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

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.