Neatsfoot oil, mink oil, or ? ... for work boots

I like the way it smells, I like the way it leaves my hands feeling afterwads,
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Thanks. Sno Seal works great but the odor is not the most pleasant and it can be really hard to wash off your hands.
 
If you can find it, Kali Leather Life is pretty awesome. I have used it for years...
 
Sno Seal & Dubbins is my favorite two. Dubbins has been used for a long time involving saddlery and tack. I have used it to restore some old leather used in Imperial German sheaths. Works real well and it has a pleasant smell not overpowering. Any of you Aussie's gonna chim in???
 
I've always used neatsfoot on my Redwings. I've had them for three years now, and they're in great condition.

Frosty
 
I just got some Obenauf's from Amazon and treated my Coronado leather concealment jacket. Very pleased with the final result. As expected, it darkened the leather from medium to dark brown. But the leather looks much richer and after a little buffing, shinier. It is also more supple than before. Prior to the treatment, water sunk in like a sponge but now beads off. Hope it will last awhile.

The paste had to be heated to liquify it, and rubbed in to get absorbed. A hair dryer would have taken forever and I ended up using a forced air heater running on each part of the jacket for about an hour while I appeared intermittently to rub the liquified paste in. The whole process ended up taking over four hours and used about three to four ounces of the product. Now that it's over, I'm well pleased with the result.
 
Wait until tomorrow - you'll be surprised to see it's lightened back up again. The darkening is only temporary.
 
No expert here however it seems to m ethat getting leather wet/soaked and the attendant drying leaches out the oils or whatever was used to seal the leather and it cracks.

I use Lexol, a leather conditioner that restores the leathers natural[ well maybe not] oils keeping it supple..has been used but not by me to restore Civil War [ War Between the States] tack such as reins, bridles and saddles. I use on leather hunting boots, some holsters and gun belts. Think in terms of maintaining oils rather than soaking leather. It goes a long way so a smaller bottle would be a good start for most folks.

Don't think it is a water-proofing agent but keep your leather young..well you know what I mean.

You can find Lexol at most large animal feed stores or Tractor Supply Company stores.
 
If water repellency is required, Lexol does not provide it. Lexol is intended to preserve leather without changing its appearance. What you use and how heavily you apply it depends on the purpose of the application.
 
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Samael said:
Wait until tomorrow - you'll be surprised to see it's lightened back up again. The darkening is only temporary.
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It's now actually two days since the Obenauf application and the jacket did lighten back up again. Some areas remain darker than others creating a subtle, almost antique look.... A very pleasing effect. And importantly, the jacket is still 100% water repellent. If the 4+ hours of labor I spent had been done during production, the jacket would probably have cost alot more.
 
In the old days, mink oil and neatsfoot oil was pretty much the same thing, byproducts of the fur industry it's normally the unused parts of the animals boiled up. When mink coats were THE fur to have, that was the main constituent of both.
Nowadays, fur isn't so popular, so it could be anything.
I use other products for waterproofing, because they generally stay waterproof longer. Where neatsfoot/mink excels is for restoring dried out leather and breaking in new boots. I've only ever used the pure stuff and haven't noticed any rotting of stitching.
 
Well, the funny thing is, I haven't either. But if you know anything about organic chemistry, you know that the one unsaturated hydrocarbon molecule there leaves it open to pick up whatever free atom happens to come along. And that has the potential to get pretty unpleasant. That's good enough for me.
 
I use Montana Pitch Blend Leather dressing on my leather boots and shoes. It's a blend of Pine Pitch, Mink oil and bees wax so It's a lot like Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP which I used to use. Hand applying and rubbing either in helps, so do a hair dryer after the rubbing. The 1st time you use either apply at least 2 coats, waiting a little while between each application. That tends to help.

After 4+ applications of Pitch Blend leather dressing, my LaCrosse work boots are very water repellent. I can't stand in a 6" deep creak for very long, but it does help my feet stay dry when walking threw dewy grass and splashes. :) I switched to Pitch Blend leather dressing because I can get it locally, it's easier to apply (melts in your fingers faster) and seems to be absorbed faster.
 
Danner boot grease. Its a bit lighter than sno-seal and easier to apply. Both are good. I've never used Obenauf's but I'm always interested in finding a better product.
 
wildmanh said:
I switched to Pitch Blend leather dressing because I can get it locally, it's easier to apply (melts in your fingers faster) and seems to be absorbed faster.
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I noticed that about Obenauf's also....It's absorbs slowly compared to other paste dressings I have tried, even with heat and rubbing. But I like the results alot.
 
So I wear Danner FT Lewis 600GM boots most of the year. I mainly dress them in obenhaufs/whites boot grease. One of my boots started to leak. Danner of course took them back. They said the cause of the leaking was the obenhaufs grease clogging the pores on the gore-tex. Has anyone else had this issue on Gore-tex boots?
 
Here is the recommendation of boots on the Gore-tex website:--

WATER REPELLENT TREATMENT
We do not recommend the use of waterproofing waxes or greases as they can affect the footwear's breathability. Apply only treatments, polishes, conditioners, and dressings recommended by the manufacturer
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underlining mine

My guess is that the Gore-tex sock was torn or punctured. My own Gore-tex boots do not get any aftermarket dressing.
 
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