Wallets, Chains, and Reins
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For as long as I can remember I have swooned over owning a The Flat Head Wild Child wallet, and today…
I've read so much 'don't do this…Do this' online regarding conditioning and treatment of veg tan leather that I think I'm just going to leave it as is and just use the damn thing! Neats Foot Oil seems to be the favourite. Most other animal derived oils and balms contain naturally occurring sugars that aren't good for leather and are bacteria factories.
What are you guy's views? (I know, the subject has been covered a million times)
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I don’t really have «views» other than it’s good to use some kind of oil on your leather to stop it drying out.
Mink oil, beeswax based product, olive oil I’ve used them all.
My IHxSE IHB-01 was veg tanned. It has seen four years of constant usage and all I’ve done is use mink oil on it twice and it is in tip top state (it needs another go now though).
I think it is very easy to overthink this kind of thing and a lot of folks in the wider denim community fall into that trap. The gods know I have, although I’m trying to avoid it these days.
Regardless, that is a truly stunning wallet. Congratulations.
I almost went for TFH mid length before I got my IH mid. I now prefer long wallets and both TFH and IH long wallets are next level expensive. Over 1000USD for the IH version. Out of my league these days.
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I hear ya. I'm not a fan of very heavy indigo bleed onto veg tan leather. All of my other wallets have been OGLs. The construction and stitching wasn't great and I had my Condor repaired twice in about 18 months. Lots of threads in the US suggest to stay away from mink oil as it can damage leather rather than protect it. That was the view of a number of leather artisans that make belts and wallets. Can't say I've ever had an issue.
I was lucky enough to hold a couple of IH and TFH wallets in my hand today at Rivet and Hide. I just could not rationalise the additional few hundred pounds for a cordovan wallet. I really like that the Wild Child is a slightly larger bi-fold, but can accommodate a wallet chain or rope, and still looks great. No chain for when I use it at work, chain/rope for my weekend warrior days!
TFH Wild Child and Real McCoy's type 1 M65 bought in 2 weeks. My Ebay sales have been good to me!
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I'd avoid anything that can go rancid, including olive oil, and stick with beeswax-based conditioners. I don't think you need to condition the cordovan part at all.
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Have you tried Obenauf's Leather Oil? This stuff is amazing and works extremely well on almost everything. It does darken the leather, though, but it rejuvinates, softens and conditions it like nothing else. I must admit my experience with mink oil was not pleasant at all.
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Have you tried Obenauf's Leather Oil? This stuff is amazing and works extremely well on almost everything. It does darken the leather, though, but it rejuvinates, softens and conditions it like nothing else. I must admit my experience with mink oil was not pleasant at all.
no, I haven't, but I have been eyeing some up. I might just give it a go.
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That is a beautiful piece of craftmansship!
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I have a pair of cordovan dress shoes and use Saphir on them. Can’t recall if it’s mink oil or not
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@Stuart.T First of all, that wallet is a thing of Beauty!
Regarding Treatment: in my experience wallets rarely get dry, not sure wether it is because of the Manual use or because the leather gets shiny due to sitting on it. However, if you want to condition it without changing the colour or structure much I am a total fan of Mustang Paste. I feel like it doiesn't stick at all and doesn't change the colour much (unlike Mink oil or other oils), yet does what it should do. -
Horween itself recommends Venetian Shoe Cream for Cordovan leather:
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I've given it a good coating of beeswax, let it soak in, and buffed it with a dry cloth. I looked to the equestrian world for guidance as leather is a huge part of their world.
Beeswax hasn't coloured it, which is good, but it will stop some other staining such as indigo bleed doing as much immediate 'damage.
My osteopath brother in law is going to have something to say about the size of this thing. He already moans at me about oversized wallets.
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Who knows
https://www.timeless-leather.de/shell-cordovan/shell-cordovan-wallet-2-0.html
Timeless leather cordovan wallet, made in Germany? -
My osteopath brother in law is going to have something to say about the size of this thing. He already moans at me about oversized wallets.
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Max makes a good point, particularly if it's pull-up leather, sitting on it all the time may be all that's needed. I generally don't treat leather until it needs it.
Also interesting that Horween recommends a different regimen for Cordovan than they do for CXL (neatsfoot oil). They have the same recipe, though obviously different leather.
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Everyone wants a piece of cake.
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Funny I just decided to post pictures of my WC today, as for the first time in 3.5 years I conditioned it. I thought I would need to fo it sooner but it never really seemed like it did. So today I I figured why not? So I put a little Venetian shoe cream on it because thats all I had. It came with some vibergs I picked up not long ago.
The flat head WC to me is the perfect wallet. I had wanted it for years since seeing it at SE in 2013. Took a few years to get but finally pulled the trigger on it
Anyways I've had mine in my pocket every day and here is a few pictures. The first 4 are new and the last group are today
@Stuart.T congrats on the pickup man. You will really enjoy it. I know I have and will for years to come.
Also I dig how the ring on your WC is hammered. Wish mine was. Oh well[emoji846]
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Don't slather oil or paste on that Wild Child if you're going to use it everyday, it's not needed. I have posted my aging examples on this forum before.
I agree with Red Moon and other makers in that a wallet gets the oil it needs from yourself, it's truly not needed.
I have two WC's (been using the black one for a year), my tan one is still fine. I may oil it in the future.
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No oil.
https://www.heddels.com/2018/01/fade-of-the-day-the-flat-head-x-wild-child-3-years/
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I didn't even think about the fact that the entire surface of a wallet gets a lot of oil from your skin as you handle it, I was just thinking of oil pulling up from the tannage when you sit on it–between the two of those, there really could be no use for oil at all. And depending on the construction of a wallet, oil could be bad for it. Wild Childs look fully sewn and not dependent on glue of any kind though, so probably not a concern there.
