Oiled leather straps

[William of Stonebridge]

I have 9/10 oz veg tan leather for my breastplate strapping. I will not be able to go to the leather shop to buy stain before this weekend's event. Would just applying neatsfoot oil without applying stain look ok? Will the leather turn dark brown or will it stay light brown? Will it weaken the leather at all or make it stretchy? Would it be best that I just wait and stain the leather and apply a conditioning wax like Atom wax?

Suggestions?

[Russ Mitchell]

It'll make it more brown, and it will generally help the leather be more supple... but it won't make it any stretchier than it already was/n't.

[es02]

neatsfoot or linseed oil is good or you could use the period recipe of beeswax olive oil and rosemary.

[Konstantin the Red]

Neatsfoot will give a narrow range of warm brown shades, of increasing darkness and depth with amount applied, all the way down to a Sno-Seal-like brown-sugar shade. Since it's all through the leather, it won't come out or get scuffed off. Loading it up with oil to that point will impair any takeup of dye, though.

[Kilkenny]

neatsfoot or linseed oil is good or you could use the period recipe of beeswax olive oil and rosemary.

Source for that recipe ? Not one I've ever heard of and the addition of rosemary is intriguing.

Neatsfoot oil I recommend. Linseed oil I've never seen suggested for leather, and cannot imagine why one would use it.

The oil will darken the leather's appearance a bit, but not very much, unless you manage to really soak it. It helps maintain flexibility, but shouldn't change the stretchiness - again, unless you really soak it.

What will happen in terms of color is that the leather will darken over time in the sun. Oiled leather given a good exposure to sunlight develops a deep, rich color - one that many stains are intended to achieve quickly