Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Obenauf leather oil/grease

I bought 2 new pair of leather boots earlier this week from Cabelas (both by Meindl). They recommended Obenauf's - but I'm always leery of the 'on-line help' feature. I feel like I'm getting some 12 year old with a how-to guide looking up the answers to questions.

Anyone ever use Obenauf boot oil or grease your leather boots?

http://www.obenaufs.com/Leather-Oil-16-oz-p/leather-oil-16.htm

http://www.obenaufs.com/Heavy-Duty-LP-8-oz-p/heavy-duty-lp-8.htm

Thanks.

The LP is what I use on mine

It's what Russell Mocassin uses on their boots. That's enough for me.

Sent Russell a 20 year old pair of boots to restore last winter. Communication wasn't great but they came back oozing obenaufs and looked like new in time for turkey season. I bought some of the grease and treated them again after turkey season. Will hit them again this summer when I have time (they hadn't been treated in years and at first Russell told me they weren't salvageable)

Works good on leather and is also a good hand cream.

Yep, use the LP here....

I've used the LP for years. Good stuff.

LP user here, too. Amazing how well the leather fends off cuts and scuffs after being treated. Like a boxer greasing up his eyebrows to fend off cuts. The waterproofing aspect requires frequent re-application, but the durability gained with Obenaufs is impressive.

Sounds like you guys all use the LP/Heavy duty. Anyone use the regular oil? Difference between the two?

I've used them both, the leather oil is easier to put on and penetrates better..

I have the same question regarding the oil or the wax. Specifically, on new leather.

Beeswax. Snake oil ain't needed.

It is the best (LP) thing that I've found. Works well in snow/wet environment.

ditto, best so far--but am open to improvements

I've used a variety of products over the years, but now only use the Obenauf grease and prefer it to anything else I've tried. The Alaska members here likely spend more time in the wet than most and really praise the pure beeswax treatment. I haven't gone that route, but would consider it...

LP is beeswax based.

Yes it is. The point being, you don't need anything else BUT beeswax. If people want to pay more money for 'fancy' beeswax, ok.

The LP?

Also things that are petroleum based have a chance of making the rubber rand around the bottom of your meindl's come unglued.

Correct.

If you want to dick around with a product that compromises the beeswax by adding solvents to make it easier to apply have at it. In serious conditions it is not even close to as good as beeswax.

Once your boot is contaminated with the beeswax solvents used there you cannot go back to plain beeswax and get the same results...

Do you buy bulk wax and then melt it for app?

I buy it in chunks wherever I can get a good deal. I use it for a ton of different applications, so I always have it around. I will/have used it in every common form.

I heat the boots with a heat gun (careful! They get hot!) and start the wax into the hotspot letting it drip onto the hot leather and rubbing the softened wax on the hot leather.

Use lots and let it run into the seams and just keep applying until it will take no more.

Seldom do I get good clean wax with all the color taken out. I like it all.

I would avoid melting wax and trying to apply it that way... it makes a huge mess and you still have to heat the leather. Two pairs of high quality boots have been ruined in the oven on my boat, that I can remember...

Just use the heat gun or even a hair drier works.

Thanks Art

No problem. Obenauf's is far from the worst stuff on the market. SnoSeal for example is junk.

If you do not hunt very wet country Obenauf's is very likely good enough. Beeswax trumps it easily though, when it makes a difference.

Yeah, wet here. Ordered some and will give it a go.

A regular toilet wax seal is made of beeswax, is cheap, and available at any home depot/Lowes/plumbing store.

Obenauf's LP may be better than pure beeswax. The LP is mainly Beeswax but also contains Propolis which is an antibacterial element that keeps boots from developing funk or fungal growth. The company founder did some extensive research and has a background as a wildland firefighter that is applicable to a high end product. Marv Obenauf personally visits every store he sells his product in in the US. He stands behind his product and I think people who want alternatives haven't researched his story or background.

Not really... I assume it is solvents that make the seals soft. They do not make a decent substitute for wood polish.

I am sure he is a good man and have not read his story but I have used his product and compared it to plain beeswax. It is not close to as good in longevity of the waterproofing. I have no problem with fungal growth and funk in my boots and see no need for antibacterials.

