question on leather strap!

[kdirty]

Hi, i just received my new Cross legend 26mm strap from SC for my fiddy. The strap looks nice, but the leather is super stiff. Is there anyway to soften it up? Or is this normal for some types of leathers to be so stiff? I like the look of the straps posted where the strap looks all twisted and just looks soft. Any advice or ideas welcomed.

thanks,

jay

[FxrAndy]

A good application of a leather feed or wax will help the softening followed by a lot of wearing.

[tootall]

I had just posted this in another thread. I hope it helps:

The best way to soften most any strap is to take it and bend the heck out of it. Twist, bend, pull, etc. The fibers need to be loosened up. Conditioners won't work well without the fibers being opened anyways. The leather probably does not have any oils lost, so your best bet is to just bend it a LOT. If after the bending and twisting the leather seems a bit dull in color, then a conditioner will be ok. Use Lexol or one of the liquid conditioners. No oil though. And definately NO NEATSFOOT. Neatsfoot oil can rot thread.

Hope that helps.

P.S. If the leather is sub par quality, then no amount of bending or conditioning will help. So starting with quality leather is best.

[kdirty]

Thanks guys, i'll try the bending/twisting up of the strap to loosen it up. I figured it would get a little bit softer after some wear, but at the moment it is just so stiff, that it does not feel comfortable enough to wear.

[earlgrey-erfurt]

Thanks guys, i'll try the bending/twisting up of the strap to loosen it up. I figured it would get a little bit softer after some wear, but at the moment it is just so stiff, that it does not feel comfortable enough to wear.

Do it again and again, thats a little bit of sucking but you will shorten the normal process soften by wearing.

I have done it on a piece of charlyjakob and it works

You don t have to do this on straps coming from Tootall. His ones are one of the softes, wearable leathers that i proudly own!

cheers from germany

helmut

and don t give up

do it again and again

[HauteHippie]

I had just posted this in another thread. I hope it helps:

The best way to soften most any strap is to take it and bend the heck out of it. Twist, bend, pull, etc. The fibers need to be loosened up. Conditioners won't work well without the fibers being opened anyways. The leather probably does not have any oils lost, so your best bet is to just bend it a LOT. If after the bending and twisting the leather seems a bit dull in color, then a conditioner will be ok. Use Lexol or one of the liquid conditioners. No oil though. And definately NO NEATSFOOT. Neatsfoot oil can rot thread.

Hope that helps.

P.S. If the leather is sub par quality, then no amount of bending or conditioning will help. So starting with quality leather is best.

Yea, in the past I have found that stiff leather straps never really become as soft as the straps I've bought from Greg Stevens or Micah, for example... The quality of the hide is paramount.