Treatments tested on Nude Beauty and Nippon

I have tested some leather treatments on my Nippon and Nude Beauty cases recently. I would like to share the conclusions with you now.

Treatments tested

I have used 5 different treatments shown at the picture above. Starting from the leftmost:

1. Fouganza Neatsfoot Oil (bought at Decathlon, horse riding department)
2. Fouganza Glycerin Soap (bought at Decathlon, horse riding department)
3. Fouganza Leather Grease (bought at Decathlon, horse riding department)
4. Bense & Eicke Leather Grease (bought at a small horse riding accessory store)
5. Bense & Eicke Leather Oil (bought at a small horse riding accessory store)

Cleaning

First thing that I wanted to try was to clean Nude Beauty and Nippon from various stains. I used number (2) – glycerin soap for this purpose.

After applying the soap to the stains on the cases and waiting an hour (to let them dry) I had checked the results. The stains became smaller and less visible, some of them disappeared at all. There was no difference in color between parts of the cases treated and not treated with the soap (at least I could not see them).

Conclusions

1. It looks like it is relatively safe and effective to use the liquid glycerin soap to clean Nude Beauty and Nippon.

Application

1. Moisten a piece of clean, soft fabric (I used a clean cotton diaper for this ;)) with a soap.
2. Try the soap on a small part of your case, preferably at the back. Rub this part of the case with wet fabric.
3. Wait an hour to let it dry and check if there is no stain there and if the result is satisfactory.
4. If it looks Ok repeat the step (2) with stains located in other parts of the case. Rub gently, do not push too hard. If the fabric gets dirty, use another, clean piece (moistened with soap).
5. If there are many stains, or you want to be 100% sure that there will be no visible differences in color between parts treated and not treated, clean the whole surface of the case (interior, exterior or the frame).
6. Leave for a couple of hours to dry.

Darkening

After cleaning my cases I wanted to darken and soften them.

At first I used four treatments on each case – created 4 stripes treated with (1), (3), (4), (5) separated with untreated stripes. I had waited approximately one hour. It looked like on the second picture from the left.

After that I used treatment (1) on the whole cases. After waiting a couple of hours they looked like (the back side of the cases, because there were stripes visible on front sides) on the third photo from the left.

Conclusions

1. Both neatsfoot oil and leather grease – treatments (1), (3), (4) and (5) – darken the Nude Beauty and Nippon cases and make them a little softer.
2. Leather grease – (3), (4) - seems to leave the surface a little more shiny than before the application.
3. Neatsfoot oil  - (1), (5) – seems to leave the surface a little more matt than before the application.
4. All these treatments – (1), (3), (4) and (5) - darken the cases at approximately same level.
5. Leather grease  - (3), (4) – seems to better protect the leather – when trying to apply the neatsfoot oil on a surface previously treated with leather grease, the surface darken little.
6. Application of neatsfoot oil – (1), (5) – several times will darken the leather more.
7. Application of neatsfoot oil – (1), (5) – on interior of the Nude Beauty case darken it more than application on exterior.
8. Application of neatsfoot oil – (1), (5) – on interior of the Nippon case darken it approximately the same as application on the exterior.
9. Application of neatsfoot oil – (1), (5) – on exterior of the Nippon case darken it more than application on Nude Beauty exterior. Nippon becomes very “orange”.
10. Application of neatsfoot oil – (1), (5) – makes the cases look older, like used. Also, I did not manage to apply treatments evenly on the whole surface and I could see darker and lighter places somewhere.
11. If there is a scar or some imperfection on the leather, the treatment will darken the case less there.

Application

1. Put the treatment on a piece of clean, soft fabric (I used a clean cotton diaper for this ;)).
2. Try it on a small part of your case, preferably at the back. Rub this part of the case with fabric with treatment.
3. Wait for a couple of hours to let it dry and check if  the result is satisfactory.
4. If it looks Ok apply the treatment to the whole surface (exterior, interior or the frame). Rub the treatment, push a little. Try to color the surface evenly. Apply evenly on the edges as well.
5. Leave for a couple of hours to dry.
6. If you want to darken the surface more, go to (4).

Precautions

1. Always try the treatment on the small part of the case (at the back of it) first. Wait until it completely dries (do not use the case until then) and check the result. Proceed further only when you are satisfied with this test.
2. Application of any treatment may darken the parts rubbed and make them softer.
3. Use clean, soft fabric.
4. Do not rub too hard.
5. Use cotton gloves when applying the treatment. This way you will make sure the grease and sweat from your fingers will not leave stains on the case.
6. Using any treatment on a dyed leather may melt the dye a little and leave stains on the fabric.
7. After applying one treatment always wait until the leather dries completely. Do not use the case when wet.
8. Do it at your own risk. I cannot guarantee the results, although I have tested the above treatments. This article is just a description of my tests and the results. If you are not sure (or you are not willing to take a risk) that the treatment will not harm the case, do not use it.

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Sunny, some clouds and a very strong wind.

I watched “Ip Man” and “Ip Man 2″ a couple of days before. Great movies! I used to practice karate shotokan for about 10 years (gave it up for judo) and always had some admiration for punching based martial systems.

I have read some articles and watched tons of YouTube videos about Wing Tsun (Wing Chun) and decided to start practice. This system has some sensible assumptions which may prove to be succesfull in a real fight situations.