Anybody have any suggestions of a leather cleaner and conditioner that will not leave residue in the tooling of a western saddle?
I like Leather New spray soap/conditioner. Never had a problem with it getting stuck in tooling.
For any saddle I clean w/warm water and elbow grease first, aided by Castile soap if needed.
I do use the Effax products for my English saddles (European leathers being tanned differently). Or, nothing wrong w/good old fashioned glycerine.
For my western saddles, I favor Skidmore’s Leather Cream for the conditioning. You don’t need much-and so if you don’t apply much at a time, no issues with tooling.
leather new is good but make sure you wipe down with a soft cloth after to pick up any residue/soap left over.
I like Bicks Cleaner and Conditioner, it works well without darkening the leather.
I use the Lexol in the orange bottle. It is a liquid, so a dab and then scrub with a wet brush, which gets into all the tooling and removes dirt. I use a natural fiber vegtable brush, think the nylon bristles are usually too harsh on thread or leather itself. Then wipe that area clean of the foam, Lexol, with a very wet rag to get everything off. Sometimes you need the extra wet to get things cleaned off. Then wipe again with a dry rag.
I do the entire saddle, let it sit overnight to dry, then condition it. I like the Lexol Conditioner, but it can darken very light leather. Usually use a couple of coats of the Lexol, letting leather dry between applications. I do condition both sides of the leather if possible, like fenders. Then buff when dry with a dry towel and saddle is good to go for a while. My saddles are older, and I like the look of well used leather, so the Lexol is fine with me. Doesn’t change color on my equipment after it dries out. I have been using Lexol products for a LONG time, and the saddles are in great condtion, very soft and flexible, but still strong.
I don’t use any of the creams, saddle soap or other products BECAUSE they do always seem to leave residue in the carving. I am NOT going to sit and dig that out with a toothpick after cleaning saddles!
Passier lederbalsam!
WOW! I’ve used it all before and this completely restored dead leather with one easy application. I haven’t found it to build up in the tooling either when I used it on an older Simco heavily tooled show saddle. Whenever that happens though simply use a toothbrush.
