Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1890-03-27
SHOE-LEATHER OILS.
How Grease Affects the Wearing Quality
OF Foot-Gcar.

How Grease Affects the Wearing Quality
OF Foot Gear.
Animal oils and greases incorporate
themselves with the fiber; they do not
cvaporate. Their action, says the
Boots and Shoes Weekly, is like that of
compromising various etals-instead of
forming composition, in the one case,
all the elements are SO compounded
that their individuality is lost, and sep
aration is almost impossible; in the
other, the elements are mixed, but can
be separated almost without loss in
bulk. Moisture will drive the grease
to the surface, and gradually the in
terror will be robbed of its life, but
there is no evaporation. Consequently
the leather retains it's flexibility much
longer than when tho grease is also
drawn out by heat and the action of the
air.
Animal oil does not pene trate the
leather so quickly rs oils that are moro
volatile, but this very quality is what
makes them more valuable, as they are
taken up by the fiber, not simply sucked
in and filing around it, and they are
equally difficult to draw out. Rancid
oils, oils that have undergone chemical
change that marks the first step toward
yitiation, have lost their most valuable
properties, and the process of decay
which has begun introduces gases,
creating the volatile element which so
quickly robs the leather of it's nourish-
meat. At the same time the fiber is in
jarcd by the decaying grease.
Vegetable oils rank next to animal in
their preservative qualities, but the
oils extracted from flax seed and cotton
seed, unless purified, are of such gummy
nature and so easily affected by heat
that they are unfit for use by the cur
ricr. Cotton-secd oil, purified as it is
when sold for sweet oil, is an excellent
but an expensive oil for leather. Pure
olive and castor oil possess the qualities
requisite for preserving leather and
keeping 1T soft, but their cost precludes
their general use. Castor oil is the best.
Fish oil is used more than any other
and to It's use may be attributed much
of the poor wearing qualities of tho
leather now in the market. BY an i'm
proved process of manufacture fish oils
are deodorized so thoroughly that their
presence can not BIO detected They pen
citrate more readily than either animal
or vegetable oils, but they do not incor-
porate themselves with the fiber. They
simply fill up the intersticcs, and being
OF light nature they are easily drawn
out by heat or moisture. They impart
a soft condition to the leather when it Is
new, as much so if not more than do the
animal oils, and because of that they are
notcondemned. If used freely in connec-
ton with hard grease they become ram
cid, and impart an odor which is re-
tanned as long as there is any grease in
the leather.
Mineral oils are being introduced
quite freely, and as they are thoroughly
deodorized they find ready purchasers.
These oils, are the worst possible
that can be put into leather.
They have wonderful penetrating
properties, but they are heating, and
their volatile properties deprive them
CT the permanency so necessary for the
preservation o. the leather. They do
not take kindly to other oils or greases,
and are easily cut by water. While tho
natural heat from the feet will cause
evaporation, particularly if the leather
Is moist, they do not become rancid, but
they are more injurious to tho fiber than
even the most rancid animal oil.
The shoe manufactures should con-
denim all leather treated with mineral
oils. a little care on his part will en-
able him to determine the oil used,
whether animal, vegetable or mineral.
Good grain and clear fleshed stock in
vite the eye, and if properly treated
with oils the leather will prove accept
able, but grease is the life Of the leather,
and just in proportion as tho grease is
pure and Incorporates itself with tho
fiber is the leather durable or otherwise.
Sand Z;ags for Health.
The sand bag is invaluable in the