OT: Sleigh Bells

Yesterday, I oiled the leather of my string of sleigh bells.

My grandparents in Tama Co, Iowa had three strings of sleigh bells, large, medium and small. My mother acquired these after the old folks passed.

The bells were always displayed at Christmas at our house. When we were young, my Father would rise early on Christmas morning and ring the bells before hiding in some as yet unknown place as my brothers and I raced downstairs to see if we could catch Santa flying away. Of course, we never did.

About twenty years ago, my Mother asked my two brothers and myself to draw straws for the strings. I have the small bells while my older brother has the large string and my younger brother the medium string.

This past week, I took my string to work to show the young folks what the real McCoy bells look and sound like. It turned out to be quite an event.

When handling the string, I noticed that the leather needed oil badly so yesterday, I oiled it with neatsfoot oil. The leather soaked it up like a sponge.

I remember my Mother telling me that one could hear the sleigh coming from over a mile away on a quiet, snow covered winters day.

Does anyone have any other recommendations for the care of harness leather?

FWIW, I've offered to oil my brother's strings if they bring them by.

Dean

You got it right, neatsfoot, and POUR it on.

yes, I remember dad oiling the harness with neatsfoot oil.

Neat story. Neat that you and each of your brothers still have a piece of family history.

I believe a good cleaning with just plain Saddle Soap and then oil with neats foot oil should do as good as any other way. Good Luck

I use neatsfoot oil on my leather dog leash.

Larry

Neatsfoot oil is as good as anything else, it's what we've always used on harness.

You might be surprised at the value of a string of sleigh bells. Good ones these days are pretty darn expensive, as in several hundred bucks! Friend had a set that had different sized bells that all sort of harmonized with each other. Beautiful sound!

So, where does neatsfoot oil come from? The foot of a neat? What's a neat?

Quote from Wikipedia:
Neatsfoot oil is a yellow oil rendered and purified from the shin bones and feet (but not the hooves) of cattle. "Neat" in the oil's name comes from an old name for cattle. Neatsfoot oil is used as a conditioning, softening and preservative agent for leather. In the 18th century, it was also used medicinally as a topical application for dry scaly skin conditions.