polishing saddles

[ElliesMom]

I have a question...

my husband wants to polish his black saddle (its black leather, pretty sure a dye) with what he would polish boots and other shiny type black leather he has. You know old army boots, before they went to no maintenance uniforms.


HappyAppy -- like an LEO would polish thier leather duty belt (the sam browns).


Anyway we are going back and forth on if thats the correct way to clean and polish black saddle leather.

There seems to be a ton of stuff around the internet too, but I trust you folks more than internet hooey.

Please enlighten me...

 

[fredsaid2]

I have a question...

my husband wants to polish his black saddle (its black leather, pretty sure a dye) with what he would polish boots and other shiny type black leather he has. You know old army boots, before they went to no maintenance uniforms.


HappyAppy -- like an LEO would polish thier leather duty belt (the sam browns).


Anyway we are going back and forth on if thats the correct way to clean and polish black saddle leather.

There seems to be a ton of stuff around the internet too, but I trust you folks more than internet hooey.

Please enlighten me...

A product that you'd use on boots and such would rub off on your pants.

I would clean the saddle the normal way w/ saddle soap, followed w/ a conditioner then give it a protective coating by rubbing a nearly dry sponge on a glycerin bar and applying that to the saddle. Buff and your saddle should look very nice.

 

[Pasofever]

Polish it good :slipnslide:

 

[devinej]

yes...slippery and will leave black polish on your clothes!

they have special saddle soap and conditioner for black leather - you can look for that, but my favorite is kirk's castile soap for cleaning and then you can just use olive oil for conditioning. inexpensive and it works.

 

[Loper]

yes...slippery and will leave black polish on your clothes!

they have special saddle soap and conditioner for black leather - you can look for that, but my favorite is kirk's castile soap for cleaning and then you can just use olive oil for conditioning. inexpensive and it works.

ooohhhh we just had this discussion at the AMIT hunter pace, someone had a very bad experience using a non horsey type product that burned the horsey hair and skin when the saddle was used over a period of time!!!

 

[kmbetit]

I actually put brown polish on my saddle and buff it like I would my boots with a cloth and brush. I've never had the problem of it coming off on my pants, but I buff it really well. Not sure if you'd have the same experience with black, but it's been okay for me.

 

[happyappygirl]

yes...slippery and will leave black polish on your clothes!

they have special saddle soap and conditioner for black leather - you can look for that, but my favorite is kirk's castile soap for cleaning and then you can just use olive oil for conditioning. inexpensive and it works.

Mice love olive oil They like neatsfoot oil too. Plus neatsfoot can weaken thread, although I have soaked new stuff in it then used saddle soap and buffing afterwards.

We do exactly what Fredsaid does on all leather, uniform and tack. Saddle soap then glycerine. I like the spray glycerine Elam sells. It even gets mold off.

 

[BeenSpur'd]

you can just use olive oil for conditioning. inexpensive and it works.

I really don't think you should use olive oil. It's a food product which will get rancid with time. Neatsfoot oil is made for leather. I don't know what a neat is and why they would use only the foot but it's great. It will darken light leather but since the saddle is black that won't be a problem. After it soaks in, buff it to a shine. I also use the neatsfoot oil on my softball glove faithfully. That glove is over 30 years old, won state and county championships and still has lots of life left to it. Heck, I still have the pony saddle I used as a preteen on my grandma's pony. It's black and over 50 years old, still looks pretty good, I always used neatsfoot oil on it.

 

[devinej]

olive oil is ok though, when i was a working student at an olympic dressage barn in PA that's what they used

 

[BrookValley]

Yeah, I think olive oil is OK, too. I've used it before. I love Kirk's, especially on sweaty icky tack, to clean before I condition...I really like this conditioning stuff I get in an orange tub at Elam's (specific, huh? I'm so much help. Or not. ) I think the brand is Carr & Day? Something like that. It's not quite an oil, not quite a cream...and it smells awfully yummy. It's really nice for my saddle 'cause I tear the flaps up pretty bad with the loads of sadle-tite I use...

Everyone has their favorite stuff to do their tack with. You'll get a different opinion from everyone here, I'm sure. But I think it's safe to say that black polish isn't a great idea--at least not the stuff you'd use for shoes. Like everyone else said, yes, that will come off on your clothes.

 

[ElliesMom]

its my husband. There are many days I am happy to let him learn a hard lesson.

 

[BrookValley]

its my husband. There are many days I am happy to let him learn a hard lesson.

Well if you let him learn this one on his own and he goes ahead and polishes the seat of his saddle up real good with slippery shoe polish, I do hope that you get the video camera charged up and ready to go for his next ride...'cause it's going to be entertaining.