Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire leather waterproofing goop

Been using Snoseal since the middle 80's on boots and gloves

Put it on and hit it with a hair dryer and your good for a long time

Snoseal for me

Dang I wonder if all those young ladies in Anchorage didn't believe me when I told them my name was Art???

Pure beeswax.

SnoSeal rots the seams out sooner than they should.

Mostly Sno Seal for me too. Hair dryer in the winter to warm the boots and melt the stuff but in the summer, it makes for a great afternoon setting on the porch with a cold beer while the boots warm and bake in the sun.

Dale

Montana Pitch-Blend, though Obenauf's is good too.

When I was a kid, there were 10-15 mink farms near me. You could get all of the raw, unprocessed fat and mink oil you wanted for cheap.

Smelled like the back end of nasty old camel, but that stuff worked very well.

I always wanted to think it might have help with my muskrat trapping too. Probably not, but at 14 you can dream that it did.

I wish I could give a "+1" to you good gents, but my experience with Snoseal is very different. I've had it whipped off boots by wet, tall, grass in a matter of hours, after applying to warm boots and followed with a hair dryer.

It does work well for me on the leather uppers of Sorels....that are covered with pants.

+1

I use Obenaudf's because it's a family business right down the road from me but there's others also made with Bees Wax and Pine Tar that work too...
By the time you chase down all the products needed to make your own (if you can even find it) you'll spend twice as much and it won't work any better....

Many years ago back when there were "surplus" stores, I bought a can of boot treatment/waterproofing the Govt used. It had a distict smell of wax but had other stuff in it. I would heat the can on the stove and stir it up then wipe it on. Worked good, but if you put it on too thick, it caked, which supports the wax content.

I have plenty of beeswax, do you heat it to apply? I also have lanoline. I never heard of Obenaudfs, but I'll look for it.

It's messy, but neatsfoot oil and paraffin wax melted together until the wax pretty much stays in the oil, applied hot, will waterproof the heck out of stuff. Leaves a wax "shell" of sorts that looks ugly. This stuff used to work well on my leather work boots in CO, WY, UT winters- ranch work, power line stuff. All winter, all day, every day. Used to be cheap, too. You can brush or put on with rag, and even buff it in, to a point. Got a pair of loggers in the closet so soaked with it they're kind of armored, last treatment was early 90s. I'd put them on and wade ankle deep, right now.

Another fan of Obenauf's. It's not that expensive, and a small can/tub lasts a long time.

I tend to treat my boots around this time of year, or a little later...usually after turkey season and again before archery season. I put them in the sun on warm day and let them get pretty warmed up, then just rub the Obenauf's into all the leather surfaces and it's done.

I've used it on my Meindl boots and my Asolos and it's kept them looking great through fairly hard use. I also use it on my Montana and M1907 slings, with good results.

At least around here, it takes a lot more than just sunlight to melt the beeswax into the leather.

Think oven, hair dryer, and heat gun.

I agree with Doc 100%. Sno-Seal is mostly (I think) beeswax but much more easy to apply and comes in both cans and tubes. Why would anyone mess with mixing your own when this is so handy and cheap? It keeps the leather stiff and stable and works on all kinds of leather including boots, tack, holsters, etc.

I have tried most alternatives, including even French-produced mine oil, and they really mess up good leather. Maguiars car seat spray works well for its intended purpose, but not for outdoor waterproofing.

I have a pair of Russell's bird shooter boots that I have worn all over the world including Africa, through streams and snow and 100-plus degree temps. I have had them since the 1970s and while they look a bit scruffy, with Sno-Seal applied regularly, they may never wear out!

Exactly right.

If you can't find it let me know.

Snoseal ? Btdt


No staying power ime


Would like to try obenaufs


I cuss that dang Sitka deer every time I put on a beeswax treated gloves that ain't been sitting in the sun


But once those gloves are broken in. Pretty skookum

All I do is basically follow the Obenauf's recommended process.

Not sure what is best, but what they've suggested has always seemed to work well.

Here's what they recommend:

http://www.obenaufs.com/category-s/127.htm

Sorry, but Sno-Seal is the worst of the commercial crap out there. If you want to waterproof your boots every time it rains and have wet feet in the process, every time, get after it.

Might work in West TX...

Obenauf's is better than most by a long shot, but far short of straight beeswax. In serious Kodiak rain they will keep your feet dry for weeks of horrible weather. Sno-Seal will not last a day.

Far more important than staying dry though is boot stretch when they get waterlogged. Sno-Seal will leave you with dangerously loose boots if you are in tough country.

Plus, it lubricates the leather far better against abrasion. I have worn out new Danner boots in a single sheep hunt in bad shale. Since switching to straight beeswax many years ago I have had my three pairs of Danners resoled multiple times, tops still looking good...

One caveat about straight beeswax is the fact it does not work well on leather that has been tainted by other products.