Care and feeding of deer leather kote.

[tagonagy]

Does any one know about how to take care of deer leather palms? I know alot of people use mink oil for cowhide. Will this work for deer leather too? Should conditioners be applied to the inside or is it enough to do just the outside?

[ben]

I'd be interested to know as well.

My knowledge such as it is, is that deer skin is used in place of cow hide precisely because it doesn't need so much conditioning. Something about the natural oils (which are supposed to be enhanced by the smoking process) being more resistant to the cycle of wet-dry-wet that cow leather hates. I have used beeswax in the past but it affected the grip of the palms. Mink oil and neatsfoot oil may be too intense (can soften the leather to the point where stitches pull out). These dressings are often used on really, really thick hide such as horse or bike saddles.

b

[AndreiB]

Am I the only one who thought this would be a thread about the care and feeding of the deer that are killed to get the deer pelts needed? Do they get the Wagyu Beef 5 star treatment? :D

[FastKendo]

wow.. so the kote palm need to be oiled too? I've never heard that before. What is the best oil to do it?

[ben]

wow.. so the kote palm need to be oiled too? ...

I think probably not. ALthough I would like to hear from those more knowledgeable. b

[alfanator]

I have added mink oil to my old kote that i scrubbed in water and shampoo with no issues. The leather, fist and palm, got softer and darker, did not affect grip afaik.

[tango]

FWIW, I've never done anything to mine. ....I'm generally able to get, I'd say on average, around 1.5 to 2 yrs before developing a really bothersome hole in the palm (practice 2 to 3 times a week and for whatever reason, have never managed to have two sets of good kote to swap back and forth between practices).

Anyway, ~2ish yrs seems to be my impression of what a lot of guys around here also get out of their kote, so... I don't know if anybody else treats theirs or not... I just know that I don't.

[Obulco]

I think probably not. ALthough I would like to hear from those more knowledgeable. b

I saw some oil for kote in a boguya in Japan and I asked if this was recommended to maintain kote in good shape. They told me that they would not recommend using anything on the palm. The only instances that they would use that oil on the palm is, for instance, if you have an old club kote that has not been used in a while and the leather is too hard. In this case, you have more to gain by applying this oil. For their regular kote, their recommendations were to get them out of the bogu bag as soon as possible after practice and to stretch the palm gently before hanging them to dry.

[Neil Gendzwill]

You don't need anything on the palms. When you take them off after practice, smooth out the palms to prevent them from drying with wrinkles in them.

My current kote are 7 years old and still good, although each palm has one small patch now.

[Big One]

We can oil them, add some garlic and onion and it is good for a pot of soup. Of course it is only for when you have nothing else to eat. On the other hand, I have never oiled my Kote palm before.

[Santiman]

Does any one know about how to take care of deer leather palms? I know alot of people use mink oil for cowhide. Will this work for deer leather too? Should conditioners be applied to the inside or is it enough to do just the outside?

I strongly suggest you to download and read "Kendo Equipment Manual" http://www6.big.or.jp/~budogu/manu/topm.html (available in English, French, German and now Spanish as well.) Please note that the phrasing in the English translation may appear confusing/broken.
Check the chapter relating to kote maintenance. You may use oils for the exterior but the palms should be air dried or use desiccant (or newspaper balls) to dry out the sweat/humidity. If desired, you may also use disinfectant spray to kill bad odor bacteria.