Taking Care of Leather Collars

[Sit Stay]

I use a combination of Antares oil, Fiebing's soap and Oakwoods conditioner on my leather stuff. They can likely be found at most tack stores.

Most oils will darken leather, especially a natural tan. Lexol does have a non-darkening oil though - I've used it on bridle leather and it hasn't seemed to darken much (if any). Harness leather is tricky though!

[meepitsmeagan]

I'm having the opposite problem. I've got a headstall that got a little sun damage in CO and I can't get it to fade/darken.

[~Jessie~]

That's the saddest thing about tan leather, and unfortunately it's my favorite color

Chloe and Rory's "every day" collars are both tan leather Pacos. Rory's is double leather and hasn't darkened as much as Chloe's.

When Chloe's collar was new:


20060105-DSC_4127 by Chihuahuaesque, on Flickr


Paco Collars by Chihuahuaesque, on Flickr

A few days ago on Chloe's birthday:


DSC_9618.jpg by Chihuahuaesque, on Flickr

[Saeleofu]

Originally Posted by Torch

If you use saddle soap instead of dish soap, it will strip less of the good stuff out of the leather but still get the dirt and grime. It's cool stuff

Yeah, I have a tin of saddle soap somewhere, but couldn't find it at the time, so in my 3am brain I said "I'll use this!" At least it was the one with lotion added

[~WelshStump~]

Yeah, that just seems to be the thing about this color leather. When I got Enda's Paco "pre-owned" it was still pretty much "new" and very light tan, after wearing it nearly every day for over two months I switched out her collars to clean it (it was splattered with mud, felt that constituted a cleaning) I noticed it was significantly darker, after just a couple months. I still think it looks great, and it feels so buttery, doesn't bother me. Oh yes, and I've been meaning to say also that yes, the critics are right, the tan does scratch/show scratches more, need to re-dremel her nails again, didn't get the bottoms smooth enough obviously.

[~WelshStump~]

*Bump-Bump*

She did this earlier today, need to fix those nails tonight. But the color of the scratch is just a bit lighter than the color it was when I got it so you can see how dark it's gotten. She has been in it in the snow though and that might have darkened it more?



I just read you can coat tan leather collars in wax to seal them, anyone here try that?

[Torch]

Originally Posted by Saeleofu

Yeah, I have a tin of saddle soap somewhere, but couldn't find it at the time, so in my 3am brain I said "I'll use this!" At least it was the one with lotion added

LOL gotcha.

[naturalfeddogs]

Originally Posted by JacksonsMom

Is there any way to avoid leather darkening up?

I loveloveloveeeddd when we first got Jackson's tan Paco collar.

It looked like this:


He wears it almost every day. We've probably had it for, like, 8 or 9 months now? It's definitely darkened up a bit.

It still looks GREAT and is in awesome condition. My favorite collar by far. He still wears it practically every day.



I just didn't know if there was a way to avoid it. I'm thinking probably not.

It's never been conditioned or anything. It's never gotten soaked either. I haven't been 'careful' with it per say, I mean it's his every day collar, so dog parks, running around outside, etc, he's got it on. But it's yet to have been worn in big bodies of water etc.

Leather will darken some with age, but I used to have a show saddle when I was showing and it was a custom, VERY light colored leather. There is a kind of cleaner that won't darken it, but right off I forget what it's called. Maybe you can google it and find one, and I will do the same to see if I can find the one I used.

[~WelshStump~]

Originally Posted by naturalfeddogs

Leather will darken some with age, but I used to have a show saddle when I was showing and it was a custom, VERY light colored leather. There is a kind of cleaner that won't darken it, but right off I forget what it's called. Maybe you can google it and find one, and I will do the same to see if I can find the one I used.

OH yes please! We would all love that!
I conditioned End's collar last night to try and get the scratches blended back in a bit, and it darkened more, but they are far less noticeable and should fade after a while. I guess that is the other drawback to the tan, I was told it scratches easy, it's just SO buttery soft, I can't believe how smooth the inside/sides are.