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Thread: Cheap leather conditioner and personal rant (-You've been warned!)

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    Supporting Member DIYSwede's Avatar
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    Cheap leather conditioner and personal rant (-You've been warned!)

    Whilst having a 30-ish deg C heat wave here in Stockholm, taking a pause from my mini lathe teardown & overhaul,
    I figured it would be great to have my foundry PPE (suede leather gloves, apron, sleeves and boot covers) conditioned and baked.

    Cheap leather conditioner and personal rant (-You've been warned!)-sunbaking-gloves.jpg

    Assignment:
    -Go find the most easily acquired, priceworthy suede/ leather weatherproofing/ conditioning compound possible.

    For restless readers, kick-seekers and draft- & insight-evaders too busy to follow: Please scroll further down for the conclusions.

    Method: Research
    Being able to read is a necessary (but not sufficient) capability in striving for maximal cheapness. You need a critical approach too.
    Thus armed I searched and found a product (with almost a cult following amongst all their satisfied customers),
    a producer (with a homey & small-scale, environmental-friendly rural "Guarantee" to boot).
    Now, this company is not better or worse than average in marketing BS, thus I humbly doodled their "Brand" away.

    Cheap leather conditioner and personal rant (-You've been warned!)-leathercreamcowboy-sic-bs.jpg

    "-Awww - Isn't that nice? Swarming bees and Leather Cream Cowboys?" (Whaat? - Did they really name the pic like that?)
    As if that wasn't really enough, there's more:

    Cheap leather conditioner and personal rant (-You've been warned!)-bs-guarantee.jpg

    I took the liberty to underline the sentences of importance above. We'll get back to this. (-See where this is going?)
    So- what's my problem with this product and producer, you might ask?
    -Nothing wrong with the product as far as I can see, as you all will notice -
    it's the producers's own statements that pretty soon will get them into trouble, on the arrival of this: (-Uh-oh - here he goes!)

    Cheap leather conditioner and personal rant (-You've been warned!)-leather-cream-comp-phys-chem-msds.jpg

    Right: An ordinary Material Safety data Sheet with only "Beeswax" and "Heavy Paraffinic Destillate" (no proprietary substances)
    as "the finest ingredients nature can provide, derived from trees, plants and insects".
    Below: its density value, from which the proportions would be derived, as long as you know the density of the constituents.
    This math I kindly omitted in the following, when finally making this wonderful, natural product!

    Critical approach and a search engine made the following detour before the long-awaited conclusion:
    1) Search for CAS # at the regulatory agency's database, regarding any deviations from mfg's statements or MSDS.
    2) Do a global search for what product that'll provide the cheapest and largest content of "CAS # 64742-54-7".

    I did - and I surely found an easily and cheaply obtainable product: Auto Trans Fluid. 100% of above.

    So to make ATF, you start with ordinary, fossil crude oil, which sorta IS from "plants, trees, insects" when you think about it.
    Well, that isn't what the mfg sez - and when I asked about it - neither was I answered on their page, nor did I get a reply.
    eBay hasn't even bothered to enter any critical comments to lower their revenues. (-Is this guy a Commie?)

    CONCLUSION and Recipe:
    1) Melt 55% (of weight) of beeswax - (use a water bath if you're chicken!)
    2) Add 45% (of weight) ATF - cheapest is best, Dex II will do, NO synthetic stuff.
    3) Heat only 'til dissolved & mixed.
    4) Pour into plastic container (with preferably tapered sides) and let cool.
    5) Shake the "pink soap" out - apply by scrubbing it into leather - let melt and soak in by hairdryer or in the sun.

    I dunno about your price for the amount you make, but you'll be better off than the marketed 108 bucks / gallon!

    Moral (if any) of this story:
    "Any wealthy idiot can buy over-priced, deceivingly marketed or branded stuff (and even brag and "feel nice" about its traits),
    but it takes some brains, stamina and method to be a Cheapskate!"

    Statement: "Abuse of MSDS like the above post suggests is considered a Federal Crime under the Industrial Espionage Act,
    but is also a formidable assault on, and a continously growing threat to Free Enterprise, National Manufacturers and Eternal Values."

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    Last edited by DIYSwede; Aug 6, 2019 at 05:03 AM. Reason: Pics declined, now reentered

  2. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to DIYSwede For This Useful Post:

    Inner (Aug 8, 2021), jimfols (Jun 10, 2019), Mazay (Aug 16, 2021), Moby Duck (Jun 11, 2019), rgsparber (Jun 10, 2019), rlm98253 (Jun 10, 2019), SteveJustSteve (Jun 28, 2019)

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