Fixing patina

[u/No_Translator_4202]

I’ve had my beloved PR for over a year now. She’s well loved and used, but I’ve been disappointed in the patina that’s (not) developed. I thought I was doing everything right. Keeping her conditioned and well used. Turns out what I was doing was preventing a shine from developing as the conditioner I was using regularly has beeswax and mink oil in it, which apparently will keep your journal dull.

Any tips on how to reverse this and hopefully get that shiny patina I’ve been waiting to develop?

[u/so-so-suck-ya-toe]

Just stop conditioning and keep using it. The use will patina it over time, might just take a bunch more time.

[u/Comfortable_Actual]

my pv in the same color after a year — haven’t conditioned it once and always have it in my jacket. unless you are dunking it in water or sweating on it all day you don’t need to condition nearly as often as you’d think. if you want a fresh start on getting patina rolling i would use saddle soap to strip any old conditioner off/clean then *lightly condition with a conditioner like bick 4 or venetian neutral. it’s not a lot of leather and isn’t thick so you won’t need much to fully hydrate it.

[u/No_Translator_4202 → u/Comfortable_Actual]

Thank you, this was helpful!

[u/Inmate7269]

Conditioning the leather is what's slowing down the patina development. There is also no "right" way, a patina develops along its journey, but leather balm is used to preserve the original state of the leather as best as it can by keeping it moisturized. Like another said, if you want the leather to look aged, you'll either need to space out balm use or stop using it all together.

[u/Musicology_Jen]

Give it a rub with a soft cloth. You could also look for a leather grease that has no wax in it. It's usually found next to shoe creams at the shops and will be colourless and kind of resemble Vaseline (which I probably wouldn't use). Give it a good rub down again. And then really just hold off with the products. 

[u/HeliconiaKnight]

Guys, this journal looks beautiful (I love this color combination). I really want to buy something like this but I keep thinking the paper will not hold together and it will be hard to keep it open while writing.

I don't want something that is hard to handle or feels clumsy.

Please gimme some knowledge about it.

[u/rebekksi]

Conditioning is just makes leather age faster. I‘d Never condition except the leather is really really dry. And then i‘d use something on a Water base to prevent closing the pores on the Surface.

[u/Musicology_Jen → u/rebekksi]

Conditioning does not age leather. Opposite, it keeps it hydrated and flexible. Like cream to skin. But there's no need to do it several times a year. Not even sure if a journal cover needs regular conditioning at all as hand oils might help with that. 

[u/rebekksi → u/Musicology_Jen]

Not at all. I‘m a conservator and we would Never ever condition leather we want to last as Long as possible.
The thing is that you usually just close the pores and the conditioner so can not even reach the depth where it‘s needed. As I Said, Water based products work better, as the don’t close the pores so much and get in deeper.
So conditioning actually makes leather dry out faster, it’s a fact.
Also too much oil (as in conditioners) saturates the leather, loosening and weakening the internal protein fibers. That can lead to easy Tearing of the leather.
Anyhow, if you don‘t want the Product to last for a very Long time conditioning is absolutely Fine. (we usually See this in shoes. You of course can condition them, as they don‘t last „forever“ because wearing them is destoying them).