One of the ways that I restore antique leather items, such as sword scabbards, belts, binocular cases, straps, boots, etc. Chelsea Dubbin: amzn.to/2SXfjKY Extra videos: / scholagladiatoria
From Wikipedia: Dubbin is a wax product used to soften, condition and waterproof leather and other materials. It consists of natural wax, oil and tallow. Dubbin has been used since medieval times to waterproof and soften leather boots. It is different from shoe polish, which is used to impart shine and colour to leather. Dubbin can be made with beeswax; fish oil; and lard,[1]and can also include mink oil. The name dubbin is a contraction of the gerunddubbing, describing the action of applying the wax to leather.[2]
I love all of your videos! you actually inspired me to start a channel talking about different strange and rare items that I find from all over world! Would never have done this without your vids Thank you!
@@ManDuderGuy Oh yes, indeed, I am just a beginner but you have to use the right stuff for the right thing. I user ballistor to get the leather supple and flexible, after that I use mink oil, fat och wax/grease to get a finish. I love boar (pig?) fat/grease for some applications, wax for other. Grease is a pain because it attract dirt if you put it on shoes though.
Used dubbing for years on all my motorcycle gear. It's very satisfying to use, especially on rain dried leather gloves. I put the stiff gloves on and then use the dubbing as if it was soap and I was washing my hands and you can feel the gloves absorbing and coming back to life as you do it 👍
Holy! That’s exactly why I came here!! My WWII US Navy BU Ships Mod 0 Binoculars made by Spencer Lens Co. has a torn strap on a case that looks similar to yours. It’s a lot larger and brown but still similar. I wish I could repair the strap, everything is in shockingly good condition.
I'm gonna buy me some Dubbin for my riding boots to go with my DC4 stone that I use on my kitchen knives. I don't own anything antique, but I'm a practical man and I always appreciate a good tip!!
Yeah, to clean it and strip the old oil off in preparation for the real thing. You need to follow up after with something else (dubbin, lexol, w/e) or you're just drying it out.
@@mr.stotruppen8724 I wash my leather boots with saddle soap, put them out in the sun to dry the put mink oil on them. They look like new when done, and they last a lot longer.
Coconut oil is my method for parched windlass scabbards and slings. Melts in hand and soaks in the leather, migrating and distributing well. Saddle soap seems to cause verdegris corrosion on brass buckles, cartridges and rivets.
Thanks for the helpful tips, Matt! Wouldn't mind seing that leather case and the scabbard again, once you have finished restoring it, to see the results
Dubbin is a wax product used to soften, condition and waterproof leather and other materials. It consists of natural wax, oil and tallow. Dubbin can be made with beeswax, fish oil and lard and can also include mink oil. It is different from shoe polish, which is used to impart shine and colour to leather. I leave both the leather item and the Dubbin in the window for i5 mins to warm up before I use it. Good channel, Matt. Thanks and keep it up.
I've used Dubbin for over 40 years on leather winter boots (we get a lot of freeze/thaw, big snow storms, wet weather, and particularly destructive, slush mixed with salt that is used to melt snow and ice from roads and sidewalks) and all kinds of other leather gear. I find it works well to protect. Not just this, but summer leather like sandals and sneakers benefit from it by keeping the leather from drying out in the dry air of winter.
Great video, very informative for those not used to restoration and even maintenance of leather items. I have used dubbin for decades. every year or two, I will strip off any polish on my leather items (or just a good cleaning with saddle soap if not polished) and give the leather a good dubbin treatment then re-polish. This is doubly so for my saddle, which goes through some pretty rough handling here in Colorado with the varying temperatures, humidity levels, and altitude changes I put it through during search and rescue in the Rockies. I do find it best to clean off any polish r other protective coatings first, though I have been told that this is not necessary. Keep the videos coming. I look forward to the next.
I'm new to antique swords, but I really like these videos. I have a couple of antiques now that need some loving care and without videos like yours I would probably either destroy them or let them rust.
Generally leather treatments are Beeswax, Petroleum, Neatsfoot oil, or Silicon based. (maybe vegetable oil based also) It's important to know what you're applying to leather. Especially considering *Redrot* is a thing. I've use Obenaufs Heavy Duty LP (beeswax) on general leather items and Renaissance Wax on antique leather. I never use neatsfoot or silicon. Neatsfoot will rot leather and thread, silicon will make it overly supple. Beeswax may promote redrot with age so I follow up with renaissance wax. I don't exactly have 100+ years of observation so use caution.
