boot care

[Gr8bawana]

What do you guys use on your boots? I have used Snow Seal, Mink Oil, and the spray on silicone products. To me so far they seem about the same for water resistance. I find the silicone spray the easiest, but the leather looks so dry it makes me think it's gonna be like a sponge. The other 2 at least make the leather look like it's well conditioned.
What do you guys think?

 

[Hilltop]

Snow Seal is my preference. I warm my boots up to about 100 degrees and then apply it fairly heavily. I then use a hair dryer for added heat to really help work it into all the seams- then reapply again.

I managed a truck wash for many years and some of the employees used motor oil- it actually worked pretty good and was way cheaper. I haven't done this method myself however. I keep meaning to try it on an old pair but can't bring myself to do it on expensive boots.

 

[Ikeepitcold]

^^^^^ same here. I also like to heat my boots up too. Haven't used the blow dryer but I'm sure it would help.

 

[Tim McCoy]

Montana Pitch Blend Leather Dressing for me. Hand warmth makes it thin enough to apply to room temperature boots, it smells good, works great, a little goes a long ways, and an application lasts a long time.

 

[6mm Remington]

Montana Pitch Blend Leather Dressing for me. Hand warmth makes it thin enough to apply to room temperature boots, it smells good, works great, a little goes a long ways, and an application lasts a long time.

Montana Pitch blend or Obenauf's.

Longest lasting most effective dressings out there!

I saw folks heating their boots slightly to get the dressing to penetrate easier. The simple way to do it is to make sure your boots are nice and clean. A bristle brush works very well. Then do a good coat or two of the dressing really rubbing it into the leather. Once you have the dressing on, put your boots on your Peet boot dryer for about 8 hours. Then do one more dressing of the boots and use the Peet dryer again. Those are great because it is such a low heat that it WILL NOT harm the boots or leather.

 

[ivorytip]

nice info, ill need to check I t out

 

[firebeck]

I really like Obenaufs. With being a volunteer firefighter Obenaufs keeps leather boots quite well when on wildland fires.

 

[6mm Remington]

The Peet boot dryer is the way to go to warm the leather on your boots after you put your dressing on. It won't damage the leather and is a real low heat. Put them on the dryer for about 8 hours and give the leather another coat of dressing and put them back on. A couple coats of Obenaufs or Montana Pitch Blend will last quite a while.

 

[JMSZ]

Snow seal here on the older boots...my dad used it and taught me the oven trick.

I also use it on the laces, keeps them from freezing together when they get wet.

I know that at least the military boots have silicone or something else impregnated in the leather to keep it soft. Between that and gore-tex liners, I haven't have to snow seal a set of boots in a long time. I still snow seal the laces, though.

 

[Collins]

I use Obenauf's and it seems to make my boots last a couple years longer for sure. I'm sure lots of the oils are good, but I've gotten into a habit of actually scrubbing my boots off with warm water and a stiff brush after heavy use. It at least allows the leather to breath and keeps the oil doing what it's supposed to do. I make sure I scrub out all the nooks and cranny's.

 

[sneakypete]

I use the Kenetrek's boot stuff on my Kenetrek's. It's soft and easy to apply.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Been using SnoSeal for years, applying exactly the way Hilltop described it.