I recently picked up a beautiful leather backpack and matching duffel bag for just a few bucks. Both are canvas lined. I found similar bags on ebay that are made of goatskin without chemicals, and treated with a vegetable oil product to preserve and waterproof the leather. My guess is the previous owner donated them to Goodwill due to the same problem I have with them. They have a very strong odor - likely from the veggie oil treatment. I get a headache in just a few minutes in the vicinity of them. They are currently hanging in my shed. Any ideas on how to get rid of, or minimize, the smell?
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Leather care question
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trippy1313
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I'd suggest scrubbing it with vinegar and a soft brush of some sort. Vinegar stinks while wet, but helps a ton with odors and the smell disappears after its dried a while.
You may have to and should re-condition it anyways afterwards but it might get rid of the odor.
You may have to and should re-condition it anyways afterwards but it might get rid of the odor.
I keep forgetting to update this. I hung the bags in my shed for 2 1/2 weeks. The shed is a carport I enclosed with steel panels on the side and plywood ends. It's in the shade all but early morning and evening when the sun hits the wooden ends. The steel roof and sides never get direct sun. It gets a little warmer inside than outside temps, but not terribly hot. My only intent was to air the bags out in the shed. What I didn't even think about was how the warmer temps in the shed vs the basement cooked some of the vegetable oil that caused the smell out of the bags. If I had left them in the shed all summer, that would have been a problem, but 2 1/2 weeks was just about right. I put some beeswax based conditioner on them and hung them in the basement with some distance between the 2 bags. For the first month or 2, I could sometimes smell them as I passed within a couple of feet, but now I pretty much have put my nose right up to them to smell anything. Still haven't had reason to use them.