From Outside‘s fascinating profile of Brit Eaton, a man who scavenges Western states to recover vintage clothing which he sells at a tremendous markup to collectors and fashion archivists:
THE LEADS FROM THE PEEPHOLE kept us busy for a couple more days, though they didn’t produce any exciting finds beyond a human leg bone that I plucked from a hole in the ground after being directed to the location by a local landowner. The waistband from the buckleback jeans outside Modena was the closest we’d come to a big-game find, though the back of the truck continued to pile up with small-game items that might fetch $10 or $50 or $200. In addition to Theo’s macbeth T-shirt, we had a stack of saddle blankets, assorted western-style button-up shirts, a pair of 1970s corduroy pants, a beat-up piece of Filson luggage, a Victorian-era women’s coat made of velvet, a homemade coat rack of welded horseshoes and fencing staples, a leather rifle scabbard, old riding chaps, assorted trucker’s hats, and a pair of cowboy boots that were so stiff with age, they felt bronzed. (Brit soaks leather goods back to life in neat’s-foot oil, which he buys by the drum.)
“Neatsfoot” is a yellow oil rendered from the feet and legs (but not hooves) of cattle. Wikipdia’s entry is surprisingly fascinating, explaining why the oil remains liquid at room temperature unlike other animal fat (“This occurs because the legs and feet of such animals are adapted to tolerate and maintain much lower temperatures than those of the body core, using countercurrent heat exchange between arterial and venous blood”) and why—oops!—neatsfoot oil “should not be used on important historical objects”.
Prices seem to on par with other leather treatment oils; SouthernAgriculture.com sells a quart for ten bucks.
Photo: The Ghost Factory
Back in the days of leather bicycle seats, Neatsfoot oil and a hammer was often the only way to make a Brooks or Ideale usable. Also good for baseball gloves.
Ah, the classic debate between antiquers who call certain types of damage ‘patina’ and people who want to use the cool old stuff they paid quite a bit for!
Still, if I was in the business of selling such things, I’d keep it unaltered but help the customer if (s)he wanted it that way. Maximise your customer base and all that.
When I was a kid in Boy Scouts, I remember a couple of my friends arguing over whether it was a good idea to put Neat’s Foot oil on our boots before going up to the snow. One said our feet would freeze if we did so. The other, who had lived the first eight years of his life in Alaska, said, “We always oiled our mukluks!” We took the word of the second lad and oiled our boots (to good effect, I might add).
Yardbird1941