British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

leather dressing has been used by many conservators since its publication(Plenderleith, 1946) to protect and conserve leather.

Formulation

The basic formulation is: The first three ingredients are mixed warm, then added to the cold solvent and allowed to cool while constantly stirring. Care should be exercised, as hexane is highly flammable.

Variations

There are several variations in the formulation. Sometimes 60% of the lanolin was replaced by

neatsfoot oil Neatsfoot oil is a yellow oil rendered and purified from the shin bones and feet (but not the hooves) of cattle. "Neat" in the oil's name comes from an Old English word for cattle. Neatsfoot oil is used as a conditioning, softening and preserva ...

. One disadvantage of the solvent hexane is its tendency to evaporate rapidly. Before the fat/hexane mixture has been able to penetrate deep into the leather, the hexane evaporates to the surface of the leather, taking most of the fat with it. While beeswax prevents air pollutants from penetrating the leather, it does this by closing off the leather, thus disturbing the water balance and causing the leather to dry out.

In use

The British Museum leather dressing was part of an elaborate leather conservation programme. Other steps entailed cleaning the leather, if necessary with soap and water, and applying an aqueous solution of 7%

potassium lactate Potassium lactate is a compound with formula KC3H5O3, or H3C-CHOH-COOK. It is the potassium salt of lactic acid. It is produced by neutralizing lactic acid which is fermented from a sugar source. It has E number "E326". Potassium lactate is a ...

as a

buffer Buffer may refer to: Science * Buffer gas, an inert or nonflammable gas * Buffer solution, a solution used to prevent changes in pH * Buffering agent, the weak acid or base in a buffer solution * Lysis buffer, in cell biology * Metal ion buffer * ...

. A warning was given about the dangers of using too much lactate, which made books sticky and could cause fungal growth. The books had to be absolutely dry when the leather dressing was applied. Apply sparingly to the leather and rub well. Wait two days, then polish the treated leather with a soft cloth. Very hard leather can be soaked in a solution of one part British Museum leather dressing: three parts Stoddard solvent. British Museum leather dressing darkens leather, but it is a treatment with a good success record.

References

{{leather Leather dressing Leather crafting Conservation and restoration materials