[junior19]

Anyone any ideas on how to soften leather? The leather straps on my old backpack have dried up and cracking.

[smud6ie]

Anyone any ideas on how to soften leather? The leather straps on my old backpack have dried up and cracking.

I use neatsfoot compound to keep my hedging gloves supple,I have recovered some fairly hard leather with it but don't try to hurry the process or the leather will crack.
smud6ie

[grendel]

neatsfoot oil will help, or a good hide food will soften it back up (neatsfoot tends to have a distinctive whiff)
Grendel

[junior19]

Cheers Guys willm go look for neatsfoot the now.

[tosca100]

Try to keep neatsfoot away from the stitching though, it can rot it if you use it often.

[fatcat1955]

Whatever happened to dubbing? I had to use it on my football boot's before i wore them . They were like concrete. Mind you that was 50 year's ago.

[tosca100]

Whatever happened to dubbing? I had to use it on my football boot's before i wore them . They were like concrete. Mind you that was 50 year's ago.

Still available. So many leather dressings it makes your mind whirl.

[smud6ie]

Try to keep neatsfoot away from the stitching though, it can rot it if you use it often.

Over what time scale did you use it before it rotted the stitching? I have been using it for a lot of years and have not had the problem you mention despite being non to careful in its application.A recent ad    here says its safe on stitching or perhaps they have changed the formula from that which you used?

Edit: Just reading up on dubbin here and see that its not the leather dressing that rots the stitches but the dirt that sticks to the excess.

smud6ie