I like Obenhaufs and have nothing bad to say about it. I use it on a couple pair of Redwings and a leather hat. However, I don't use my leather boots on really wet days; I have other boots for that.

It also works very well as a neck lube for sizing .308 brass to .358 in one pass.

If the products discussed herein are used will it destroy the ability of leather to breathe?

Made a mistake by mailing a pair of Cabelas Guide mid-range leather boots home from a wet hunting trip in Idaho.

I forgot they were mailed still wet...until I started getting ready for the next season about nine months later.

When I pulled them out of the mailing box and the bag they were sealed in, they were green...like mold, pea-green mold, and hard as a rawhide chew.

I use the LP and the liquid. A couple doses of both and the leather softened back up, the boots were waterproof, and the pair continues serve to this day.

Obenauf is good stuff. Seems like there are two purposes being addressed waterproofing and preserving the leather.

Obenauf is best for softening and preserving leather. The oil will not completely waterproof leather but it allows it to breath. The Lp has increased waterproofing value while still allowing it to breath some.

Pure Beeswax done thoroughly is about as waterproof as leather can be. But it doe's not breath at all or preserve the leather. On beeswax treated boots they feel colder to me I guess because there is no moisture transport and the leather is denser so transfers heat more too.

Since I am not in Alaska or the PNW I compromise by doing only the seams and lower portions of the boot in pure beeswax and then use the Obenaufs on the rest.

LP works great for me. Got some American made Danner's soaked with high alkali water from Pyramid lake once when the cutthroat bite was hot. Stiffened up and dried out the leather within a day, not to mention stains. A little saddle soap on the stains, then LP everywhere, back in business.

I use a hair dryer and buy my wax at the craft store in the candle making section. I apply it to new, clean leather gloves. Buy them a skosh big and treat with the beeswax. Break in kinda sucks, but they are waterproof-ish and tough as hell afterwards.

And you started doing that after seeing mine?

Almost. I did it the first time at your suggestion prior to coming up and dropping deer off a cliff for you to catch!


The biggest downside is that it sucks a lot more to loose a $5 glove after you treat them...

I need to try to get back up your way again. Drew a moose tag this year, but just couldn't make it work. Would love to get my boys up there sometime to try to get them on a salmon.

Who's the young guy in the red shirt?

He looks familiar... but what a stud!

Salmon fishing is good these days...

I'm hoping it stays that way until I can make it. They are 6 and 9, so I'm not sure my patience is ready for a trip that long with them yet.

Apparently fishing for Sitka deer isn't so much. Didn't even get a rise...

You almost got me...

Sitka deer hunting is almost good enough to start going again...

Not as good as he once was,
but as good once as he ever was.

There was a time that sanitary seals were beeswax.

Anymore, I believe them to be a polyurethane wax. Far cheaper.

I am hoping a certain sheep hunter will chime in with his experience last week with boots treated with NikWax... Let's just say he wished he had applied straight beeswax and was glad he killed a great sheep on opening day...

I use LP, been using it for years. Neats foot oil will soften the leather and NOT make them waterproof, but it WILL make your feet incredibly cold, as it is great conductor.

Have used plenty of other products over the years including straight beeswax, all the common stuff , including bear grease, Sno-seal, goose grease, Squaw oil, etc.

I have found the best way to apply the LP is to put it under a light bulb , very close and make it liquid. Apply it with your fingers. Heat your boots up with boot dryers . The kind that slip inside not the blowers. Do not put it on too think. Let it dry. Put another application on. Let the boots dry well, then use a good boot polish to seal them a bit.
I use this method on high quality boots, including Russels. I use it sparingly on my Russel Ostrich flavored boots.
As far as Meindles go I have had the frizzing' souls peel off. Through the pluckers away after 2 hunts.

I got some LP initially to soften up my new Montana sling. It did a good job on that so I used it on a pair of chukas I wear hunting down here that had just about got un wearable as the water i walk around in down here had leached out the leather and they were stiff as wood. LP softened them right up. Then I got a new pair of meindles for deer hunting up in Ohio and first thing I did was give them a good coat. Glad I did is I set in the rain for 3 days up there.

I also like the stuff that Kenetrek markets for their boots.

