I’ve got a wee project to tackle during isolation: a very moldy old saddle found languishing in someone’s basement. She was going to toss it, but I’d like to see if I can bring it back to life. I have the usual old-school suspects of castile soap, glycerin soap, natural sponge, toothbrush, etc. But has anyone had great success with a similar tack rescue? Any hacks or miracle products you love?
I would give it a good cleaning with castile soap to remove the mold, go over it with a towel to get off as much moisture as possible, let it dry (but not dry out), and use a good conditioner. I revived a dried out Vespucci bridle with Effax Leather Balm.
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Mold can be very difficult if not impossible to remove. Someone tried selling me a saddle. I looked underneath and the entire underside of the saddle had circles of mold that appeared to be penetrating the leather. I passed. It wasn’t worth dealing with tack that would re-mold immediately. I doubt you could remove the discoloration.
I would probably take a lysol wipe to it. If it’s only surface mold that might help remove the worst of it. You may try sitting it in direct sunlight.
Depends on the amount of mold penetration.
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I’ve had good luck with 50/50 white vinegar and water to kill the mold and good old fashioned sunlight.
I usually use warm “Leather Honey” after a good cleaning and it seems to do a good job restoring the leather and preventing the mold from returning.
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Allow the saddle to dry thoroughly after cleaning off the mold. I’ve heard white vinegar & sunshine work; I’ve never tried.
Apply Kocholine with your fingers, and place it in a sealed plastic bag overnight. Many museums use this product and method. Remove excess with soft cloth. Reapply occasionally to prevent mildew.
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I have cleaned them with bleach solutions, then used plain Lexol liberally.
Always try any you want to use to clean or condition in a little spot that won’t show, as not all leather had been tanned with the same products and some may react differently to what you use.
Why not try reviving that saddle, it may work.
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Thank you all so much for the input!
I will give it a go when the sun returns and make it an outdoor project. I will let you all know if I’m able to give it a second life. It’s an old Stubben Siegfried. I’m not buying it, so no harm in trying!
FitzE --going against the above thoughts —my position is that the mold is a sign that the leather is in pretty good shape --mold needs moisture to grow. Leather that is too dried to rescue has no mold (think brittle, cracks easily). Anything that will “kill the mold” will harm the leather. Instead, follow your first thought --clean it thoroughly. The mold will still be there, waiting for the right conditions to bloom again, but all saddles in good/great shape will mold if left in a dark area --the leather is moist --it has to be moist to be flexible. So get your soap --any saddle specific soap is fine, but shy away from anything stronger than what you would use on your own face. Scrub gently and rub to your heart’s content, wipe, then apply conditioner. The saddle will look great --keep the saddle where the humidity is controlled --we keep a dehumidifier and a fan on in the summer in our tack room to control the mold --does pretty good, but we still have to clean the mold off everything once or twice a summer --if some leather piece isn’t molding, I check it out really well --if it is strap, I take it to the harness store and have it dipped. Again, this is something many people believe damages stitching, but Amish have their draft harnesses dipped and those leather harnesses pull TONS of weight --if the stitching were compromised, I think the harnesses would give way. Anyway, 55 years of dipping strap leather, and I’ve yet to have rotted stitching.
Finally, have the billets replaced --easy fix and you won’t have to worry about their age. As to leaving the saddle out in the sun, again, I would not do so. Sun will dry the leather --not what you want. FYI I ride daily in a Stubben that was my mom’s --it may be pre-WWII! All hand stitched. Anyway -that’s how I would clean a moldy saddle.
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“Go big or go home” is how I roll, how restoration projects roll and also something that will excommunicate mold, if that can be done on this saddle.
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Do you think the mold has penetrated through the leather or somehow gotten into the Viscera (foam or wool panels) of the saddle? If so, you might have a case of Saddle Sepsis, and that’ll will be hard.
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Your mold killer is white vinegar. The cheap, cleaning version is fine. Some folks dilute it. But I like to kill; I go Scorched Earth Policy with mold. Also, you have nothing to lose with this saddle. And another thing!: You can do a rinse-off layer of water if you want.
So, bottom lines is that I would start with white vinegar, a sponge and a toothbrush, and put wet every surface I could get to with white vinegar. Let it dry.
You will see the mold gone, but you won’t know if you have killed it until you see it come back or not. Just know that killing mold and cleaning off leather are two different operations.
- Cleaning-- Now you are ready to clean. Since this saddle is dry, I’ll be you can use water, followed by a towel. If there are any grease jockeys on there, spot clean with a bit of ammonia and a bit of friction. With a dried-out saddle, this is where you want to be gentle with friction.
