Help! Boer War Leatherworking Advice Needed

[artificer]

I bow to your superior knowledge Scott, the last thing I would want to do is wreck the thing with with a suggestion doomed to failure. Cheers mate

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mike, but I'm shooting in the dark really.

BTW, BobsYourUncle: Definitely DON'T use steel wool. The metal fibres get into the surface and will rust over time, leaving stains on the leather.

If it were me, I'd probably use a 220 grit sandpaper, but make sure to test it on a small area of leather that is out of view. Again, be really careful around the stitches. I'd mask them off during the main job and do those areas with a very small sanding block afterward.