Thread: Leather Oils
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Old 03-07-2017, 04:57 PM
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rednichols rednichols is offline
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I think that this is a great thread and there is lots of accurate information here -- if one can just pick it from what's 'kinda true'. Personally I almost never use, for example, neatsfoot oil. Yet it's an industry standard so no reason to be afraid of it; but neither is it really appropriate to use on a finished holster.

When reviewing a company recommend, from Bruce's tiny operation to Galco's large one, you all need to consider that makers have an agenda. Always. Examples: with neatsfoot oil, they just don't want you creating a warranty claim by overtreating the holster and making it soggy; with tight holsters, they just don't know how to prevent it and don't want you bogging down their phone lines complaining about it.

So, as a preventive measure, they tell you what they want you to know. And I know this, because the warranty department was one of my many responsibilities at Bianchi for decades. We didn't ever use that b.s. instruction to 'put your pistol in a plastic bag and leave it in the holster overnight'. Do the same without the bag and you'll get exactly the same result: it's not the bag!

It is completely true that a completed holster with 'normal' use needs no treatment -- at all. I have Heisers that are 100 years old in my collection (that were made with neatsfoot oil treatment, by the way). But when the cosmetics of your holster are threatened by actually using that bad boy, then the advice to use a clear wax (OMG, coloured shoe wax will rub off on your clothes) is workable.

Personally I use Fiebing's Tan Kote which has the disadvantage of needing a bit of skill to apply it, and it darkens a brown leather somewhat. Better is Fiebing's Harness Dressing, though it takes a bit more skill to apply -- but it doesn't darken the leather. HD is what was in the Bianchi leather dressing bottles back when it was a real holster company made in America.
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