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Oiled leather
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GENERAL INFORMATIONWith its rugged and natural look, oiled leather is mostly used to manufacture hiking and mountain boots, boat shoes and tack. But you can also find jackets and furniture made with it as well.It's usually thicker and heavier then other types of leather. Its color will vary depending of the raw hides, the oils used and, in some cases, by the dyes added to the oils. Most commonly it will be black or from light to dark brown and sometimes contain various levels of red pigments. It is somewhat oily to the touch but without being greasy or leaving grease or oil on your fingers. It doesn't have the varnish fell or aspect most finished leather do. Not shiny but usually not completely mat either... This leather is long lasting, offers undeniable value and return on investment. It is naturally well waterproofed and quite easy to care for (as long that you have the right product…). For example, for only a small scratch, you will usually be able to restore color with just the rubbing of your (wet) finger on the scratch! Right from the start, in the tanning process, the use of natural and/or synthetic oils to dye and treat this leather contribute to the high content of oil found in them and, because of this, to their naturally high waterproofed quality level. |
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OILED LEATHER MAINTENANCE TIPSThe two main concerns here are: the cleaning and moisturizing or conditioning.Cleaning is easily done just with a wet cloth or ideally, using AQUILA to prevent the side effects of chlorine and minerals contained in water. This should be done after each use otherwise mod and dust build-ups will contribute to dry out leather more quickly. Moisturizing oiled leather should be done with lanoline base products (often used in the tanning process). GRASSO is our product with the highest lanoline content. It deeply, easily and quickly soaks in leather, moisturizing not only the surface of leather but its full thickness. GRASSO softens leather while restoring its color and its waterproofed qualities. The frequency for moisturizing will vary with the use we make of the object to treat. For example, boat shoes used only as city walking shoes, being only lightly exposed to water and salts, will need GRASSO maybe only once a month. Whereas the same shoes used as boat shoes, with frequent exposure to ocean's salty water (and salty air), would probably need conditioning once a week. For even more extreme usage where more then once a week would be needed, we recommend alternating the treatment using one time URAD and one time GRASSO . Another common situation that would require a different treatment would be with a shoe that has both Nubuck and Oiled leather parts. In that case you can still clean both types of leather with AQUILA but unless you're ready to use one moisturizing product for each type of leather (GRASSO for oiled and MAT & OILY for Nubuck), you can use GRASSO for oiled and MAT & OILY for both. You leave them to dry for one minute then you will also need to use a Suede/Nubuck brush on the Nubuck parts. Also note that although Nubuck is commonly used in today's boat shoes confection, it is not sturdy and resistant as oiled leathers. There is no counter indication in using Neat's-foot oil, beaver oil, mink oil etc.. but these oils do not easily soak into leather. They build up on leather surface. In order to get good results, you will most likely need to resort to doubtful methods like heating up the shoe in the oven to open up pores etc… Unless you manage to get the oils in, these oils will cloaks up leather's pores with grease build-up, but will leave the leather's inside dry. The grease build-up attracts and sticks dust and dirt, leaving your leather surface with black spots preventing leather from breathing and eventually cracking up leather. On the up side, most leather will not forgive the slightest maintenance negligence where oiled leather will let you get away with minor omissions… It's most likely one of the many reasons that make oiled leather a good choice for heavy duty or extreme usage. |
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CONCLUSIONRugged, sturdy yet supple, water resistant and requiring easy and only minimum maintenance, oiled leather are extremely robust and long lasting.When properly cared for they will keep looking good even when used in the extreme situations they were meant for! |
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