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1950s "Two Legs" Car Coat

Hey all, Ive been collecting vintage leather jackets for a while and only recently found myself looking for a forum that appreciates the same. Stumbled upon this forum while studying the countless forum posts all over the internet on the best ways to condition vintage horsehides. I had purchased Fiebing's saddle soap, Fiebing's Golden Mink Oil, and some Fiebing's 4 way care on recommendations from an employee of Tandy. On this most recent jacket I came across i was hoping to condition some of the lighter areas around the elbows and cuffs to darken them a bit but am now realizing i may have the wrong products to do so. Ive never treated or conditioned any of my previous vintage horsehides so this is all new territory. If it turns out to be too worrisome of a task to attempt i would have no issue wearing the jacket as it sits now but feel it would look a lot better treated due to the lighter brown hues being so obviously different.
Two Legs Horsehide.jpg
Two Legs Horsehide Back.jpg
 

Smithy

Well-Known Member
Nice looking jacket. A lot of leather conditioners will darken leather at least initially, often though it's not a permanent thing.

Choosing a conditioner is pretty easy there's lots of good ones, and most have similar ingredients. Pecards is a big favourite around these parts although I've personally been using RM Williams leather and saddle dressing since Adam was a cowboy and haven't got a bad word to say about the stuff. I use and have used it on everything leather and it does a simply brilliant job.

Welcome aboard BTW!
 

foster

Well-Known Member
The lighter areas look to be where the leather hide has had some abrasion. This is normal but it isn’t very easy to make it look the same as it looked originally. Conditioner will keep the leather supple and flexible but nothing can undo the abrasion to the leather surface. Leather polish might mute it somewhat, but I wouldn’t recommend that personally.
 
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