The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-04
Proper Care of Leather

The rapidly increasing cost of shoes, leather may be checked and considerable saving effected in the Expenses of indi- viduals by the adoption of simple meas ures for prolonging the life of leather say the leather specialists of the bureau of chemistry. Shoes and harness properly treated will last twice as long as when reasonable precautions for preserving the leather are neglected.
 Grease or oil should be applied to the shoes whenever the leather begins to get hard or dry The shoes should be brushed thoroughly and all dirt and mud that remains washed off with warm water, the excess water being taken off with a dry cloth.
 On dress shoes or polished shoes use castor oil and apply lightly at night to the dried shoe, rubbing the oil into the leather well, especially along the welt or where the sole is sewed to the upper. | Polish the next morning. Tan shoes are, of course. slightly darkened by grease and even by polish. Do not apply any oil or grease on rubber heels or composition soles, since such application is unnec- essary and injurious
 Work shoes which are not to be pol | ished may be creased with neat 's-foot l oil fish oil and tallow, vaseline or petro- l latum. The oil or grease should be about as warm as the hand can com | fortably bear, and should be rubbed well
 irto the leather, especially along the
 welt.
 l If it is desired to secure greater water
 resistance than the above oils and
 greases will insure, heavy dressing or greasing with either of the following mixtures has been found excellent for
 this purpose: One-half pound of neutral
 wool grease (get from drug store), one
 quarter pound of (heavy) dark petrola-
 tum tget from drug store). one-quarter pound of QighD yellow paraffin wax ! or nine-tenths of pound of petrola- tum and one-tenth of a pound of bees
 wax.
 | Very good water resistance can be se-
 cured by adding beef tallow to any one of the oils or greases mentioned above
 for greasing work shoes. In all cases
 each mixture should be melted together
 by warming carefully and stirring thor
 oughly. Better penetration is secured if
 the grease is applied warm, but it should
 never be hotter than the hand can bear.
 The greased shoes should be left to dry over night in a warm place. The edge of the sole and the welt should be
 greased thoroughly, as too much grease
 can not be applied to these parts. Any
 enc of the above mixtures should be ap-
 piled warm to the sole of the shoe, thus
 increasing it's durability, piability and
 water resistance.
 | Harness leather should r be washed
 and oiled frequently. Tepid water, neu- ] tral soap and a sponge or stiff brush l should be used. After rinsing in clean tepid water the harness is hung up to
 drain a little while before oiling. | Neat's-foot oil or caster oil Is best for
 driving harness. but there may be some l tallow mixed with either of these oils | a mixture of taliow and fish oils about
 equal parts of each-for heavy harness. The application should be light for driv- 1 ing and liberal for heavy harness. The
 oil, warm to the hand, is rubbed thor
 oughly into the leather while it is still wet from the washing. A clean, dry
 cloth should be used to remove excess i oil which the leather is unable to take
 up. Harness can be kept soft and flex- | ible for a long while and made very
 much more attractive in appearance by
 the proper application of oil.