I use the LP on my 2 pairs of Russells because they recommend it. My first pair they recommended Pecards and I used that on them and they lasted 20 years.
Russell used to have a boot care tutorial on their website. Different leathers require different dressings.

What is the determining factor(s).

Suede doesn't like straight beeswax...

Beeswax likes everything else...

Knew that. Wondering if the reference was to species, use, or other in his experience.

I just treated all my boots again with obenaufs last weekend. I wait for a hot sunny day. Let boots sit a few hours in the sun to warm up. Apply and let sit in the sun for a few more hours. Yearly ritual for me

I have used it for hand lotion when hunting in desert climates. It really helps with chapped hands.

The determining factor is what kind of leather it is.
The boot maker should recommend what is suitable.

Too many boot makers have their own line of crap... guess what they suggest...

Yes. July/August is not the time most of us think of our winter boots, but that's when all of mine get a thorough treatment.

Yep. Set them out in the sun for a bit and then treat them. It works great. I use mainly the Kenetrek dressing, but the Obenaufs is easier to deal with, when a little sun is involved.

I have been using Huberd's Boot Grease, it works well for my purposes and it seems to last a bit longer than Obenauf's before retreating, though not much longer, is necessary. Once in the fall and I make it through hunting season and all winter before I need to re-treat.

This recently worked excellently for me:

1 melt wax in microwave;
2 apply with disposable paintbrush;
3 zap the area with a heat gun, not hair dryer;
4 keep a coarse cloth handy to wipe excess immediately.
5 use heat sparingly and daub often.

This is pretty easy to roll with once you get started. We'll see how well it works, but it sure changed the leather (boots are new). I would have gone nutz trying to use a hair dryer for this.

These are gore-tex lined. Will it effect how well the leather breathes? Probably. Leather does not breathe worth a damn anyway. It's the layer of synthetic stuff between your foot and the leather that 'breathes' (if anything does). Anyone who thinks gore-tex keeps feet cool and comfortable hasn't hiked hard in it. These boots are for when it may be wet and very cold. My goal with the beeswax is not more waterproofing, it is to help defeat abrasion and keep the leather from stretching too much due to saturation with water.

FWIW, the notion that coating leather boots with anything (short of molten plastic) and making them waterproof is folly. Resistant, maybe. If treatments performed like gore-tex, I would never use gore-tex.

This is my first ever pure beeswax application, and (because of the heat gun) it went on as well as other greases.

Make a laxative mineral oil and beeswax combo just like people use for cutting boards. Works like a champ on my stuff and is dirt cheep. 10$ worth will last a lifetime and is as good as any other leather wax I have tried.

Can you please share the proportion of laxative mineral oil and beeswax in your mix? Thanks.

I use 3-4 ounces natural beeswax to 6 -8 ounces of mineral oil. You have to heat them to mix them and then I store the product in the really small mason jars for jams and Jellies. Just google beeswax and mineral oil. I prefer to go heavier on wax than most do. I found it worked better for my uses. You will need to experiment for your own needs

The food grade mineral oil and laxative mineral oil from your pharmacy and grocery store are the same thing. So either will work. Should be less that 2$. The beeswax I buy at hobby lobby for like 5-6$ I think. You need to get the oil on a hot plate or stove and heat it up in a pot just enough to dissolve the wax in it and not enough to catch on fire. Then pour into the jars for later use.

It works great on leather and on wood as a finish. Especially for wooden spoon and cutting board type stuff. I pretreatment all our wooden utensils and cutting boards. I have used it on numerous pairs of leather boots with great success. I also used it on the farm for my work gloves.

Thank you for your quick reply as to the proportion of the mineral oil and beeswax for use on leather. I'm sure other members will find this information very useful. Jess

[quote=Sitka deer]I would avoid melting wax and trying to apply it that way... it makes a huge mess and you still have to heat the leather. Two pairs of high quality boots have been ruined in the oven on my boat, that I can remember...

Just use the heat gun or even a hair drier works. [/quote

Not if you are drinking beer at the time.... Previous post and don't ask!

Might have to try the straight bw again now I've gone dry, but the O product seems good on the last 2 pairs of boots..

By the way - you guys are not near as much fun as you used to be.