ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Neatsfoot Oil on Leather Protectors

Does anybody know where I can locate info regarding the use of neatsfoot oil on lineman’s leather protectors?
I’m trying to find out if this is considered an acceptable, safe practice or not. Something tells me no, but I can’t find any hard info about this to back up my assumption.
I’m also wondering whether or not any residual neatsfool oil that may have penetrated the protectors would have a deleterious affect the HV rubber gloves.

TKX

KJay,
Pure neatsfoot oil comes from cows.
I can't really see any sort of problem with doing this as long as you get PURE neatsfoot oil.
Some of this oil can have soya oil or other types of oil added to it to make up the volume, soya oil has been known to break the stitching on gloves, over time, not something you want to find out by accident.
If you are really unsure, contact the manufacturer of the outers.

With regard to this oil causing a problem with the actual insulated gloves, this isn't normally a problem as natural rubber is pretty much resistant to most things, especially petroleum products.

Having said that, monitor the "health" of your gloves before you use them, using the "roll-up" technique, a hole is not something you want to have, with equipment like this.

Thanks Trumpy.
I looked over all the info I could find on leather protectors from North, Salisbury and couple of other brands, but they don’t seem to mention anything about using any leather treatments or waterproofing on them.
They all pretty much say the same thing... that their HV gloves made from natural rubber should not be exposed to ozone, UV, hand lotions or creams containing Lanolin or petroleum, yadda, yadda, but no mention of animal based pure neatsfoot oil.
I see that Salisbury has an improved HV glove material called Salcor that is supposed be resistant to breakdown from these contaminants, so maybe those might be a better option in this situation.
I do find this situation a little odd though, because pure neatsfoot oil is exactly what the manufacturers recommended for use on our climbing belts, climber pads and straps as well as pretty much any other lineman's gear made of leather.

KJay,
At the end of the day, don't even think of water-proofing your outers.
Being in a situation where your outers are wet, is not good at all.
I have a second set of outers that stay in my glovebox in the cab of my vehicle, if my outers get visibly wet, they get changed.
If you are doing true live work with gloves and outers on, you should be constantly monitoring the integrity of not only your outers, but the gloves that they protect.

To be honest, only when I'm in a situation where they might be needed, do I wear gloves and outers.
The outers are not protection by themselves, they are but part of the total system, the inners rely on the outers for mechanical protection.
Never compromise the integrity of the inners by using something that might damage the outers.

If you are having an issue with the outers causing dexterity problems, over rubber gloves, I'm afraid you are going to have to live that, these gloves are for your protection.