We're so glad this is useful to you. We love our life & hope you love yours too

You're very welcome

You are most welcome Robin, do let us know how you get on with it. Hugh

Thank you so much for your lovely comments - it means a great deal! Hugh

That's very kind, thank you

Attenborough style lol

Thank you, that's very kind

Thank you Paul, I'm glad it was useful

Thank you, that means a lot. Hugh

Happy New Year!

You're welcome Pete, Merry Christmas 🎄

Thank you 🙂

Thanks Peter!

Thanks guys!

Thank you!

Thank you Elizabeth! Its really important to us to do just that. Its better for the environment & allows us to make much of what we need from products usually though of as "waste". The more efficiently we can live, the less time we have to spend making money & the more time we have for the life that we love. Hugh

It still works really well! Hugh

So glad you liked it John!

Thanks so much Geoffrey!

Thanks Jason! Really appreciate it. Hugh

That's so kind, thanks Martha. Hugh

You're welcome Paul - time was everyone made their own, it really is easy

Thank you! Hugh

Thank you so much 😊

Glad you liked it. Thank for the comment!

Really glad you liked it! Hugh

It saves me a fortune!

So glad it was useful!

I'm so glad they were useful!

Glad you enjoyed it!

My pleasure!

Excellent! Do let us know how you get on with it!

Thank you so much! That means a great deal to us.

You've been there too? 😁. Fiona is very kind & practical do she doesn't mind much. The only thing I mustn't make in the house is Turkish Delight. She hates the smell!

So glad you enjoyed it 🙂

Thank you 🙂

I'm glad !

Thank you so much!

Its great at cleaning & softening. Hope it works for you

You are so welcome

Very true... Fiona loves trotters roasted!

@@EnglishCountryLife good gelatinous gourmet grub :

Thank you!

Thank you!

I love learning new things... especially old things 😁

Fantastic! I hope you will find it really straightforward! Hugh

Thanks Tony!

Glad you liked it Clive, thanks for commenting. Hugh

Hope you enjoy

Thank you do much! Please let us know how you get on?

That's an excellent tip, they would be perfect!

Sweet tins for me :)

Thanks Joe, lots more to come in the Winter when harvest is over.

That's amazingly kind of you, thank you! I love Jethro Tull, I recall spending some lovely times backpacking around Ian Anderson's place on Skye about forty years ago, when it was still a ferry ride from the mainland!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Hello Peter! Your English is excellent and thank you for the kind comment 🙂

Glad that you liked it 🙂

Glad it was useful 🙂

That's fantastic Joe and it means a huge amount that you took the time to let us know. Thank you!

Thank you

You're welcome!

You are very welcome! Any questions, just ask. Hugh

Thank you !

If you can't Mark, try rendering your own from leaf fat, it's very easy kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bK53lZqd07jDo6M.html

You are so welcome!

I just made a leather sealer on my stove top. Bee’s wax, lanolin, and bear grease (I rendered it down from bear fat).

So glad that you liked it!

Well worth making some high gloss polish with that wax (see our shoe polish video). It's fantastic stuff for that

Thank you 😉 So glad that you enjoyed it

Companies that make commercial leather conditioners? Or vegan leatherworkers?

Obviously sanctimonious vegans.

What'did you call me!?

The lard alone is dangerous enough, but adding the cod liver oil creates a smell strong and alluring enough to bring every bear in the county in most of North America. Black bears in particular are strongly drawn to animal oil smells. If you put this concoction on your boots and leave them out on the porch overnight, you stand a good chance of having one taken away as a bear’s chew toy. Bears are not very drawn to light bees wax smell.

Any animal fat would work or even coconut oil?

Glad it was useful Sandi 🙂

No problem!

Thanks Peter!

You are so welcome

Thanks, will do!

Glad you think so! Thanks Tim.

This is definitely the best use for cod liver oil!

I'm delighted! Thank you for letting me know 🙂

Next quick question.. sorry for being a pain. How would you recommend to making this a bit softer? I did all ingredients by weight and after sitting overnight it has now hardened up to almost like beeswax again? Ambient temp in the house is about 26-27c

@@karleemettam3371 it is fairly hard. If you would like a softer finish, reduce the amount of beeswax used by one quarter. Regards Hugh

Certainly! We've done homemade dye recently. Is there anything specific you would like? Hugh

Glad it was useful

Thank you very much!

That makes a huge amount of sense. As a leather worker, "wet forming" veg tanned (oak tanned) leather was how I formed a sheath to a knife or other tool. you need good, thick, properly tanned leather to do it, but it's highly effective.

@@EnglishCountryLife I've never found anything to beat it. Just wish I could get a few new pairs of original NCB boots - really tough footwear

They are well made, it amazes me how often people don't take care of boots. Its really saddens me!

