...comes in a lil round can w/about everything ya buy at Filson.
I'm not big into Filson like I once was.There is cans of this stuff about the house.
Anyone know of a practical use for it?
Will it work on boots?

Jed
You could always send it someone in AK that uses the stuff to the point there is NEVER any around the house! If you have tin pants they need quite a bit every once in a while and if you do not have tin pants you missed the Filson boat, BIG TIME!

I would not consider it for boot dressing...
art

I used to use Snow Seal on my Tin pants and it's made for boots, so the Filson wax would probably be good on boots...............similar stuff I think.

'cept Sno-Seal SUCKS on boots! ;-)

Art,
I found 6 cans in short-order and will package them up and send them west this week.

Curious - what sucks about Sno-Seal?

I've used it for years and years on my boots, I apply it with a toothbrush and a hair drier to melt it and rub it into all the seams well and the boots have never leaked walking in wet snow for an entire season or even being dunked in creeks walking through them.

Obviously you had a different experience and I was wondering if you would elucidate a bit as just saying that it "sucks" doesn't educate us much. What sucks about it - applying it, longevity, water proofness?

TIA

Jim
Sno-Seal is wax with solvent drivers. When the solvents leave the pores it leaves through are wide open to water. In the kind of tests we put boots through they will last a day or two before the wate rstarts getting into the leather and allowing it to stretch.

Once the stretching starts the leather exponentially starts sucking more water and in short order you end up with boots too heavy to walk in and dangerously loose if you really need to stay attached to the ground.

In short, for most people that do hunt in the rainforest, Sno-Seal is OK. For serious use it is not acceptable. If you have a boot drier and a good dry place to work your boot sover nightly that also works with the Sno-Seal. Not an option in any camp I have hunted in though...

Now the good news is that Sno-Seal is just wax with solvents added to make application easy. Melt plain beeswax into the leather and the solvent pores do not form and the leather does not absorb and stretch. The beeswax lasts much longer and the waxed leather reduces abrasion by a phenomenal margin.

So the pluses are application ease at the expense of water proofness and staying so...
art

Jed
Thanks! Wasn't fishing to steal your seal though! I like the stuff for lots of different uses...

Have you ever applied it to a plain cotton ball cap? It makes an oilskin hat that really sheds rain. I have hats made up with my business logo on them, from oilskin and they are the way to go in the wet... they usually get lost before I need to reoil...

I promise to put the oil to good use...
art

Thanks! Obviously I never put my boots to the same test that you guys do. That's the kind of good info I visit this site to learn.

I'm hopin your address is the same as Riley's....
Went out today.
Shoulda traded ya 4 some bees wax eh?
Cabala's is sending me a pair of insulated 'Mountain Hunters' boots soon...and they might is including some boot goo of sorts for my previous purchase of a pair of 'Alaskan Hunter' boots.
Whats the down side of puttin Red Wing Boot Oil Waterproofing on my 'Alaskan Hunter' boots?...I just did and it softened um up to the point of 'I love these boots' now.

Jed
I have to scrounge my beeswax from outside... outside AK that is... wax is harder to put on and the boots do stiffen up. I like to break my boots in and then apply the wax and put them on while the wax is warm, at least the first time.

I would suppose the boot oil dressing stuff is neatsfoot oil (Bovine synovial fluid) with some wax in there. Doubt it is anything special one way or the other. But it will probably keep your leather soft.

I appreciate the dressing!
art

ok.I ordered these 'Alaska Hunter' boots at the begining of the deer season here.I wore them all season w/no dressing at all.I like to break um in some before applying anything.They were lookin awful dry at seasons end.I treated them twice this week,and they have crossed over the 'break in' stage to the 'I love um' stage.The R. Wing boot oil is some I bought yrs ago.It's a nearly full 1 gallon jug of it.Thought was to use it up.