[Milsurplus] Leather conservation

[COURYHOUSE at aol.com]

wow...    we probably   wished  we   had  known this  about  30 years  ago..
 
It  seemed  like  every  week back then someone   came  up  with a  new 
leather  cure all...
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 5/28/2013 12:15:26 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,  
kargo_cult at msn.com writes:

Something I read online recently reminded me of this issue.
I  had a couple leather items I reckoned needed attention, to "soften up"
and  protect the old dry leather. However I postponed this project for
years  although through  the time I read about various approaches. 
Last  year, "Military Trader", a militaria collector magazine, had
two or three  articles expressly with this topic. Museum conservators
from U.S. and  Canada were consulted and quoted. It turns out,
the smartest advice, for  arresting leather degradation and longest-
time preservation, is NO  treatment. NO oils, softeners protectors,
nothing other than keeping the  leather in the same environment
most comfortable to us, in temperature and  humidity. So you have
your choice - you can lubricate and clean the leather  to have it
look more presentable during your ownership,which will  actually
in the long term increase its degradation,  or you can  preserve
it as-is stabilized for owners farther down the timeline. 
-Hue  Miller  
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