Leather Dressing - Do's & Don'ts

Do

• leave all fixings, such as zips, poppers, studs, and buttons, unfastened. Loosen any similar stress points. These areas, even when treated, are prone to tear and can never be fully repaired.

Don't

• display, or place, your antique leather near a heat source, or in direct sunlight (ultraviolet rays actually "cook" leather fibres).
• display with any sharp bends, or creases, in the material.
• hang leather over sharp objects, such as nails, wires, hooks, or dowels. Hang a hard-to-display items over a large-diameter roller, or similar object with a curved section.

The picture on this page

A .44 Magnum Western gun belt, complete with dummy ammunition and matching Western Holster. Also a British Army Issue 'Sam Brown' leather belt and shoulder strap in polished leather, circa WWII with a British Military leather Pistol holster by Pulley & Powell, dated 1917.

Photographs of leather www.oldnautibits.com