Component Parts of Gear - Brown Leather - Black Leather - Patent Leather and Enamelled Leather - Serge and Linen covered Panels - Steel, Iron and Alloys of Nickel - Brass - Silver and Plated Work - Pipe-claying - Cotton Clothing and Woollen Clothing - Carriages - Blacking Boots - Tops - Leather Breeches - Saddles covered with Buckskin or Rough Leather - Silk Hats - Sponges.

Component Parts Of Gear

For purposes of cleaning we may divide saddle, harness, and stable gear into brown leather, black leather, patent leather, enamelled leather, serge and linen covered panels, steel, iron, alloys of nickel, brass, silver, plated articles, pipe-clayed leather and cotton, cotton clothing, and woollen clothing. After use, saddlery and harness should be taken to pieces and cleaned according to the nature of their respective parts, or merely gone over with a rubber or brush as may be required.

Brown Leather

The presence of oil or fat in leather is necessary to keep it pliable; for if it is used when it is in a dry state, it will be apt to crack and consequently to become spoiled. When leather was a living substance in the form of skin, its pliability was preserved by the oil that was secreted by the oil glands, which are distributed throughout the skin in countless numbers. Leather therefore has not only to be kept clean, but it must also be kept soft by some oily matter.

Linseed oil and colza oil (rape oil), which are called "drying oils," should not be used for lubricating leather; because they become hard and resinous, by absorbing oxygen from the air, and on this account they are employed in paints. An oxidised drying oil is a varnish. Castor oil, olive oil (sweet oil or salad oil), and animal fats and oils do not become dry, and consequently they may be used for softening leather; although their application will have to be renewed from time to time, because the air turns them rancid. It goes almost without saying, that before such renewal is made, the decomposed remains of the previous application should be removed, for instance by soap and water. Cold drawn castor oil and cold-drawn olive oil are much less liable to become decomposed under the action of the atmosphere than when these oils have been obtained by the aid of heat. Vaseline does not dry and does not become decomposed on exposure to air, and is therefore an excellent means for keeping pliable leather which has to be stored for a considerable time. In ordinary cases, soap (p. 48) is sufficient both for cleaning and for lubrication. The soap which has been left on the leather to soften it, will serve on the following occasion to clean it during its more or less complete removal.

If the leather work of a saddle and riding bridle appears clean and pliable without any suspicion of dryness, it need only be wiped over with a rubber to ensure the removal of dust which might not be visible without close inspection. If the leather bears signs of use, such as marks of sweat or mud, the groom should clean the leather with a slightly damp sponge which he has dipped into water (cold or warm), and from which he has squeezed out all the superfluous moisture. He may then give it a thin coating of soap. If he employs soft soap or saddle soap, he should again damp his sponge, which had best be of small size, squeeze it fairly dry as before; put some of the soap on it (say, 1/4 oz.); squeeze the sponge in the hand a few times in order to distribute the soap throughout its substance, and rub the leather with it. In the case of white or yellow soap, he may rub the damp sponge or damp flannel rag on a piece of soap, so as to raise a lather, and then proceed as already described. After the leather has received a light coating of soap, it should be allowed to dry, which it will do in a quarter of an hour or so, according to the state of the atmosphere. The leather should then be rubbed briskly over with a soft rubber, to cause the oily matter which has dried on the surface to penetrate into it, and to give it more or less of a polish, the amount of which will vary according to the nature of the soap employed, and the amount of "elbow grease" applied.

For saddles and riding bridles, especially if they are new, I prefer yellow soap to soft soap or saddle soap; because it does not darken leather like soft soap (p. 49), and does not make it sticky and dirty to handle like saddle soap. Soft soap is superior to ordinary hard soap for softening leather, on account of the presence of glycerine (p. 49). We may, however, equalise matters, when using hard soap, by supplementing it with a little glycerine, neat's-foot oil, or vaseline, or by employing glycerine soap. For the cleansing of a good new saddle, the owner ought not to grudge the slight extra cost of a soap which contains practically no free alkali. Grooms as a rule prefer soft soap to yellow soap; because it is easier to apply, and if it eventually spoils the appearance of the leather, the cost of replacement will fall upon the master, not on them. They naturally favour the use of saddle soap, because it produces a brilliant polish with but little trouble, owing to the beeswax in it. We should here bear in mind that if a saddle is really clean, it will show its stitches clearly; will not soil a clean white pocket-handkerchief that is rubbed on its leather work; and will leave no trace behind, if a finger tip be drawn across its surface. When I was a subaltern in a field battery of Artillery, we frequently used these tests at saddle and harness inspections. Although our drivers had no saddle soap, they knew how to deceive inexperienced eyes with a little bees-wax applied by means of a flannel rag. The polish produced by bees-wax, besides dirtying those parts of the rider's clothes which happen to rub against it, is removed by such contact; and consequently a saddle which issued from the stable with this gloss on it, would, owing to its "patchy" appearance, look far worse when the rider dismounts, than if it had been cleaned with white, yellow, or soft soap. If a saddle is not going to be used for a considerable time, the polish in question will no doubt help to preserve the leather from the injurious action of damp, and looks well in the saddle room. I see no objection (rather the reverse) to the use of saddle soap on the leather work of brown harness, except, of course, on those parts of the reins which come in contact with the driver's hands. Also, when the leather of saddles and bridles has become more or less black from the use of soft soap, it is not worth while changing the soft soap for yellow soap.