Jantaras

Hello,

I bought Proofide about 5 or 6 years ago, used it then and for about 3 years it was in a warm storeroom.
This year I used it on other artificial leather sack and noticed that it won't dry anymore.

Now I bought new Proofide and used both old and new on Brooks saddle (just for a small surface). Old is tacky, shiny, looks like fat/grease. New looks like ordinary Proofide. Immediately after applying they looked the same, but after a couple of hours new is already dry, is waxy/whitish in appearance. The old one is still shiny greasy tacky goo.

Can't find any similar inputs on the net and all says that there are no expiration date for Proofide.

As far as I remember, my Proofide was always stored in warm room, temperature more than 50 F.

Also, old Proofide was made in England, this new is made in Italy.

Any similar cases?

Chombi1 

Almost looks like your old Proofide has a lower melting point than your new one?.....

squirtdad

I finally finished my original tin of proofide it was ~10 years old and got a new tin. I didn't really see much difference at all, I put a super small amount on and really rub it in on the top, use more on the bottom/inside

clubman 

My old (reddish) Proofide was definitely going rancid when I finished it some years ago. More organic compounds perhaps. I used it with no ill effects.

The new stuff isn't so tacky. Try buffing it in a little more as the dimpled finish is probably harder to penetrate.

SirMike1983 

My experience with stored Proofhide is it tends to soften just a bit with age (assuming you don't forget to close it and have it dry out), and develops a kind of unique, rancid smell. It's not terrible, but you'll notice it getting kind of mushy and picking up a smell. That said, I've used it and it still works. I found it took a little more work to get it into the leather and get rid of the greasy film. I'd try working it in a little more before totally giving up on the old tin.

JohnDThompson 

FWIW, I finally finished off my 40+ year old tin of Proofide this summer. It seemed fine. I used a ~10 year old tin of Proofide (purchased when I couldn't find the other tin. Of course, the old tin turned up immediately after I bought the new tin) on the other saddles. Also worked fine, but the contents looked completely different from the contents of the old tin.

repechage

The mention of on artificial leather- “bonded leather” or vinyl?!?
no, not for those materials.
the proofide has changed in formula about 12 years ago maybe even a prior tweak earlier.

Brooks at one point admitted as much and advised that old tins were out of date.

Jantaras

Thanks for replies!
I waited for 4 days, the Proofide from old tin was getting dry, but very slowly. It was hard to buff it out. The old tin is quite empty and I have a new tin, so no worrries. But yeah, it is very different than it was 5 years ago. Maybe some kind of oxydation process? I can't notice any difference in smell.

thook

the storeroom you mentioned....did it get real humid in there? i wonder if somehow the old proofide got moisture contaminated. i dunno...just speculating. some auto fluids can get ruined like that

Jantaras

Storeroom is not humid, at least I think so There are some fluctuations in temperature, it is about 55 F in winter, warmer in summer.

79pmooney

Total aside - I often spend money on replacements knowing full well that all I am doing is prodding the old one out of hiding. It's like hide and seek. Once the other kids have given up and gone home, no reason to keep hiding.

Bad Lag

I have a tin of Proofide that is 50 years old. It is still just fine. It has received no special storage but has never been frozen.

Wipe on a little. Let it soak in. Wipe off any excess and buff with a clean cloth.

dddd

I can easily imagine that one vintage has a higher melt-point temperature, or that at least some fraction of the contents needs a higher temperature to fully penetrate the leather surface and be absorbed.
I've put newly-treated saddles into a pre-heated oven at 140F (turning the heat off immediately before placing the saddle in the oven). I doubt that the saddle temperature exceeded 120F but the Proofhide soaked in quickly, within an hour I would say.

metalrideroz

Another data point. Before I gave up on leather saddles I had a tin, like the one pictured on the left, turn into smelly liquid in about 18 months. Not sure why. I mixed it together and applied it anyway. It still worked ok.

verktyg 

The original red Brooks Proofide contained the following ingredients:

Tallow - animal fat, that in the UK is usually rendered from beef or sheep
Cod oil - fish oil
Vegetable oil
Paraffin wax - petroleum product
Beeswax
Citronella oil - plant based derived from lemon grass. Has anti-fungal properties and repels mosquitoes (and surly dogs). It also gives Proofide it's particular smell or fragrance.

Years ago I inquired with Brooks in the UK about the pink/reddish color. Mercury compounds tend to be red and were used as highly toxic preservatives in the past. I was assured by the folks at Brooks that Proofide contained no mercury, only the ingredients listed above.

The next generation of Proofide was whitish and came in a copper tin. It had a more solid fell than the original red Proofide. One suggestion was made that when Brooks started selling more un-dyed or honey colored saddles, they dropped the red colorant???




A later version came in a gray tin. It contained the following ingredients:



Cod fish oil was dropped and Rapeseed (Canola oil) and Sunflower oil were listed as ingredients instead.

Apparently the ingredients have change again in recent years.???

Unlike petroleum based oils, animal and vegetable based oils contain very few volatile compounds that can evaporate away. Instead they harden or "dry up" through oxidation. That's why Proofide appears to dry out.

Linseed oil and Tung oils used in paint and other surface protective products are good examples of this hardening effect. They're usually blended with volatile petroleum based solvents that evaporate away.

Applying some heat to the Proofide tin can cause some of the ingredients to soften but when it's hard there's not much you can do with it except use it for a hockey puck!

When I apply Proofide I use a tooth brush to get into the hard to reach areas on the underside of the saddle and around the rails in the nose. Also gently heating the saddle helps Proofide to sink into the leather faster. A hair dryer set on low temperature works well for this.

Leather stored in high humidity areas like basements and garages tends to get moldy or covered with mildew. It seemed to me but I can't prove it, the old red Proofide was more resistant to this problem.

I found that 70% isopropyl alcohol works well for removing mold and mildew. It not only cleans the stuff off but it has sanitizing properties.

verktyg

Road Fan

I found an old lost tin, not seen for about 20 years, the gray tin version. A little sticky, it turned out only the "outer" compound was sticky. I put it on saddles, and the next stratum down feels pretty normal. I havent seen an Italian one yet.

I recently used the 20 year old stuff on a 1979 Pro Select. It noticeably opened the pores, so ... good! I've just a bought a 5-year old standard Professional in excellent condition and we'll see how it is. For indoor riding with no bumps the Select suits my bones well, and I'm hoping ig starts to soften a bit. This one started out feeling and sounding wooden. One trusted saddle guy (rudi) says it might not be long for this world but not in so meny words. However this is a 1979 saddle with some mildew and water damage when I got it, so it if dies, ... so be it.

I wonder if 20-ish year old Proofide is too new to be used on a 43 year old saddle?

As far as compound which is too hard to spread, I always put the tin in my pocket and carry it around for maybe 45 minutes before opening it up to apply. That makes it easier to get my fingers into.

BTW I've also used it on a vintage 1984 Ideale 92 - freshens it up!