@@ManDuderGuy Forgot about that one. Good oxidation stability. Better resistance to rancidity than other animal or vegetable oils. It's hard to research this stuff when you keep getting advertisements in your results. You need to be careful because most mink oil products will contain very little mink oil. You need to look for the MSDS's of whatever you're buying if you can find them. www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/comments/135psy/leather_protection_options_recommendations_and/
I like these maintenance and restoration videos. I've got all the things you use to restore blades. I'll practice on my old machete, then see if I can find a rusty old antique sword to fix. It's cool that half of that stuff is in my gun cleaning/maintenance kit anyways. You should do videos showing basic disassembly of longswords etc to change grips or deep clean.
I guess its true when they say that you learn something new every day. I never heard of a blackjack or sap referred to as a “priest.” They fell out of favor with law enforcement during the late 20th century. Thanks for the great videos.
Lawsuits and bad press caused those impact tools to be discarded. Can’t have the police using anything that works! Tasers are hit or miss, but a chunk of lead upside the head is very effective!
This hasn't been done for a few years (that I know of), but some of the officers of the law (specifically deputy sheriffs, so far as I know) used to have a narrow pocket added to their pants along the seam stripe, wide enough for a blackjack, so they could carry one without it being obvious (that was more than 30 years ago now).
@@pearceelliott7855 change occurs very slowly in a bureaucrat organization. At least until a few years ago, I know of at least one New England Police Dept. that was issuing pants with “flashlight pockets” in the legs. If you needed both of your hands free in a hurry, they were quite useful to temporarily store a flashlight, pen, impact device, etc.
Also blackjack or sap. Flat models US cops called "slappers" or slapjacks. Hitting people in the head with any can be lethal, there are manuals on strikes to pressure points and joints. Where bone is thinly covered by muscle strikes can be very painful.
One thing to be careful about those binoculars is that the prisms may have shifted resulting in your eyes not looking at the same focus point (you will have problems focusing on things). Parro Prism binoculars are more vulnerable to it than Roof Prism binoculars and those are Parro Prism (shape gives it away). If the prisms have shifted the binoculars will need Collimation, which for antique or vintage binoculars might be difficult or undesirable or expensive (finding a skilled person with the equipment and then letting them disassemble your antique and fiddle with it and put it back together). So just a heads up to anyone wanting to buy an antique pair of binoculars (or any used binoculars) test them to see if they work correctly and research the price of Collimation for that pair before buying unless you just want a display piece.
Very true. Never buy old binoculars for use unless you can try them. This can also be a problem with cheap new binoculars. A friend has a pair i can not use because the focal points are so far off everything is double. On the other hand my 1978 Kern binoculars are just great because i was able to pick the best of the heap.
For leather care, I am using a dubbin called "Passier Lederbalsam" myself, which is well-known in equestrian sports (used for saddles etc.). It's based on beeswax and therefore smells very pleasant. I have noticed that brass and copper elements produce more verdigris when the leather around them has been treated with it. I assume this is because leather is tanned with acids, so leather-protecting products are slightly on the acidic side too, to keep the ph levels of the tanned leather. I do not know whether Chelsea Dubbin has the same effect as my product, but I wanted to share this experience in case anybody has a need for this information.
In German it's called _Lederfett_ - literally 'leather fat' or 'leather grease'. And yeah, works a charm on old leather. I've used it on vintage axe sheaths and sheaths for entrenching tools.
The irony, was just out and about looking for saddle soap for some pre 1900 leather cavalry gauntlets. Great video bud, actually hadn't thought to let it sit overnight 'n sorta absorb in. Have a good weekend!
Some Dubbin now comes with a silicon additive, which while great for making leather water resistant, is not recommended for use on leather that one wishes to remain in original condition as possible. This according to the makers of Dayton boots which in North America are the epitome of the motorcyclists boot.
I think that small truncheon thingy is called a priest and fishermen used them for killing a fish, loved the video keep up the great work. paul. ps would love to see you restoring a sabre.
Could you advise me, i brought at auction a yea r1782 Garde de battle saber which has your usual leather scabbard with brass fitting, at the moment i can not get the saber out of the scabbard. Would you able to advise i have ordered some leather restorer, b
The first leather treatement thing i would have thought of: the things for car leather seats (there is stitching too) As for the binoculars: i learned fom TGW Channel that the british and the germans "traded" during(!) WW1. They basically exchanged rubber (to make gas masks) for german made lenses from Zeiss ect..(to make binoculars).
Id recommend saddle soap first,used with v hot water,to clean all the crap out of the leather and open the pores.this let's any product penetrate better,clean,feed, finish.i can recommend fiebings saddle soap,and carr and day and martins leather oil and any good boot polish to finish.