Thanks Simon

Awesome, thank you! Hugh

Thank you so much!

Wow! You're very welcome ☺

Great idea Monique, thanks!

Hi there, I do lots of woodwork, and so do my friends. The best foodsafe oil for such projects is macadamia oil. You can find this in the salad oils section of the supermarket, or perhaps in health food stores. It does not go rancid or have any odour. Plus if you don't need to use it all, you can eat it! Next in line is walnut oil. My favourite wood dressing for tool handles, furniture etc, is boiled linseed oil, preferably mixed with about 30% pure gum turpentine. Smells phenomenal! Unlike varnishes and lacquers, this mixture absorbs into the timber and hardens up over a few days. It can be reapplied every year or less as needed, depending on the exposure to weather and water. You can also use timber polish on top of this.

I use raw food grade flaxseed oil.

I did a mix with beeswax and MCT oil. It seems to have done the trick for the board I was wanting to protect. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked for now. I normally have macadamia oil on hand for soaping but was out for once. I have a baby macadamia tree. Still in a pot. Hopefully in a decade I’ll have so many macadamias I can press them to extract the oil myself 😁

Resins are hardening agents so start low and build up. When the mixture gets too stiff, add oil . I let the mixture cool and use a little then remelt and adjust

Its a traditional English leather treatment for working boots. Its heavier on the waterproofing components like oil & fat and lighter on the shiny waxes than the polish for formal shoes . Works very well indeed on hiking boots

@@EnglishCountryLife Ok -- trouble is I've gone to two American Supermarkets without success finding Lard. It seems to be out of fashion by the healthy-eating types. How about Crisco? Vegetable shortening is basically vegetable fat, right?

@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787 It is, but animal fats work better. Lard is easy to make from leaf fat. We have a video on the subject kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bK53lZqd07jDo6M.html If you don't want to do that can you get tallow (beef fat)?

I have never used bear grease (no bears here), how is it to use as a grease? Heavy? Scented?

@@EnglishCountryLife rendering it down is a smelly affair. But once it is done it is just lard essentially, it smells and has about the same consistency as standard pork lard.

Fascinating. We render our own lard ( there's a video somewhere). We us lard in soap making. Would be very interesting to try bear fat for that.

@@EnglishCountryLife bear fat/lard should work fine for that. Pretty sure I've seen historical references of it done. Bear fat/grease/lard was in high demand for all sorts of products, so I imagine they did use it for soaps as well. I know they did use hippo lard for soap. Lard from a hippo isnt near as good product for anything compared to bear lard in my book. So imagine it would make a fine product.

Thank you. The best pigment for red is "red oxide" pigment. It's quite a vivid red so I would darken with a little brown oxide. Hugh

Excellent - do please let us know what you think?

@@EnglishCountryLifeHi, I had a slight delay but went to the shop today to buy some Codliver Oil as we only had capsules. I couldn't believe the price of a small bottle... 🙄🤣🤣. Is there an alternative to the oil or do you really recommend using it? I read that Olive Oil can be substituted but wanted to ask your opinion.

@@stefanm67 Olive oil works but isn't quite as effective imo. I wouldn't spend a fortune though!

@@EnglishCountryLife thanks so much. I will let you know how I get on.

Thank you

Hi and welcome to the channel! I use saddle soap on leather gardening gloves. I pull them on, scoop some up and use it as though I was washing my hands. Brush any dirt off first and wipe with a rag at the end. Here's the recipe kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aN6VdqiU09W0dp8.html

Thanks for watching!

@@EnglishCountryLife I'd really like to see a shampoo DIY video

@@tiagovazkez9356 I'll add it to the list!

I'm delighted to hear it worked well on your work boots!

I've added them to my daily wear boots as well and they look so much better. Wearing them in the snow today they do indeed repel water beautifully! Easy to make, easy to apply, easy to acquire ingredients.

Fantastic, thanks for letting me know 👍🙂

You can, but given that leather is an animal product, I find that animal products are more effective in that the leather absorbs it more easily. That being said, a vegetable based product is much better than nothing!

I haven't made it but I would suggest a combination of beeswax and carnauba wax (shown in our shoe polish video) but that would be very brittle so a small amount of oil to make it less likely to break on application would be sensible. Take a look at our beeswax polish video for basics although I would tinker with the formula a little.

I already make one for waxing Barbour jackets etc. I must video it some time!

English Country Life That would be great. Does the Barbour wax you make also work on other waxed canvas items like tarps and so forth?

Oh yes, cotton canvas tarps, old canvas rucksacks, canvas gaiters etc.

Thank you too!