Can I use Wilson's Leather Lotion on my Whip?

[mooniteman]

Like the topic says - I jut got my brand new cow hide 8ft whip from pure whips - so: Can I use Wilson's Leather Lotion on my Whip? Will this have the same effect as Pecards leather dressing?

Cheers!

Moony

[Cracker]

I wouldn't. I used it when I first started to learn to plait on some redhide. It left the leather sticky. I don't know if it would actually hurt the leather on a whip or not, but why chance it. Go ahead and order some Pecards. Much better stuff.
Jim

[Sergei]

I would recommend Pecards. In Australia they prefer to use beeswax type of products. Neither is wrong. You just want to make sure the leather is properly conditioned and that the conditioner can penetrate deep in the leather fibers so that they can freely bend without scraping and chafing. Both types of products are chemically neutral where they don't contains any salts or solvents. One product to definitely avoid is Neatsfoot oil. Pecards is cheap and you can usually find them in your local western boot shop. Otherwise you can try online here:
http://www.pecard.com/store.php/

[BullWhipBorton]

Hi Moony, I am not familiar with the Wilson product enough to say one way or the other, but basically for whips you want to avoid lotions or any type liquid fat dressings like neat’s-foot oil or commercial mink oil. Basically these lighter dressings can oversaturated the leather, causing it to swell and weaken, It a also evaporates very quickly from the leather so as the whip is used it doesn’t really benefit from it.

Stick to a hard fat type leather dressings... Pecards classic leather dressing, Fiebings Aussie leather dressing and Jay-el leather dressing are 3 that I recommend. Jay-el is one of the Australian brands, Fiebings is available In the US and Canada in most Tandy Leather stores or Tractor Supply Co. Stores, and some of the better Equestrian/Tack and leather shops. Pecards Classic dressing and Fiebings are petraolium based and the other is tallow based but all three contain a fair about of bees wax too.

I have used all three and they all work very well, but I tend to prefer Pecards. You can either order it from the Website Sergei posted or Some Red Wing Shoe stores will actully carry it marketed as there own leather dressing. Pecards makes it though and it’s the same stuff.

Red Wings carry several different leather dressings and shoe oils so make sure you get the right one if you go there. You don’t want the one with mink oil or the one with pine pitch in it. The one your looking for comes in a semi translucent 6 oz plastic container, Identical to Pecards container only it has a black lid rather then white. The dressing itself looks like yellowish Vaseline. I believe it says something about being manufactured in Green Bay, Wisconsin on the label. Hope that helps.

Dan

[bluzharp]

I would recommend Pecards. In Australia they prefer to use beeswax type of products. Neither is wrong. You just want to make sure the leather is properly conditioned and that the conditioner can penetrate deep in the leather fibers so that they can freely bend without scraping and chafing. Both types of products are chemically neutral where they don't contains any salts or solvents. One product to definitely avoid is Neatsfoot oil. Pecards is cheap and you can usually find them in your local western boot shop. Otherwise you can try online here:
http://www.pecard.com/store.php/

This brings up something I've had in the back of my mind for a while that I'm curious about. I have always trusted Pecards on my whip and leather goods even though it says on the label "Contains Petroleum Distillates", which is a solvent right? Is it just that it may contain less solvent than other products that makes it better for whips?

Tim

[IndyWannaBee]

How about Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvanator? I use that on all my leather products such as baldrics, scabbards, and tricorn.

[BullWhipBorton]

Tim, as I understand it the term Petroleum Distillates really covers a very broad definition that includes lot of different end products. In this case it’s not so much a solvent but rather a forum of distilling, purifying and refining crude petroleum to remove its undesirable components. Pecards base ingredient is a food grade petroleum product, which doesn’t react negatively to the leather fibers while at the same time provides lubrication and helps to deter oxidation without turning rancid over time. Hopefully LeatherLoco can chime in too, he might be able to explain it in better detail.

I’m not really sure what’s in Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator, but I knew a fairly well know whip artist that used it on his whip and swore by it at least until he tried Pecards classic leather dressing. As long as it’s not a liquid based dressing and it has some bees wax in it, it’s probably better then nothing. My personal take on it though is if you’re using an expensive whip, you might as well use the best recommended leather dressing for it.

Dan

[IndyWannaBee]

Dr. J's works great on leather products even leather that has already dried out. It does darken leather initially but as it dries it restores natural leather / stained color.



http://www.bullwhip.org/faq/sm.html

[BullWhipBorton]

If Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator is working for you with good results, then use it on your whips. Usually it’s more important that your actually making a conscious effort to take care of them rather then which brand of leather dressing you are choosing to use. Check it’s ingredients though; I suggest staying away from leather dressings that contain ingredients like mink oil and pine pitch. Robert Dante, who actully suggested Dr. J's Hide Rejuvenator in the Bullwhip FAQ is the same guy who now uses Pecards. I wrote a portion of that FAQ as well http://www.bullwhip.org/faq/caring.html Pecards classic leather dressing is the stuff I’ve used and recommended for over 12 years, it works! There are probably other whip enthusiasts using Dr. J's Hide Rejuvenator with good results, but Pecards along with Fiebings Aussie conditioner seem to be the most popular choices for whips at least in North America.

Dan

[BullWhipBorton]

From our Pecards Rep.

Way back before my time here at Pecards, the government mandated that products such as ours had to have "contains petroleum distillates" on the container if it had a petroleum ingredient. Not a problem except that they also said that you had to put "Danger" in front of it too.

As most of you know, there are sooo many petroleum based products out there that are safe for human applications such as Vasiline, skin care, the coatings on some pills, hair care products, etc...

The reason some people are wary of anything that says that it has petroleum as part of its ingredients is because of the old Neats Foot oil compounds that used kerosene as its carrying agent. Kerosene is obviously a bad choice for leather because of its pH. It will harm your skin just like it will harm leather and stitching. Using an oil that won't degrade over time, doesn't feed molds, has the same pH as leather and is heavy weight is an ideal for leather care. That is why we use the oil that we do.

Regards,

Loco

Thanks Loco

[bluzharp]

Learned a lot! Thanks Dan & Loco. I also have a tub of a Beeswax/Propolis product called Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Preservative. It was developed by an Idaho Wildland Firefighter for their boots. It's slightly darker and heavier than Pecards. I don't use it on my Strain bullwhip because it has a faint gasoline or diesel odor to it. It's a great product though for what it was intended; keeping ash, mud, and water from drying out leather boots.

Tim