DIY Leather Treatment-Courtesy of Minnehaha Bags

Jan 26th 2009

By: RL Policar

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Eric of Minnehaha Bags created a nice DIY on treating the leather on your bag or on any other leather goods.

Read all about it here.

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Will

January 26th, 2009 at 23:25

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Fuck leather. Why are we mentioning leather on this website? There are perfectly good alternatives to animal skin.
RL Policar

January 26th, 2009 at 23:30

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First of all Will,

Moe and I own this website. So we’ll post what we want. Another thing, no need for your cussing. My kids read this site on a daily basis.

We’re not vegans and the last time I checked this isn’t an animal rights website.
RL Policar

January 26th, 2009 at 23:31

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There’s been many arguments about leather, wool, polyester and cotton…honestly, it doesn’t accomplish anything.
Ghost Rider

January 27th, 2009 at 06:04

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I love how vegetable-tanned leather gets after a few years…put a little preservative on it and let the sun do its work and the leather gets this lovely color and smoothness that can’t be beat.

Man, I am loving those Minnehaha bags…might just have to build up a bike worthy of them!
Mike Myers

January 27th, 2009 at 16:38

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Go away, Will. Seriously. Nothing is going to hold up as well as leather. Besides, cows are tasty. MMM MMM good beefy. I like it rare, with the blood pooling on my plate. It’s delicious.

I like the looks of the Minnehaha bag. It’s a nice alternative to Carradice at a good price. It’s too bad they aren’t waxed. Yes, the consumer can apply Sno-Seal or whatever, but making the bags waterproof would be a nice selling point.

Selling panniers in pairs is a good idea too. I can understand selling the grocery pannier as a single, but the utility pannier should be sold as a pair.

Kudos to Minnehaha for using tan leather straps. My Carradice Pendle saddlebag has them and they do age nicely.
Marrock

January 27th, 2009 at 17:27

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I’ve had leather pieces that were passed down to me by my grandfather and were as supple as they were when new, and various synthetics that didn’t make it through the summer.

I think I’ll stick with leather for now.

When I do a proper resto on my Moto I want to add some Minnehaha bags to the mix.
Raiyn

January 28th, 2009 at 14:08

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Good timing on this as I’m not liking the raw color of the straps that came with my OYB Normal bag.

As for Will’s comments: Would he prefer that we substitute a synthetic (read oil based) material in place of a natural product that when cared for easily outlasts just about every other material?

Go and boil your bottom, son of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Will, you and all your silly Vegan k-nnnnniggets. Thpppppt! Thppt! Thppt!
Will

January 28th, 2009 at 22:57

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Yeah I know it’s not an animal rights site but I thought that people who give a rat’s ass about the environment might be ever so slightly inclined to care about animals as well. The system of animal and environmental exploitation is one and the same. But maybe I read this blog wrong. I think that car-driving vegans are lame and call them out as well. Car culture is 100% pathetic.

And for “natural,” don’t delude yourself. First off, I guarantee you most of your leather is Indian leather which means it comes from across the world (meaning it needs OIL to get here) and was treated with harsh chemicals (e.g. formaldehyde because it is dead skin and needs to be preserved) in poor communities where the chemicals seep into the local ecosystem AND harm the workers who must treat the hide. My (vegan) Chrome bag has held up for years now with now problems and it is made predominantly from canvas which, last time I check, is not a petroleum product.
RL

January 28th, 2009 at 23:12

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Here’s the thing Will, I didn’t appreciate your tone and especially your language on your first comment. There are many ways to win people over for your cause without judging them.

Just about everything in this world had used some sort of petroleum product to get to their destination. Just look at your bike, it probably came from China or Taiwan…by boat, then by truck (to your shop) or UPS delivered it to your home.

As far as this animal rights thing, we love animals. Some like them so much, they eat them. But my wife and I are Vegetarians…and for a while we were vegans and before that, we were at one point RAW people. However, never looked down, judged or CUSSED at anyone else for being meat eaters or SUV drivers.

There’s an old saying, “you’ll catch more bees with honey,” basically what I’m saying is, be respectful. You could have conveyed your message about not using animal products in a civil and professional way. Instead you resorted to crude language and look what you got out of it…nothing.
Raiyn

January 29th, 2009 at 14:25

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With apologies to RL, Ghost, etc.
Will, unfortunately you suffer from typical delusions of grandeur common to militant vegans. In addition your crude, profanity laced delivery has invalidated any message you sought to convey and has made you less welcome than if you had approached the subject in a more respectful manner.

For the record, I’ve got leather items from WW2 that have held up fine with regular use for better than 60 years and were not made from Indian leather by any stretch of fevered imagination.
On the other hand, Chrome was established in Colorado 14 years ago and I sincerely doubt that yours is anything older than 5. Don’t get me wrong, while I’m not disputing Chrome’s standard of manufacture by any means,but my stuff’s got yours beat by a power of 4. Also, last I checked, Chrome bags were made with Cordura shells, truck tarps, and nylon thread – not cotton canvas.
Now we can go ’round and ’round on the virtues and vices of leather – suffice it to say that leather has been around for thousands of years and has served admirably.
That being said, personally, if I were to buy a new messenger bag I’d be looking at a waxed canvas model from Zugster. which, while not perfect, is a step in the right direction.
Lance

January 29th, 2009 at 15:22

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Treat the animals right… Not the leather. Will is just speaking for those with no voice.

By the way, you don’t claim to be a vegan site but you DO claim to be eco-friendly(see Mr. Roca’s postings) so I’d say the topic is fair game and open to discussion!

I’d think your children have a right to know the immense amount of suffering their leather items produce….or maybe just throw some blinders on ignore the whole topic. Whatever is convenient.
RL Policar

January 29th, 2009 at 16:00

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“By the way, you don’t claim to be a vegan site but you DO claim to be eco-friendly(see Mr. Roca’s postings) so I’d say the topic is fair game and open to discussion!”

Eco-friendly yes. But our focus is on bikes and bicycle related topics. If we wanted to focus on animal rights, vegans, and bikes, we certainly would have been doing that this whole time.

Since the topic is geared towards “bike commuting” then the leather treatment for your commuter bag (in which Minnehaha sells) is appropriate to the site.

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DIY Leather Treatment-Courtesy of Minnehaha Bags