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How to clean, condition and waterproof leather boots

how to clean, condition and waterproof leather boots

How do you waterproof leather boots? What’s the best way to clean leather boots? How should you condition leather boots? Well let me tell you! As I’ve said often in this site, leather is leather is leather. What I mean is that basically once you know how to clean, condition and seal, or what some call waterproof leather, it’s the same with all types of leather and all kinds of leather products.

I already have an article on how to do all that with your leather jacket. For the most part it’s the same with leather boots. Now, the leather in boots is normally treated a little different during the tanning process, but not much. It’s normally thicker, not as soft and often not as smooth, at least on the inside. Leather boots are normally made from cowhide, buffalo hide and pigskin.

No matter what type of leather hide it’s made of how you clean it, condition it and waterproof or seal your leather boots is the same. It always comes down to the three basic steps; cleaning the leather, conditioning the leather, and finally sealing, or waterproofing the leather. So lets start with cleaning the leather. You need to get leather cleaner, leather conditioner and leather sealer, or what some call waterproofing.
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Leather jacket spring cleaning

leather jacket spring cleaning

Well even though the folks down here in Florida can ride all year long, most of us put away our bikes for the winter. After a long winter it’s really nice to get that leather motorcycle jacket out and all the gear, go over it and get it ready for riding! Storing a leather jacket over the winter can be very easy or very harmful to it, depending on how you store it.

If you cleaned it good and conditioned it before putting it away in a cool dry place, chances are you don’t have to do anything to it. But lots of times we tend to throw our leather jacket in a corner somewhere, thinking we will get to it later. Then later becomes when you take it out in the spring!

Two of the most common problems you see when storing a leather jacket for the winter are drying and cracking, and mildew. The first problem comes from storing it in a hot and/or too dry place. The second comes from storing it in a damp and wet area, or putting it away with dirt on it. Winters seem to have both conditions in the same house!
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Daytona Beach bike week 2009

bike week in daytona beach

Well everyone, in about one more week Daytona Beach will host bike week 2009. I live in Orlando, which is about 60 miles away from Daytona. I think last year there was over 600,000 bikers there. This year it’s hard to say how many will be there the way the economy is. It might be a little less busy, but not by much.

I think bikers who really like bike week in Daytona will find the money to go. I’ve been there a few times myself. So just what kind of bikes and bikers can you find there? Every kind you can think of. It’s not just die hard bikers that live on the road, although there will be plenty of them. You also get the more family type of biker.

There will be plenty of $70,000 touring motorcycles with sidecars with mom and the kid. Doctors, office guys and so on will be there with their bikes. Many make it a family event. There are plenty of things to see for the whole family. Of course there’s just as many events you want to go by yourself, like the ladies oil wrestling and wet t shirt contest! 😉
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Leather crafting a design youtube video

Hi everyone, the weather is getting warmer, at least down here in Florida. It will not be long before it’s hot all the time here in Orlando. My last post was about leather jewelry, so today I thought I’d make a youtube video post on leather crafting. That is, making designs and very detailed pictures in leather.

It’s amazing just how detailed you can get a design in leather. Now this video makes it all look real easy, but it’s not! It takes years and years of practice to get as good as this guy is in this video. I myself can’t make a design in leather to save my life. I’ve airbrushed designs on leather, but using stencils.

As this guy shows, it takes a lot of special leather crafting tools to make any good design. The tools need to be in good shape and really sharp. But once you know what your doing and have all the right leather crafting tools you can make just about any design you can think of in leather.

Once the design has been cut into the leather, you want to treat it with conditioner, then a sealer over it. Just like all the rest of your leather items. So if you ever wanted to make some designs in leather this video is a good start to watch. Enjoy this leather crafting youtube video!

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Another cool leather tanning youtube video

A few post ago I showed a youtube video of inside a leather tanning plant. I found another one that shows a little bit more about just what goes on in these places. Not every leather tanning place does things exactly the same. The basics are the same, but some places do the steps different, and use different machines.

This one shows a bit more hands on approach to the whole leather tanning process. As you can see, it’s a very physical and demanding job. I’m sure the smell of all those tanning chemicals must be pretty strong too. So take a look at this long leather tanning you tube video and see just a little bit more how the whole leather tanning process works!

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How to put on patches for leather jackets

Leather jacket patches, how to put them on

Hi everyone, time for me to make another good article on biker leather! Today I’ll talk about how to put on a patch for your leather jacket. By patch I mean any kind of logo, picture or saying made to go on leather jackets. Now before you ever put on a patch, think long and hard if you really want it on there. Just like a tattoo, it seems like a good idea at the time, but you might change your mind later.

Now you might think well, if I don’t like it I can always just take it off right? Yes, but the only really good way to put a patch on a leather jacket is to sew it on. I know some places say you can find glue to put your patch on, but there always seems to be a problem with that. So many glues discolor the leather.

Or they often start coming off a few months down the road, or if you try to take it off, it takes the leather with it! So I’m not going to recommend you glue it on. If you do fine, but remember, I told you so! So that leaves the other way, which is to sew it on. If you sew it on, the holes the needle make are there forever. Continue reading How to put on patches for leather jackets