I grew up on a cattle ranch in the Northwestern United States, so I’ve had lots of experience. I would not continue to use the strap. There’s too much risk that the strap will fail, and probably at the wrong time (as you are leaning over the edge of the Grand Canyon perhaps). Preserve the strap to be sure, but put on a new strap. You might also try neatsfoot oil, the traditional leather treatment around the ranch. Dublin probably has beeswax, and maybe caranuba or another heavy vegetable oil. All good, but it IS a combination of things. Neatsfoot is made by boiling oil out of animal bones. Theoretically it’s just that, the oil rendered from animal bones, but modern manufacturing methods being what they are, who knows what the manufacturers do now. Anyway, keep up the good work.
Off topic question. I have scrolled through your extensive collection of videos and didn't see one that shows that paddle shaped weapon hanging on the wall in many of your videos. What is that? Do you have a video on it?
This is great but what can you do when the leather in an antique and has been died black at one time, so it is cracking through the leather and the die? (Refereeing to a scabbard as we)
I’m sorry to ask again but is stainless steel good for cross guard and pommel on swords if the blade is 1060 high carbon steel and supposedly is for 199.99$ or 200$ US
stainless steel is usually fine for everything but the blade, or even for the blade for small knives, its with long thin pieces (like sword blades) that it has problems
One thing to note: Dubbin sells on Amazon in the US for $26 per can like you have there. Mink Oil is a tenth of that. Of course, they may not be the same at all. I've used Mink oil on hiking boots for years with good success. If I'm feeling particularly flush some day, perhaps I'll order a can of Dubbin.
These type of products should be available in the household chemicals aisle of your grocery store. Between the shoe polish and the methylated spirits...
@@QlueDuPlessis We don't have methylated spirits in America. But we do have rubbing alcohol. And we don't have Dubbin. But Mink Oil is available everywhere. Somehow we manage to muddle through nonetheless.
I suspect the dubbin is returning the leather to the colour it was when it was new. You might want to try mink oil or neatsfoot oil. Neatsfoot oil is oil rendered from cows feet. It stays liquid at room temperature so it's made from the same thing as the leather and it soaks in readily.
Dubbin, can't get much more traditional than that, good when you want suppleness though not when the leather has been shaped and you want stiffness, e.g. fitted kife sheaths. I used to use it for boots until Nikwax came along.
Hi Matt. I would like to know whether you have any suggestions for revitalising shrunken leather grips on a 1853 Pattern Light Cavalry Sabre. The Australian heat has not been kind to them, and I was wondering whether soaking them in some sort of oil would have any benefit, or do you just recommend dubbin for these as well? I have always used dubbin for belts, holsters, scabbards etc, but have put off using it on this sword as i thought it might need to use something more intense to swell the leather ?
That life preserved, also called a sap sometimes, is a felony to own here in California. Funny old world... I can have a machine gun with the correct license, but not a stick with lead in it. If one wants such a thing, one has to make it from iron wood.
@@TheOwenMajor Yeah, I have been in that debate once or twice. I agree, it could just as easily be called that. When weighted bludgens were commonly manufactured in the US at the turn of the century, the various makers had all sorts of fanciful names for all sorts of similar gadgets. In my opinion, a true "sap" is made from leather so it doesn't leave a mark (supposedly)
@ scholagladiatoria Do you have any advice on what to do with seams where the thread has fallen apart (desiccated to the point it just disintegrates)? Do you attempt to use new thread and the old needle holes to sew it back up?
You might have covered this in a previous video, but I thought I'd ask it here. I've purchased a German infantry saber from 1890 with a bend up near the tip and a Russian heavy cavalry saber from 1840 with a warp in the blade. Do you have any methods to safely straighten a blade out?
Thanks for the recommendation. Tried it on my antique leather accoutrement: grips & knots. Do you have recommendations for antique steel cleaning solutions? Especially blades that have some fine etching on them?
Why does leather dry out over time? Presumably it can't be actual moisture loss from evaporation or shoes would be unwearable after a month in the sun.
I'd be interested to see how you handle brass. Obviously one doesn't want to remove all the patina, but on virtually all navel artifacts, during their lifetimes, they were kept bright. Also, does one restore a good browning job, or just oil whatever is left of it. I have restored several historically unremarkable old revolvers (like that Adams of the last video), and I am always tempted to use the original bluing or browning methods, and re-finish them. (yes, I know most of that authentic stuff is poisonous)
Having a REALLY hard time finding anything (that doesn’t have a tone of random haters for longevity) that isn’t “a strange concoction of chemicals”. Trade secret laws = its even hard to figure out what products that claim to be natural, actually are. I just can’t bring myself in any capacity to even consider using harsh chemical synthetics on high quality antique virgin leather outside of extreme one time restoration needs…defeats the purpose in my world :). Any favorites you use yourself that are natural that u haven’t had issues with?
