When living a leather lifestyle, it’s obvious that leather care is a very important part of our community. We all want to look nice in our leather items whether it is just our boots, jackets or in our formal leathers. There isn’t one set in stone way on how you should care for your leather items. Those of us who have dedicated our time to doing this for our community are called bootblacks. All our community bootblacks step up and volunteer time to assist us in keeping our leathers looking great. What gets overlooked sometimes is that any one can take basic care of leather items – all it takes is a little know-how and some basic supplies.
With a little know how, you can take something like this and turn it into this (see boots below)!
All it takes is some soap, conditioner and some polish. There are many brands of polish and conditioners out there. Most you can buy on Amazon or directly from the company, but there are some members of our community that also make soaps and conditioners. I love supporting our local bootblacks in this regard.
The standard soaps that most people use are either saddle soap or glycerin soap. Saddle soap typically comes in a tin or in liquid form. Conditioners come in an oil form or a cream. When it comes to polish, this product is typically only used on boots. The choice between the brands and types of products we use are a personal choice of the person who owns the item or the individual taking care of the item if the owner doesn’t have a preference. There are some brands that people don’t like the smell of or they may prefer the smell of a particular brand. As a general rule, I always ask the owner if they have a preference when it comes to what brands I use.
To start a basic kit all you really need is saddle soap or glycerin soap, a conditioner like Huberd’s or Obenauf’s, some cotton rags (t-shirts work great), and some black and neutral polish, a brush to buff with and a brush to apply the polish unless you want to use your hands. You can even use latex/non-latex gloves if you prefer. Then you need something to store it in and a small tool box works great for that.
Leather care is not just for clothes and boots. You can use the knowledge on almost any leather item. I have worked on everything from toys to motorcycle saddlebags and everything in between. You would use the same types of products with the exception of polish. For example a saddle bag can be cleaned with glycerin or saddle soap and can be conditioned as well.
Keeping all this in mind, there are some leather items that require special care. One example is reptile. In situations where you are dealing with a special care item, definitely reach out to a seasoned bootblack for step-by-step instructions on how to handle such leather.
If you are interested in learning more, Titans of the Midwest have created the Kink U brand and they have a great bootblack series on YouTube that was done by bootblacks from all over. Click here to watch one of their episodes.
The best rule of thumb is if you are unsure of what to do, then ask for help. Anyone can do basic leather care. It is almost a guarantee that someone you know is either a bootblack or knows one. The best part is that most of us are willing to help some who wants to learn even if it is for private use. Even seasoned bootblacks have questions from time to time and we reach out to each other. So when you have questions, remember that your friendly neighborhood bootblack is only a phone call or Fetlife message away.