LEATHER CARE 101
Do’s
Do apply a conditioner to your leather about once every 6-9 months. Leather needs natural oils to prevent fiber breakdown and proper conditioning alone will probably cover about 80% of your maintenance needs. Of course, frequency of application can vary a little depending on how your product is being used. If the leather appears to be drying out (lightening of color, stiffness, or god-forbid cracking) then apply a conditioning oil as needed.
We recommend Chamberlain’s No. 1 for routine conditioning and Leather Honey for emergency replenishment.
Do use your product every day!
Do appreciate the unique patina that your leather naturally develops over time!
Don’ts
As a general rule, don’t let your leather come into contact with large amounts of water, soap or alcohol. These things lift the oil from your leather very quickly, and if not replenished quickly, can lead to permanent damage.
Don’t use just any oil, they aren’t all created equal! Common household varieties like olive oil can leave a slightly tacky surface (which collects dirt, plugs up pores, and generally feels… ugh). Other oil-like products like Vaseline can even speed up the breakdown of your leather. It can get complicated, so unless you’ve done your research we recommend sticking with oil blends specifically designed for use on leather.
Don’t leave your leather in direct sunlight for long periods of time. We know it looks great sitting there on the shelf catching sun next to the window (more on that in a moment) but over time the UV rays will accelerate the drying and breakdown of the leather.
Do NOT, under any circumstances, resign your leather product to a sad, lonely life of non-use on a shelf. We literally cry every time we see a quality tool kept solely for decoration. So make sure to love and use your RN8 leather product until it’s been used up!
What-if’s?
I spilled [your preference of milky/sticky beverage] on my leather.
Solution: Time is your enemy, so the quicker that you can dab up as much of the liquid from the leather with a clean cloth, the better your chances.
After that, mix up a thin, gentle soap with water (or better yet, Chamberlain’s No. 2) and again dab onto the stain. This helps dislodge particulates stuck between the fibers.
After soap application, clean up as much as you can with another clean cloth and let dry. Understand that there are no silver bullets here and there may still be evidence of a stain afterwards. Usually though, over time with regular use and application of a conditioner, stains should blend and become much less visible.
My product is showing scratch marks or indentations very easily.
Solution: Unfortunately, you’re fighting the tide if your goal is to keep a pristine, uniform appearance to your leather. But if you do encounter any particularly unsightly scratches then most can be fixed with a quick application/massage of a leather conditioner so long as they aren’t deep. As far as indentations go, there’s not much that can be done, it’s just part of the patina. Some will heal on their own to an extent over time, though.
The thread on my product was accidentally cut! Help!
Solution: Get in touch with us, we’ll get your leather back in the fight. Whether it just needs a spot fix or a re-thread back at our shop, we’ll work with you to come up with a solution.