Make Your Own Saddle Cleaner

How to make your own saddle cleaner!

Yes – you can make your own saddle cleaner! This is a great way to customize your saddle soap for your needs. In a nutshell, you will start with a glycerin base and add whatever ingredients you like. You can find glycerin easily, it comes in bars at your local tack shop. You can also do an internet search for it to purchase in bulk. A word of caution: Some leathers may have specific cleaning instructions. Always check with your saddle manufacturer for their suggested cleaning methods.

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For this simple and traditional saddle soap recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

Glycerin
Milk or cream
Sealed container to store your new soap in.

Olive oil is optional!

Begin by melting chunks of glycerin in the microwave. Smaller chunks melt faster. Start with medium power and 30-second intervals.

When melted, add cream or milk to your soap and stir. If you end up with about two cups of melted glycerine, start with 1/4 cup of milk or cream. Pour into your container to firm up!

The cream or milk acts as your conditioner. Don’t worry, it won’t go rancid.

Optional.

You can also add the following in addition to the milk.

Olive oil for conditioning

A few drops of lavender or other essential oil for fragrance

Neatsfoot oil for conditioning and darkening

There are tons of recipes out there – including ones that use beeswax and oils and lye and bar soap – but what could be easier than glycerin and milk?

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