If you will feel unsatisfied and your soul uncleansed unless you see some suds, you can use glycerine and water for this step. You could use Castile. I don’t know if it kills mold better than that gold standard that is white vinegar. But I do think it’s a touch more drying than glycerine. You don’t want that.
- Oiling. Yes, I mean oiling rather than “conditioning” because I mean to underscore the fact that the biggest, most crucial question in your life-saving mission for this saddle is: Is there enough oil/fat left deep in the fibers of the leather beneath the dry surface? if the leather is bendy at all, there is hope.
The essence of restoration to anything that’s useful and safe, not just possessing of a pretty patina on top is the restoration of oil to the middle layers of the leather.
For this job, I use Old Skool 100% neatsfoot oil. There are other oils out there, but this is the one whose properties I know like the back of my hand. You want to know what an oiled section will look like and feel like such that you can tell how much oil has soaked into the middle of the leather and how much more the leather will drink. I also find that neatsfoot does a fine job of penetrating leather. I find that manufactured products that have anything but oil in them end up leaving some stuff on top of the leather that is not absorbed. So if the middle of the leather seems to need more, but the top of the leather says “enough!” you have a problem.
Again, the goal is to put neatsfoot oil onto every surface and into every crevice you can reach. I do this with my bare hands. Give it as many thin coats as it wants. The leather should soak in the oil so that it becomes matte at the end of each dose. Be careful bending the leather at first. You can’t fix a crack you make in leather by bending it. But as you put more oil in there, you will get more flexibility into the leather. Be cautious in flexing the leather.
- Once the leather will drink no more neatsfoot, then you are ready for that sealing kind of top coat. This is where glycerine or Murphy’s Oil Soap or your favorite kind of saddle soap on a damp sponge puts on that nice, soft patina that we like.
My point is that killing mold vs. cleaning and oiling vs. “cleaning with saddle soap” are all different. I’d do the full 4- part process. Good luck!
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I would be very careful and have a saddler check out the saddle before use. I have had old stubbens like that dry rot and look safe but are not for use. You can literally easily tear the leather with your hand and in places where you cannot easily get at normally.
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It’s like you know me!! :lol:
Thanks for the very informative post. Roger all of that!
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Excellent advice, thank you. I had planned to clean it first then take it to the harness shop (if that should ever reopen). But your point is well taken and no one will use it before a full check up once clean.
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I would pick any of the methods above and follow them. I was gifted an old cutback saddle that was stiff and extremely moldy. To cut the mold I used vinegar and water then followed it up with castile soap. Once that was done and dried I used both the leather honey soap and conditioner. About a week later I followed it up with a good clean and condition from leather therapy and have not had an issue with mold since.
I agree with everyone saying take it to a saddler to check it over once done. I had the padding checked and reflocked on the saddle and the billets replaced. It was much cheaper than purchasing a new saddle of the same quality and it put my mind at ease to have new padding and billets. Worst case scenario is that you’ve practiced restoring leather and have a saddle with dry rot or something else unsuitable to use for riding.
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Here is a somewhat different approach that you might find interesting.
https://nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/conservationmanual/File7.htm
I have a correspondent who is an Aggie and was involved in some restoration of leathers that had been both desiccated in land storage and recovered from the deep ocean using this method.
Good luck in your program.
G.
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This is my mindset; no harm in trying.
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Thanks very much for this!
De nada!!!
G.
If you do work on it I would love to see before and after pictures. I love rehabbing old leather and seeing others do it!
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I have had great success in restoring dried out leather, saddles and strap goods, by using LARD after cleaning the dirt off the saddle of course.
I work the lard in with my fingers, let the saddle sit for a day or two or three, then repeat the larding, let the saddle sit again, and after the third coating of lard (worked in with my fingers) the leather becomes supple enough for use.
Warning! Keep the lard away from rubbery substances (it will melt rubber) and keep it away from any metal (it can cause the green crud.) If the lard gets on metal wipe the metal off immediately so you do not end up with the green crud.
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I had some old leather I found and before I started to work with it used beef tallow to soften and condition at the suggestion of a long time leather-worker. It actually works quite well to soften leather so that it won’t crack. I’m not sure of the long term effect (as I’ve just started using it in December last). So far it works without any noticeable downside. One thing I tried was using it on an old pair of work gloves that got left in the shed barn in an old bucket for couple of years. I few years back I had similar opportunity to experiment and used olive oil. It worked but I didn’t like the long term results (mostly an unpleasant feel and modest smell). I’ve tried the beef tallow on this set and like the result better. No unpleasant feel or odor. And no change in color (olive oil tended to darken the leather).
G.
