| Your riding gear must be strong and resilient so as to last you many
wonderful years of riding and to provide you with the protection you need.
For a lot of people this means a good set of leathers. Leather boots,
leather chaps, leather jacket and leather gloves. Some people will
even go so far as to add a leather kidney belt, leather bib, leather balaclava,
leather head rag, leather helmet and even leather underwear. Don't
forget the leather saddle bags. Yes, leather is our friend.
Please take note that I don't own ANY suede, ostrich or snakeskin leather. So, I do not recommend you use my procedures for anything other than regular, smooth leather. Too often I see people walking around in an old leather jacket that is cracked, faded and just about falling apart. There are ways to care for your leather equipment so as to make them last your entire life and more. To buy supplies you can shop in the shoe department of just about any major department store or you can go to a good shoe shop. They usually have the supplies you'll need. Personally, I shop at my local saddlery. When it comes to leather you just can't beat a horse supply shop! Supplies:
The first step in caring for your leather is to clean it. Put some luke warm water in your bucket. Lay the item to be cleaned out on a flat surface. Wet your wash cloth and stroke your bar of Glycerin soap a couple of times. Wipe your leather clean. Be sure to rinse the wash cloth every once in a while and reapply a little soap. You don't need to use a lot, just enough to make a very light lather. After the garment has been cleaned, dump the water and fill the bucket with clean water. Wet the Rinse cloth and wring it out. Wipe away any soap that may be left on the garment. Dry the leather with the Drying cloth and then hang the garment to dry completely. If there are any spots that are loosing their colour, you may want to use the liquid shoe dye to replenish the light spots. Be sure to test the colour on an inconspicuous part of the garment first to be sure of the colour match. If you are caring for your boots, use the Small stiff bristled brush to apply the Solid shoe polish. Be sure to work the polish into all of the stitching and crevices. Use the Soft bristled brush to buff the polish off and bring the boots to a shine. The Buffing cloth can now be used to finish the polishing. If you want an extra bright shine, nothing beats "spit polishing" Apply a little moisture to a small area on the boot. Using the small cotton cloth and one or two fingers, rub the moist section of the boot really hard for about 30 seconds. Continue this for the entire toe section of the boots. This will wear the fingers right off you but you'll have an Army quality shine afterwards. Finally, you need to protect your leather from the elements. Sun, wind, rain, snow, heat and cold all have an effect on your leather. It is, after all, skin. It needs to be kept moist. There are many products you can use to protect your leather. Boots are usually fine with only polish. But if you have soft leather boots that look better dull, you can skip the polish and use the leather protectant. Neet's foot oil, Mink Oil, Dubbin... there are many names. The basic idea is GREASE. Personally I like Beeswax and Lanolin. If I don't have any of that, Dubbin is my brand of choice. Just smear a bit on a small cotton cloth and work it right into the leather. Your leather will be a bit greasy afterwards, but as the protectant is absorbed it will go back to normal. Good luck. |