Disclosure

I lost my father in 2001. He was trying to do better, but years of smoking and general unhealthy living had taken a toll on his body. It came as a shock to us all, he was only 57. I miss him.

Those that knew my dad knew he collected about everything under the sun. He had a room dedicated to his collections, all of which he had purchases at auctions, thrift stores or yard sales. There was the Smurf figures collection, a collection of pocket knives, beer coasters, picture disc records, stamps, coins, baseball cards, Swatch watches – you name it, he had a small collection of them. After his passing my brother and I kept a few of the stashes, but most were resold a couple years later in our own yard sale. Dad saved a lot of things, but not too many things of his own. Everything was from someone else and none of what he left behind had much meaning to me on an individual basis.

Then I found something in the closet. A leather coat he had been wearing recently (yes, another yard sale find). This one struck me differently as I remembered him always wearing some type of leather coat. This particular coat was probably from the 80’s and was a reproduction of an older bomber jacket.

We used Chamberlain's Leather Milk to help keep our keepsake leather jacket in the family for years to come. - SahmReviews.comAfter finally losing a few (50) pounds a couple years ago, I realized I could now proudly wear dad’s old jacket and still have a piece of him with me every day.

We used Chamberlain's Leather Milk to help keep our keepsake leather jacket in the family for years to come. - SahmReviews.com

But after wearing it as my primary winter coat for a couple seasons, the leather was starting to dry up and I was afraid it wouldn’t last much longer.

I had always been a fan of Saddleback Leather Company‘s high-quality leather products, but had never had the opportunity of owning one myself. I found out that the same people had created a new company whose products were specifically designed to preserve the very items they had already been successful in selling.

Chamberlain’s Leather Milk line looked exactly like what I needed to make sure I could continue to wear this coat for years and years.

We used Chamberlain's Leather Milk to help keep our keepsake leather jacket in the family for years to come. - SahmReviews.comPackaged with the 8oz. bottle of formula #1, Leather Care Liniment, was a soft applicator (a nice touch). Application was about as easy as you can imagine, just pour a little on the applicator pad and rub it into the leather.

We used Chamberlain's Leather Milk to help keep our keepsake leather jacket in the family for years to come. - SahmReviews.comI was able to complete the entire jacket in under 10 minutes and then hung it so it could continue to absorb all of the liniment. Because it has been so long since it had been treated or conditioned, I decided to repeat the process a second time a couple days later.

We used Chamberlain's Leather Milk to help keep our keepsake leather jacket in the family for years to come. - SahmReviews.comWhile the photos can only show you the shine, I can attest to how much softer the coat felt after one treatment, much less two. There was no greasy feel and I have no fear of it rubbing off onto other clothing or furniture. The leather wasn’t that high of a quality to start with (definitely no Saddleback!), but I can safely say by treating it we have added years to the lifespan of this coat. And all for under $20 – dad would be proud…

Chamberlain’s has an entire line of leather treatment formulas, from this general liniment to cleaners and water protectants. With Saddleback they are the leather experts, with Chamberlain’s they are the leather CARE experts. The also have a sense of humor – notice the fine print in the instructions:

We used Chamberlain's Leather Milk to help keep our keepsake leather jacket in the family for years to come. - SahmReviews.comI didn’t follow these instructions, I used the amount I felt was necessary. I’ll be able to easily treat another 5-6 coats from this bottle alone (or shoes, bags, whatever!). Maybe someday a Saddleback briefcase!

If you have a leather item or three that needs a little revitalizing, consider supporting this wonderful (US-based) company. See all of their products on their website and please pay them a visit on Twitter and Facebook as well.

What items do you have that this would work well on?

41 thoughts on “Taking Extra Care of Keepsakes

  1. Great review Scott for this product. It had me thinking about a couple of leather jackets that I own that would benefit from this product.
    Appreciate you sharing this great find!

  2. If my fathers leather jacket hadn’t been in my car when it was stolen, I would definitely have given this product a try. Thanks for a great review! 🙂

  3. This is great! I have an old leather jacket that is in rough shape, but I cannot part with it. I’ll have to see if this can help preserve what’s left of it.

  4. How interesting that you should post this information. I feel like it was just for me. I also have an old leather jacket that I treasure, but it is in less than pristine condition. You can bet that I will be getting some Chamberlain’s Leather Milk asap. Thanks.

  5. I’m sorry about your dad, he was so young for you to lose him at 57. I’m glad you are able to connect to him by wearing his leather jacket. It was the perfect thing for you to do this review. The back of the product (#5) made me laugh.

  6. It’s great that this worked so well on your dad’s old leather jacket! I have a few leather keepsakes that I could use this on as well.

  7. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a leather product let alone did I know you had to use a product on it to keep it nice. Guess I still have stuff to learn! I love the humour on the product!

  8. That was an interesting call to action on the label of the bottle. Lol. Your jacket definitely needed that conditioning. Looks like a handy product to have

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