Leder Gris - 5 year old Can I use it

[lostme1]

I have found a tin of Leder Gris at the back of the cupboard which I have never used.

As it has shrunk and cracked in the tin will it still have the same leather care qualities. Given the price of leather boots and the cost of a tin of Leder Gris, in the long term would it be better for the boots to get a new tin or is the old tin still OK.

[NeilC]

As an educated guess I'd say that it won't be the same as a new tin. I suspect that the most volatile part of it is the oil, some of which has now gone and so instead of being 30% oil it's going to be significantly less oil and mostly wax. Something must have left the tin for it to shrink and crack and that's not going to be the wax I'd say.

[kinkyboots]

Some of the petroleum "oil" content has probably just naturally evapourated/dried out over time. It may be slightly down on the level of "oil" content but it won't do any harm. If it's gone really hard try slowly warming it through to soften/melt it before you use it. This post suggests it should be fine.

I buy my Leder Gris at the factory when I'm passing through Richmond.  I buy several tins at a time, it keeps if you store it in a cool place (the garage).  I did keep one tin in the kitchen once and it shrank a bit in the tin, still worked though.  We do 2-3 trips a week in our house, usually in rough country, and we both have Alt-Bergs, we get through a tin every 3 to 4 months.

As a side note I got a tin of Leder Gris to try out/compare alongside Meindl Sport Wax on my Altberg Fremingtons and as far as I can see both waxes produced exactly the same finish/end result. Apart from being cheaper the Meindl Sport Wax is a much softer consistency wax which I find is more readily absorbed into the leather and it comes in an airtight screwtop jar which doesn't allow the wax to dry out over time. I'm pretty sure I know which I'll be buying in the future.