Leather trunk

Susan White <smwhitewhite [at] aim__com> writes

>I am restoring an 18th century leather trunk, and although I
>understand the problems of using leather dressings for conservation,
>the lid of the trunk is badly deformed and too stiff to reform
>without the use of some type of softening dressing.  I thought I
>might use a traditional mixture of lanolin and neat's-foot oil. Any
>recommendations would be helpful. ...

I have always used Bollmann's Ultra Soft for softening hides and
other skin-related objects and products.  It is a hide-softening
agent and is available from WASCO.  Cannot get it over here in the
UK any more unfortunately, perhaps because it does contain aluminium
salts.  It will darken the leather during absorption so don't use it
too lavishly at first.

Simon Moore MIScT, FLS, ACR,
Conservator of Natural Sciences


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:9
                 Distributed: Thursday, August 4, 2011
                        Message Id: cdl-25-9-005
                                  ***