I have a pair of leathers that have been sitting in my garage for about three years. They’re a bit dry and I’m worried about having them snap while I’m using them. Can someone either set my mind to ease or warn me away?
Thanks in advance!
I would look very carefully at the wear pattern. Stirrup leathers tend to snap along the crease from the most commonly used hole when the buckle is at that hole
Suggest not using them as stirrup leathers --neck strap or dog collars or whatever. A broken stirrup leather is catastrophic --buy a new pair.
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Take the time to condition them and look them over very carefully for cracks.
A bit dry to me does not mean old brittle dangerous leather, it means leather that is likely still fine but needs some attention.
But clearly, look them over. Bend them, fold them, look for cracks.
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Are they nylon lined? If so, condition them and it should be fine. The nylon is the structure not the leather. If they are all leather, be careful.
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Three years is not that long.
I stopped riding for 10 years, and when I started again I used my old stirrup leathers with no problems.
Yes, check them over. Yes, condition them. But don’t discard them JUST because they have been sitting for 3 years.
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Yup. “A bit dry” is pretty nonspecific, so it’s hard to say. But my stirrup leathers, in storage for quite some time, are fine in use now (past 2 years, so I’m not talking about “just yesterday”). Depends somewhat on what the quality was in the first place, I suppose.
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Agreeing with everyone else to thoroughly condition them and see how they turn out.
“Bad” leather is pretty distinctive. It had a dry rot-like appearance both inside and out. It almost feels like it has lost density. No amount of oil changes that; it will still seem stiff, dry, and almost fibrous despite all the oil in the world.
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This might be obvious, but condition them thoroughly before trying to bend them. Otherwise, new cracks can form. (Signed, Oops, how did that happen?!)
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