Leather Care Tips & Tricks

Jolene recommends asking the artisan who created your product for their specific care instructions. The following are general guidelines. It’s best if you determine what type of leather your product is made from before choosing a leather conditioner.

CLEANING LEATHER

Almost all leather can be cleaned with mild soap and water. Water can leave lap marks if you only wet part of the leather. Your best bet is to clean an entire section, seam to seam, at once.

Saddle Soap: Choose saddle soap for daily use, rough wear leather such as tack. Saddle soap is really easy to use. First, remove any loose dirt using a soft rag or soft bristled brush. Next, wet a rag or sturdy paper towel (Looking at you, blue shop towels). If you’re using a saddle soap bar or tin – rub the wet rag or paper towel on the saddle soap. If you’re using liquid saddle soap – spray a little bit onto the rag or paper towel. Rub the leather in circular motions, working the lather into the leather. Once you’re satisfied the leather is clean, wipe any soap off the leather with a clean rag and allow the leather to fully dry before applying conditioner.

Bick 1 Leather Cleaner: Choose Bick 1 for white, lightly colored, painted, or brightly dyed leather. If in doubt, choose Bick 1. Use a clean soft cloth to dampen the leather. Apply Bick 1 in a circular motion, gently rubbing the cleaner into the leather. Once you’re satisfied, wipe off any excess cleaner and allow the leather to fully dry before applying Bick 4 conditioner.

CONDITIONING LEATHER

Leather has natural oils in it. Occasionally these oils need replenished. Think about how dry your skin gets in the winter. Leather is animal skin. Makes sense it would occasionally need oils added back in to keep it supple and soft. Depending on the type of leather and finish it has, you will want one of the products below. For any of these, simply apply them to a rag or paper towel, wipe on, lightly work into the leather, and then remove any excess. Do not apply neatsfoot or olive oils directly to the leather – it will leave a line! Jolene mainly uses Neatsfoot Oil and Bick 4, occasionally reaching for Blackrock.

Bick 4 Leather Conditioner will not change the color of leather. This is a great option for brightly dyed or light colored leather.

Blackrock Leather N Rich is what you want to use on your uncle’s leather saddle bags that haven’t left his motorcycle in years. It will darken leather some, so test it on an inconspicuous place if this is important to you.

Obenauf’s Heavy Duty LP was originally developed for wildland firefighter leather boots. IT WILL DARKEN YOUR LEATHER. It is designed to hold up to harsh environments.

Neatsfoot oil is fairly inexpensive, but it will darken leather a little bit. It looks like a it darkens it a lot initially, but once it has absorbed and dried you’ll find the darkening affect is not as bad as it looked during the initial application. On certain types of finishes such as chrome tan, this can create an unsightly color change. If in doubt, test on an inconspicous place before oiling your entire piece of leather. Neatsfoot oil has a distinct smell that goes away once it has absorbed into the leather – don’t apply this on the dining room table right before dinner.

Last but not least is olive oil. Olive oil will not darken veg tan leather (if you have leather that has been hand tooled, that’s veg tan). Olive oil is cheap and favored by saddle makers. A little goes a long way with olive oil, and this can be an economical choice if you have a large amount of tack to care for.

If in doubt about which one to choose or if you don’t know what type of leather you have, go with Bick 4.

PROTECTING LEATHER

Your leather came with some type of protective finish. It may or may not be penetrable by oils. Not all leather needs the additional step of adding a protective layer after conditioning. For example, Jolene never uses protectant after conditioning her leather belts. If you would like to add extra protection, you can use one of the products below:

Saphir natural wax shoe polish in neutral is a great option for use on chrome tan leathers; Jolene uses this on her high end purses. If your leather is a bright or light color, this is what you want. Rub on a small amount and buff. Jolene only uses the neutral color as the others contain dyes. The more you buff, the more shine you get. It goes without saying that you don’t want to use this on suede or any leather with a velvety, almost suede feel. The wax would not do anything good to the soft fibers. The full name for this product is Saphir Medaille d’Or Pate De Lux Natural Wax Shoe Polish. Next up is Sno Seal. If you’re in an environment where you need to add waterproofing without changing the color, this is a good bet. Mink oil and Sno Seal are similar, but mink oil is more likely to darken leather than Sno Seal. Both products leave a layer of waxy protection on your leather; after a few uses, you’ll be able to tell by feel when it wears off and needs redone.

SUEDE, NUBUCK, ROUGH OUT, OR FUZZY LEATHER

Avoid normal leather cleaners. They will destroy the texture. Instead look for specialty cleaners.

Suede/Nubuck Eraser block – use it just like a pencil eraser on paper. You’ll be surprised at how much these unassuming devices can get out! Tip: Look for military desert boot care kits. They will contain an eraser, a brush, and a protectant spray that won’t destroy the unique leather fibers. Jolene didn’t find the spray did much for her boots in the desert, but never had a chance to test it out in a jungle or wet mountain environment.

Angelus offers a suede/nubuck kit that contains an eraser block and brush that as of July 2026, was available for under $10.