#finnleyleather

Behold the before and after

I started cleaning it and then noticed that the stitching had disintegrated in some places, so I decided to completely take it apart and give it a deep clean

I brushed off any excess dirt and then scrubbed the leather with warm water and saddle soap. In hindsight, I could probably have done several more scrubs to get the grime out, but since it was untreated, vegetable tanned leather on a bag older than myself, most of it was deeper than just the surface. I cleaned the nickel components with rubbing alcohol to remove tarnishing.

After it had dried I oiled the outside, because the leather dries out while cleaning, which makes it brittle. When that had soaked in, I stitched the bag back together with white waxed polyester cord (I couldn't get my hands on proper linen cord, sadly) and waxed the surface to waterproof it.

I found this old leather bag at my dad's and I just wanted to give it a little tlc, but as soon as I started cleaning I saw the stitching had disintegrated in some places.