Accumulator
04-03-2008, 06:03 PM
There has been a good bit of info on this subject posted recently, and some of it seems to differ from the conventional wisdom. Turns out that I have a lot of various leather goods and I use various treatments on them. Now the following might not be properly analogous as there are different types of leather, but:
[long-winded post follows :o ]
My dress shoes (mostly Allen Edmonds and Johnson & Murphy brands) are all at least 20 years old, and I`ve merely (spit)shined them all with Kiwi brand shoepolish since new. They not only gleam like mirrors, they`re also buttery soft and show zero signs of damage, though they are creased from a lot of walking. The last time I sent a pair back for resoling at AE they didn`t even reshine them as they thought they were as good as they could be- I`d asked them to evaluate them to see if they could benefit from their full rebuilding/refinishing process and they said "no, just keep doing whatever you`re doing".
I have casual shoes from AE and others that have "natural" and "matte" finished leather, and I treat these with Pinnacle Leather Conditioner; again, some of these are *old* shoes and they`re all still soft and in great shape- I fully expect them to last me the rest of my life (with a few more new soles).
A mention of products containing lanoline and water being OK makes me think that some of the products I`ve done OK with (e.g., the Pinnacle) might be of that type. But the Kiwi is carnauba/etc. and I`ll admit I`m (pleasantly) surprised that my dress shoes have done so well with it.
I know people who`ve been using Redwing Boot Oil on their workboots and other leather goods for *decades*. Yep, they have the same boots they bought over 20 years ago, they just have them resoled over and over again. My late father treated his leather goods with military-issue "leather dubbing", Lexol, and the Redwing Boot Oil (which made for a mess in some cases), and his stuff held up fine for ages- again, he got decades of use out of his leather goods and I`m still using some of them today.
He used Lexol for as long as I can remember (wonder when they first came out with it :think: ). He used it on antique leathergoods that are over 100 years old and I use it on them now; it works well on them. My dog leads/collars/harnesses have done well with Lexol too (but those are only ~25 years old).
I have other 19th century leather goods that were, according to the old-timer original owner, treated with "mink oil" since new; my father subsequently treated them with similar products, most recently "Cavalier Mink Oil with Silicone" (!) and I`ve continued to use it on them from time to time. These are also in great shape.
Again, I dunno if any of the above relates to automotive leather, but I wanted to post it while I had it in mind, and I didn`t want to thread-jack any of the existing threads on the subject.
Also, I don`t intend for this to be a contentious :argue But it *is* first-hand experience. I need to soften up the leather in the M3 some time, and I still don`t know what I`m gonna use.. so I`m keeping an open mind on that particular application and, by extension, modern automotive leathers in general.
[long-winded post follows :o ]
My dress shoes (mostly Allen Edmonds and Johnson & Murphy brands) are all at least 20 years old, and I`ve merely (spit)shined them all with Kiwi brand shoepolish since new. They not only gleam like mirrors, they`re also buttery soft and show zero signs of damage, though they are creased from a lot of walking. The last time I sent a pair back for resoling at AE they didn`t even reshine them as they thought they were as good as they could be- I`d asked them to evaluate them to see if they could benefit from their full rebuilding/refinishing process and they said "no, just keep doing whatever you`re doing".
I have casual shoes from AE and others that have "natural" and "matte" finished leather, and I treat these with Pinnacle Leather Conditioner; again, some of these are *old* shoes and they`re all still soft and in great shape- I fully expect them to last me the rest of my life (with a few more new soles).
A mention of products containing lanoline and water being OK makes me think that some of the products I`ve done OK with (e.g., the Pinnacle) might be of that type. But the Kiwi is carnauba/etc. and I`ll admit I`m (pleasantly) surprised that my dress shoes have done so well with it.
I know people who`ve been using Redwing Boot Oil on their workboots and other leather goods for *decades*. Yep, they have the same boots they bought over 20 years ago, they just have them resoled over and over again. My late father treated his leather goods with military-issue "leather dubbing", Lexol, and the Redwing Boot Oil (which made for a mess in some cases), and his stuff held up fine for ages- again, he got decades of use out of his leather goods and I`m still using some of them today.
He used Lexol for as long as I can remember (wonder when they first came out with it :think: ). He used it on antique leathergoods that are over 100 years old and I use it on them now; it works well on them. My dog leads/collars/harnesses have done well with Lexol too (but those are only ~25 years old).
I have other 19th century leather goods that were, according to the old-timer original owner, treated with "mink oil" since new; my father subsequently treated them with similar products, most recently "Cavalier Mink Oil with Silicone" (!) and I`ve continued to use it on them from time to time. These are also in great shape.
Again, I dunno if any of the above relates to automotive leather, but I wanted to post it while I had it in mind, and I didn`t want to thread-jack any of the existing threads on the subject.
Also, I don`t intend for this to be a contentious :argue But it *is* first-hand experience. I need to soften up the leather in the M3 some time, and I still don`t know what I`m gonna use.. so I`m keeping an open mind on that particular application and, by extension, modern automotive leathers in general.