Boot/ Shoe Care (Products, Methods, and Suggestions)
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I just use a heavy grade canvas from the local fabric shop (Joann's in SoCal).
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You know, Simon I'm with you on the oil, I do it, I don't drown them it, just a light rub. I heard someone whining somewhere that his boots were like drunks, they sucked up everything he threw at them and then they got hard and crispy after a while and died, I dunno, then some other dude reckons that the oil rots the stitching. In short, I think oil on rag, wipe, admire.
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Just ordered Obenauf's water-based silicon spray to weatherproof my roughout Smokejumpers. I'll share my experience here.
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As alluded to over on the Trickers thread, these beautiful old shoes seemed to have a dried out (?) sole and heal. Hopefully you can see in the picture how the layers in the heal unit have started to come away from each other.
Has anyone else experienced this before? I'm familiar with reconditioning the leather of a shoes upper, but is this possible with the sole and heal?
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Once leather has dried to the point where it's started to crack, there's not much that can be done, other than replace it. I'd recommend going to a reputable repair shop (you mentioned the Shoe Healer in your other post, and he is quite reputable) and seeing if the shoes can be resoled.
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I came up with a system after watching my wife (then GF) wash her horse saddle the first time. After the application of saddle soap/water and a scrub with a fingernail cleaning brush, a dry in the sun, she applied this: (http://www.lexol.com/Product_leather_conditioner.aspx) I started using the same technique once a month on all my boots and it's doubled the lives of my daily Thorogood workboots.
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Not knowing what you do in your boots your system sounds like it may be a bit much, but as you say the care has doubled the lives of your shoes it's not much I can say besides images please
sent from a madmofo
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Whether it's a bit much depends on what kind of damage he's doing to them on a daily basis. I can easily get by with doing maintenance work once or twice a year, since I have multiple boots in rotation and I'm not putting them in rough environments. By comparison, I have a friend that can kill a pair of boots in under six months, because she's in horse barns every day.
Nonetheless, Lexol is good stuff. Works great on furniture and car interiors, too.
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True madmonday, I'm a superintendent for large construction projects and my boots go from mud to concrete to drywall dust every day so my care regiment is a bit extreme. I'll spare you pics of my nuked boots. I guess my point is that lexol is a an amazing product for only taking a quick spray and wipe.
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What is your advice on treating White`s? I´d guess Obenauf´s LP should be fine but I hear a lot that applying shoe care too often may harm the leather. Is an initial treatment reasonable?
Most people on these forums feel compelled to drown everything in Obenauf's, all the time. Many people do so basically because all they know is what they've read on a forum, i.e. they have no idea what they're doing.
These kind of treatments are useful only for rejuvenating extremely tired, dry or mistreated boots (including oiled leathers). If you are a fire fighter (or something) and actually use you Smoke Jumpers on the job then you might have a good reason to do this relatively often. For the rest of us… let's face it, where're hipsters and you will rarely need to frequently treat leather this way. The bottom line is... use this option very sparingly.
If you use something like Obenauf or mink oil as you would a polish, i.e. frequently, it will definitely not be good for the leather. Often people will then wear the boots immediately resulting in the damp, oil heavy leather being stretched and losing its color and depth.
Have a look at the Wolverine thread over on SF. They are obsessed with a "winter sealing treatment" over there. You can see dozens of photos of 1000 Mile boots that are simply horribly out of shape because they've been oiled almost to death. (If you need to apply that much oil to a boot to seal it for wet or winter conditions... then basically you're wearing the wrong boot. Go buy yourself an actual winter boot).
So yes... don't just treat your boots with Obenauf's because of forum myth! As previous posters have indicated keep the boots brushed, let them dry and rest in between wearing, use shoe trees, and find a more reasonable shoe care regime.
What do I do?
- Brush.
- Leave to dry (if damp or if I've worn them for any length of time).
- Saddle soap if dirty or stained (do this only lightly).
- leave to dry.
- (optional: if leather needs conditioning or if you've used saddle soap) Apply a good rejuvenating cream or conditioner (I use Saphir Renovateur). You could use oil at this stage.
- Use a good shoe creme (you can use a colored creme, but I tend to use neutral). There are many... I use Collonil because its easily available where I am.
- Finish with a shoe wax. Again, I use neutral Saphir or Collonil wax.
If you do decide to oil your boots make sure they are clean and dry (otherwise you lock in dirt, etc. during oiling) and then leave the boots for at least a week before wearing (I often leave my boots up to 2 or 3 weeks before wearing). You can really feel the difference. Boots will stretch if they are heavy with oil. If this happens repeatedly they will end up permanently out of shape (not simply stretched).
There is no reason not to follow a regime like this even for work boots. I do the above on all my boots, including oiled leathers. I only do an oil treatment if the leather is really crying out for it (which is almost never). I repeat... repeatedly soaking boots in Obenauf's is for zombies.
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Do you recommend any specific saddle soap?
I actually grew up on a ranch, so have I spent much of my life around boots and saddlery. We always used "Joseph Lyddy" saddle soap, but to be honest I'm sure any good saddler will stock a good saddle soap. The brand names tend to be regional so depending on where you live you might have to look beyond the common brand names. But don't worry… there are plenty of good products out there. I currently live in Germany and have been using "Bense & Eicke (B&E) Sattelseife". If I get time, I'll try and research the +/- of different saddle soaps.
What is the specific name of Saphir´s wax?
Again, some products are harder to find in some regions, but I think Avel / Saphir is available in most places. I am currently using the "Saphir Medaille D'Or Cream" (renovator/conditioner) and the "Saphir Medaille D'Or Wax / Pate de Luxe". I also use the "Collonil 1909 Wax Polish". The renovator cream is exceptionally good and can be thinned with a bit of water when using it, as a little goes a long way. Both the waxes are great and I can recommend both. I use neutral color wax in most cases. I also have a few good color creams around for when boots need a touch up. Again, Saphir and Collonil.
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Thanks again, ordered some neutral Saphir wax, the renovateur stuff and saddle soap (Grison was the one they had in the Onlineshop i found). I already have horsehair brushes and shoe trees.
Pretty interesting that you do same regime even with oiled leather like Red Wing uses. I always thought it had to be saturated with oil as it was oiled in the first place. -
i bought both the Obenauf's oil and the LP when I got my 1ks…but I ended up not using either before wearing them. (I had been reading the SF Wolverine thread, but I was skeptical of the amount of stuff they were using by the time I got my boots)
After I wore them for a month or so I applied a light coat of the Oil (not the LP) and the boots soaked it up and felt pretty good after that. Haven't even touched the LP yet.
I think that (perhaps) a lot of internet-informed hipsters (not excluding myself here) feel that their boots are delicate and finicky because of the high price tags. In reality, it seems like leather is extremely resistant and tough...I've seen pictures of unbelievably destroyed boots brought back to life.
I find it interesting that a population that embraces so fully the idea of doing nothing to jeans for months on end is so obsessive about the treating of boots.
(that being said...I did use the oil and LP on my wife's Frye Harness boots...because she wants to use them as winter boots and wants them to be sealed up. Her call.)
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