I had the same problem. The Neatsfoot Oil works just give it a few days to do it's work. Goood Luck !
Yes, I forgot to mention that I soaked mine in the neatsfoot oil for 3 or 4 days (been a while, I don't remember exactly) because they were absolute crust. After the soak, they were almost like new. Put the cylinders back together and they've been working for 10 years now.
A rebuild is not always necessary. The dampers did not work at all when I first started working on my Credenza. Just banged down. Then I read in the instruction booklet that Victor privided with the machine, which says: "If, after making the adjustment, the lid fails to operate properly, place a few drops of oil (preferable Neat's-foot) in the top of the lid support tube." I put maybe half a thimble full of light machine oil in the top of each tube (where the support rod goes into it) and now the dampers work perfectly.
Knowing what I know now I would likely have gone to buy some Neat's-foot, but the machine oil worked fine. Assuming the oil works by softening the leather.
Clay
Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume's Laws of Collecting
1. Space will expand to accommodate an infinite number of possessions, regardless of their size.
2. Shortage of finance, however dire, will never prevent the acquisition of a desired object, however improbable its cost.
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