Can anyone suggest how to soften an old leather holster?

If you can find some. Bear grease (rendered from the fat) slathered on old dry leather and placed in a warm sunlight will be as good as anything. Neat'sfoot oil and warmth can help too.

I've tried grease, rendered fat, oils, saddle soaps, etc and the best I've found is Galco Leather Lotion. It makes the leather soft without getting grease and junk on your clothes or the gun. It's not cheap, but a little bottle lasts a long time.

Lexol will work with several applications over a couple of weeks. Bickmore Bick 4 is also good, and a lot like the Galco lotion mentioned. At least, they look and seem to work the same.

For all treatments, apply, set aside, apply set aside, repeat every 3 days for at least two weeks. It takes time to soak in and get the leather softened, and lubricated properly.

If it was an oil tanned leather, neatfoot oil is appropriate, or a boot oil for that type of leather.

NO saddlesoap. That is a cleaner, not a conditioner. It takes oil out, and you need a conditioner to put it back in.

Jeremy

leemar28 hit it on the head!
Bear grease makes old leather new again.

DON'T bend the leather, just work in the bear grease and let set a while.

Then . . .Magic happens

Not sure what rats/mice may think of modified leather as a food source.

Huberd's shoe oil. Since 1929.

Look for a high quality saddle leather conditioner.

Being raised a cowboy and remained such my whole life and having to deal with leather my whole life, the saddle makers tell me that Neatsfoot oil penetrates the deepest..I also use a lot of "LEATHER NEW" On my saddles, saddle scabbards,bridles, boots and holsters..

Neatsfoot oil seems to be the best, but it can be greasy and come off on your cloths if you use too much of it, so use it lightly and often as opposed to a soak..I use it on the underside of my saddles and use Leather New on top side.

Mineral Oil, Grape Oil, OLive Oil most all cooking oils are excellent leather preservatives. I use these from time to time.

Bear grease is animal fat and rots and/or turns rancid, it also destroys stitching, its an old wives tale and all they had in the day..It makes better pie crusts and muzzle loader patch grease.

Whites Boot Oil , Obenauf's Boot Oil, Huberd's boot oil or grease. And Bear grease. Its not just a wives tale. It really does work great and lasts far longer on my White's than anything else. I have tried most everything I could get my hands on. Working in a rain forest for decades wearing best quality leather corks . I needed to take good care of my leather.

Bear grease!! maybe its the difference in weather. I used it a few times but the weather was 110 or better in the shade, made boots to hot, rotted the stitching, and gathered dirt like flys to shit..

There were no comments on another old leather restorer - the brain of a deer ??

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
There were no comments on another old leather restorer - the brain of a deer ??

The Indians said every animal had just enough brains to tan its own hide. The oil in brains is similar to other oils. Neatsfoot oil is probably the cheapest and easiest to find. Mink oil is thicker if that's your preference. The trick is to treat the leather before it dry-rots, not after.

Some confusion as to what is best, To clear things up most animal fat works well indeed but it can and will get rancid and it will grease up you pants in a holster..Like I said Neatsfoot oil is as good as it gets ask any saddlemaker, but it will turn you clothes black and greasy even in mild doses...Also the clime you live in makes a difference. When I lived in the Texas border and it got up to 125 degrees oil on your saddle would turn your levis black and your legs greasy...Leathernew on the other hand would not, so it was the choice of most..therefore there is a difference in these posts..and they are not wrong they just live under different circumstances..In Idaho I use Neatsfoot on the rough side underneath of my saddle and Leather new on top and its worked well..and there are othe options for cold climes where bear grease would probably work but in the summer you could smell him a coming your way!!

Cold trigger finger would naturally use Bear Grease, he is in snow much of the year and I suspect it takes a lot of thick grease or oil to keep leather working, snow will pull most oils out of leather in a hurry.

I have never found a good use for deer brains other than its go to be messy as hell.but if its all ya got get after it. I take that back my dogs will eat them..

Another consideration is where you store your leather, saddles, saddle scabbards etc normally stored in the barn of shed that have animal fat rubbed in will keep your mice and rats pretty fat, also the dog and cats and who knows what else..My dad never oiled anything, he rode his saddles 20 years and bought another, the other stuff lasted just as long without oil or so it seemed. He believed oil rotted leather and he only cleaned his saddle with saddle soap every 5 or 10 years if that.

I agree with what was said about "Leather New". For old barn dry saddles and rigging I use saddle soap to clean the dust and dirt off. When they dry I apply Leather New. Some times it take more than one coat if one is extremely dry. I would not hesitate to use it on one of my holsters as well. I use to buy it at the feed store.

I use Sno-Seal on mine. After it has soaked in, you can buff off the excess.

Ahh, the smell of Huberd's soaking into a pair of cork boots ...

One distinction those inclined toward Neatsfoot Oil nowadays need to be alert to: Neatsfoot Oil, vs. Neatsfoot Oil COMPOUND. They are not the same and researching the different effects of the two may prove well worthwhile.

John

I know a well oiled pair of boots in the hot dry summers with burn your poor feet up!! I only use a little Leather New in the summer..What ever one uses, use it sparingly is my advise, Mostly Im concerned about my saddle stuff as its used next to a sweaty horse..I don't worry all that much about my boots, they wear out before they dry out, and in a horse corral with urine and shit mixed with water and snow, you should probably wear rubber boots.

Neatsfoot oil or extra virgin olive oil. The key with ANY oil is that it should be applied in a very thin coat. A little goes a long way. When overdone it will ruin the leather and there's no reversing the damage. Conditioners such as Lexol or Skidmore's are also very good.

Agree with the above that saddle soap will only dry it out more. It's not a conditioner.

I’m not an expert in this area, but having been a avid baseball and softball player for over 40 years, every time I broke in a new leather glove, I used castor oil. It really made it soft and held up for years.

I haven't used everything suggested here and am not an expert. But the Obenauf's I have used along with neatsfoot, and mink oil. But the best by far in the state of Misery was Obenauf's. It even smells like new leather. That is just my limited experience. Be Well. Packy

Mink oil

A lot of good ideas.Neatsfoot oil,saddle soap,mink oil,etc. The bear grease reminds me of Ken Kesey's book "Sometimes a Great Notion" about loggers in Oregon that for boot treatment they used either bear grease or Caterpillar yellow paint.