin varnish vs. glossy on wood floors. Let’s see how it does over the next week.

 

[JurassicUtility]

So Urad is wax?

From this SDS document, it looks to be some sort of rosin mixture suspended in turpentine and other solvents. Kind of like varnish. Not a lot of stuff in here that would help the leather if it's dried out and needs more fat liquoring IMO. If I were to use URAD for its appearance, but wanted to condition the leather, I would use a different product like Bick 4 (very light conditioner) or Pecards (heavier conditioner) first, and then follow up with URAD.
https://www.weaverleather.com/docs/default-source/sds/50-2179.pdf?sfvrsn=95fa73a2_5

I've had success getting compositions for a lot of leather conditioners by searching for "[PRODUCT NAME] sds" or "[PRODUCT NAME] msds". When I can't find them online, I've also had some success contacting the manufacturer and requesting a SDS document for their product.

 

[handymike]

Resin, this makes sense and confirms my feelings about the product. Thank you.

I will try it on wood. It might work really well for some projects around the house.

 

[JurassicUtility]

Resin, this makes sense and confirms my feelings about the product. Thank you.

I will try it on wood. It might work really well for some projects around the house.

I have actually liked how Urad changes the appearance of worn leather in pictures people have posted, but I think it's helpful to understand what many of these leather products actually do. Maybe Urad is good for sealing leather with compromised finishes? IDK exactly. I personally like to use wax based products like Otterwax Leather Salve or Venetian Shoe Cream to get a glossy look on some of my leather boots/shoes, but they aren't exactly great conditioners because they just deposit a layer of bee or carnauba wax on the surface.

 

[Mrfrown]

I’m considering getting the tenderly, cleaning the jacket and then doing it over again w tenderly. Don’t think I’ll be doing that right away but maybe next year?

Looking forward to your results HM.