Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-03-15
Miseellansous.
How to take care OF harness.

Many of our agricultural editors for
some years past have persisted in promul-
eating very erroneous instruction touch
ing the proper care of harness. and leather
boots and shoes and the result has been
that our boots and shoes and harness were
hard and stiff, when the leather should be
soft and plable. By wetting leather of
any kind, whether it is in the form of har-
ness, or boots, and drying it if the pores
are not filled with oleaginous material, the
leather will soon become SO hard and stiff
that there will be no elasticity left in it
and when any portion of it is bent and
worked back and forth, the surface will
soon be filed with numerous cracks.
The usual practice with boots and har-
ness has been to give the leather thorough
soak in warm water for several hours, so
as to fill every pore with water. The sur
face was then dried and a coat of oil APP
piled. As the moisture prevented the oil
from entering further than the leather was
dry, only a thin portion of the surface
could be benefited by the oil. The conse-
quence was, as it always will be, that the
leather soon dried out, and became harder
and harder every time the surface was ex-
posed to water r-When harnesses are ex-
posed to rain, unless the leather is filled
with oleaginous material, water will enter
readily and then dry out in warm weather,
thus rendering every part of harness or
boots hard and stiff, and much less dura-
BILE than if the pores had been filled with
oil.
Neatsioot oil will preserve the elasticity
OF any kind of leather, and render it more
durable. By the process oil is kept out of
the interior of the leather, where oleagi-
nous material is needed most.
The true way to treat leather of any
kind, if there is dirt on the surface, is to
remove it with wet cloth and soap suds
The leather does not require drenching
and saturating with water. The surface
simply needs to be cleaned. Then, as
soon as the moisture has disappeared, ap-
ply the oil, which should be warm. The
leather also should be warm when the oil
is applied, and should be kept in warm
room until it has dried in throughly. If
the interior of leather be occupied with oil
water cannot enter. There is but little
danger of getting too mnch oleaginous ma
ierial in the leather To give the surface
to prevent the leather from appearing
greasy to the touch, apply coat of leath-
er varnish, made of shellac and alcohol.
A half pound of shellac gum, put in
bottle with an ounce ofthe lampblack, and
one ounce of gum camphor, and a pint of
good alcohol or enough to cover the gum
il corked tight and kept in warm place
for "a few days, will make cheap and ex-
cellent varnish for leather. But the inte.
rior must be kept filed with oil, or the var
nish will tend to render the leather hard
and rough. If coarse boots be kept well
oiled and covered with coat of this kind
of yarnish, the leather will remain soft
and pliable, and will exclude water nearly
as eflectually as India rubber. We have
tested this practice, and the use of these
materials for more than twenty years, and
know from experience that this is the bet
ter way to take care of leather, than to fill
the pores with water before applying the
OIL ~. Y. Times.