Leather Care - Cleaning and Conditioning

My leather maintenance kit, available as an add on in my shop.

Cleaning and conditioning leather is a simple and low cost way to ensure these beautiful and functional pieces continue to perform their best for generations to come.

First, Do You Know What Kind of Leather You Have?

This guide is written with vegetable tanned leather and suede in mind. If you bought your leather from Wizened Oak Leather, that is what your item will be made from. If you have chrome tanned leather, or are unsure of what kind of leather you have, this guide will not be for you. Take a look at my earlier post on identifying leather types and come back here later.

How Do I Maintain My Leather Goods

Leather maintenance consists of three steps. Dusting, washing, and conditioning. You should always do them in that order, but you do not always have to do all three steps. Dusting can and should be done more frequently than a full conditioning,

How Often Do I Need To Clean My Leather Goods?

There is no schedule I can generally recommend for all leather maintenance. You will have to go by look and feel. Leather could use a good dusting any time the leather looks dusty and the color becomes less lustrous, and it could use a good conditioning any time is starts to feel dry to the touch, less flexible than before, or starts making more creaking noises with movement.

If you've ever felt cardboard dry your hands out, it is a similar feeling. You might also notice you begin to leave fingerprints on the leather in a way that you did not before because the leather is so thirsty it is stealing moisture from your hands.

How often this needs to be done will depend mostly on the item in question and how it is used. A set of horse reins will need very regular maintenance, but a desktop pencil cup might go two years between needing to be conditioned. A wallet is dusted every time it comes in and out of a pocket and the oils from your hands act as a conditioner of sorts, so a well used wallet might never appear to dry out. Those should still be tended too from time to time because the crude dusting and conditioning of use will miss spots.

Your schedule will also depend on your local climate, with dryer areas requiring more frequent leather maintenance. It is also worth mentioning that in humid areas you should take extra care to be sure you leather fully dries any time it comes into contact with water to avoid the potential for mold and mildew growth.

How Do I Dust My Leather Goods?

A suede brush

The first step in cleaning is a good dry dusting. A suede brush is ideal for this. A suede brush should have short, soft, clean bristles, still stiff enough to have some spring in them. If a suede brush is not available, a common household rag and an old toothbrush will do just fine.

After a while, you will be able to see some grey build up in the recesses of the leather, that is just dust, and it should brush away quite easily. Use circular motions to try to hit the features of the leather from all angles, and directional sweeping motions to push loosened debris off the leather. Scrubbing too hard could result in damage to the finish of your leather goods, so this should be done gently and often.

All surfaces, both the front and the back side of the leather should be brushed.

For suede leather, this is where you stop. The following steps are for vegetable tanned leather only.

How Do I Wash My Leather Goods

Bars of saddle soap for cleaning leather.

To continue cleaning your vegetable tanned leather, take two rags. (if you are using my kit, save the wool for the next step) Wet one and wring it out until it is damp but not dripping. Leave the other dry. Optionally, you can have some saddle soap on hand for this step. This is a gentle cleaner intended for vegetable tanned leather.

Only on the smooth (grain) side of the leather, with or without a bit of saddle soap, move the damp rag over the leather in a circular motion across the surface. You should not be leaving any puddling water behind. Quickly, take the dry rag and repeat the process to pick up any water remaining on the surface. Leave the leather overnight to be sure it has dried completely. Now that the leather has been cleaned, the surface is ready to accept a conditioner.

What Leather Conditioner Should I Use?

One of many excellent leather conditioners

As long as your leather conditioner says somewhere on the bottle that it is specifically for use with vegetable tanned leather, they all work pretty much the same. Whatever you can find at your local store will get the job done. I use Neatsfoot oil myself, but that needs to be heated before applying and is very runny and difficult to handle so I do not recommend it to my customers.

For people only doing this on occasion, I recommend a thicker product that is easier to apply. Fiebings Snow-Proof is a mink oil paste that is very easy to work with. It's also great for your boots in the winter.

How Do I apply the Leather Conditioner?

A section of sheep wool, my preferred applicator

You should read and follow the instructions on whatever product you have purchased. These instructions will tell you some version of, clean the surface, apply the product to the smooth (grain) side of the leather only, and wipe off any excess. To those instructions I will add that you want to use as little of the product as you can get away with. Your applicator should be saturated enough that it does not leave unaffected streaks in the trail of conditioner behind it, but not much more than that. It is also nice to have two rags for this step as well. One to apply, one to wipe down after.

Can I Use and All in One Leather Cleaner and Conditioner?

Absolutely. As long as it says it is specifically for vegetable tanned leather somewhere one the bottle. Follow the instructions on your specific product. As with every, All-in-one products, it represents a small compromise in effectiveness but any leather maintenance is better than no leather maintenance.

How do I Store my Leather Goods?

If putting a leather object away for a long time, for a season, or for any other reason, I recommend storing it in a cool, dry place. Leather can mold if stored with moisture for too long. This is the reason I include silica desiccate pouches in my packages. They are very cheap to purchase and great to have around.

Recommended Products

These products are the ones I would recommend, but they are all easily purchased elsewhere at lower prices. I cannot buy enough to get a meaningful discount from regular retail, I offer them here for convenience so that you can avoid going to another store, and be sure you are getting the right thing without sifting through the many products of a larger retailer. Please do notice the kit, which combines the items, so you are not charged multiple times for shipping and handling.