I started using Obenauf's when I bought my first pair of White's boots. White's recommended it over mink oil or other boot grease. Great stuff, I usually heat it up a little and apply it, let the boots sit overnight on boot driers, and I'm good to go.
Last edited by DouginAlaska; 08/14/20.
Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
Once dry I’ll hit the leathers with some Obendirfs that I have. I think I have tried that before too, with like results. I’ve used sno seal before with satisfaction, if applied often enough certainly more than 2x yearly.
But I think screw the goretex stuff next pair of boots - just go straight leather and beeswax - without the beer drinking I did last time I tried that......... the operation was successful but the patient died
My Dad was born in 1900. I remember he bought horse harnesses in 1943 and was told they were 10 years old when purchased. I remember about 1948 Dad told me we were going to oil the harnesses to keep them supple. He warmed and mixed beeswax and Neatsfoot oil. We spent about two days disassembling, applying by hand, flexing the leather, rubbing in that mixture and reassembling the harnesses. I later learned those harnesses were oiled about every year. By 1955 the horses were gone but those harnesses still hung in the barn the last time I was there about ten years ago. Though stiffened the leather was not cracking. That's a 77 year history. I have no way of knowing whether the Neatsfoot oil of then is the same as now but the beeswax sure is. That same concoction has been mixed and applied to our leather boots over the years. At age 80 I just buy Goretex lined or rubber boots.
Neatsfoot oil is synovial fluid from the hooves of cows. Same today as 1900...
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
No need to tell me, there are some petro distillates in it too.
What's in Obenauf's???..............................SDS says................trade secrets......................mmmmmnn?
Their website says beeswax and propolis and "natural leather conditioning oil", could that be????? Neatsfoot? Mineral oil? Vegetable oil?
Whatever "distillates" in SnoSeal are, they apparently evaporate/dissipate in the warm sun and just leave the wax.
I suppose I could just heat up that block of beeswax I've got out in the shop and try to apply it while still warm. But after having decent success with SnoSeal for 40+ years, I suppose I'll keep using it.
Suits my purposes. Of course, I don't live in AK. But it worked pretty good during the year I lived in SE. And the two years in NW PA, and the 8 years in Humboldt County (60" of rain there a year, not the 12" we have here).
I don't walk around in swamps or muskeg much, if I did I'd probably use some rubber boots and keep the leather ones at home.
The good thing about America................we can all choose how we wish.
Snoseal does not leave just beeswax in the leather. The finished boot is very different from simple beeswaxed leather. In truly wet conditions it fails on the first day...
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
I too, prefer pure neatsfoot oil on boots and saddles. But...I have been using Dr. Naylors udder balm as well for years , especially on my winter boots after a good oiling.
i use sno proof on my all leather footwear. it darkens the leather some but it makes it last a long time. i have a pair of rockies from 1996 that are still in good shape with a yearly coat.
If you still have a pair or Rockies from 1996, you've worn them twice.
Nikiwax isl like breathable rain gear Fine as long as it doesn’t get wet. Just did a caribou hunt with both. 3 days of rain
Boots had 3 apps Nikiwax. Soaked thru eve day 1. “Rain gear” laundered and retreated surface lasted another day. 3 caribou not bulletproof
So much for “partly cloudy”
The Nikwax has worked okay for me, but I will say that if it's really wet I go straight to rubber boots. I doubt any of the products mentioned on this thread will stand up to continuous soaking.
The biggest problem our country has is not systemic racism, it's systemic stupidity.
My Dad was born in 1900. I remember he bought horse harnesses in 1943 and was told they were 10 years old when purchased. I remember about 1948 Dad told me we were going to oil the harnesses to keep them supple. He warmed and mixed beeswax and Neatsfoot oil. We spent about two days disassembling, applying by hand, flexing the leather, rubbing in that mixture and reassembling the harnesses. I later learned those harnesses were oiled about every year. By 1955 the horses were gone but those harnesses still hung in the barn the last time I was there about ten years ago. Though stiffened the leather was not cracking. That's a 77 year history. I have no way of knowing whether the Neatsfoot oil of then is the same as now but the beeswax sure is. That same concoction has been mixed and applied to our leather boots over the years. At age 80 I just buy Goretex lined or rubber boots.
It would be cool to have those harnesses.
Grandpa didn't save his.
He wasn't sentimental I guess. He did however save his old coal miners hat.
Nikiwax isl like breathable rain gear Fine as long as it doesn’t get wet. Just did a caribou hunt with both. 3 days of rain
Boots had 3 apps Nikiwax. Soaked thru eve day 1. “Rain gear” laundered and retreated surface lasted another day. 3 caribou not bulletproof
So much for “partly cloudy”
The Nikwax has worked okay for me, but I will say that if it's really wet I go straight to rubber boots. I doubt any of the products mentioned on this thread will stand up to continuous soaking.
And you might as well just go to rubber boots because if you seal a leather boot with enough beeswax to make it truly waterproof it no longer breathes at all, just like a rubber boot. Of course if you need ankle support and waterproof and still want breatheability, that's where Gore-Tex comes in.
I lost a jar of Obenaufs and found it a few years later. It smelled rotten like old spoiled cooking oil. I thought it was supposed to be something like beeswax.
Called them up and no. Told to open lid and heat in a microwave. If it still smelled like rotten veggie oil to chunk it. I did. Ill use beeswax.
The same happened to me with an unopened can of mink oil. It was setting on the shelf for a couple of years. I think that any vegetable or animal based oil turns rancid/ oxidizes eventually without an antioxidant preservative. Dr. Wallach told me that he doesn't recommend any oils for frying or dressing because they start oxidizing from the hour the olives or seeds are picked and processed.
I just would like to know if the same rotten odor happens when a fresh coat is applied? I've never noticed the boots or belts smell that way.
I lost a jar of Obenaufs and found it a few years later. It smelled rotten like old spoiled cooking oil. I thought it was supposed to be something like beeswax.
Called them up and no. Told to open lid and heat in a microwave. If it still smelled like rotten veggie oil to chunk it. I did. Ill use beeswax.
The same happened to me with an unopened can of mink oil. It was setting on the shelf for a couple of years. I think that any vegetable or animal based oil turns rancid/ oxidizes eventually without an antioxidant preservative. Dr. Wallach told me that he doesn't recommend any oils for frying or dressing because they start oxidizing from the hour the olives or seeds are picked and processed.
I just would like to know if the same rotten odor happens when a fresh coat is applied? I've never noticed the boots or belts smell that way.
Who is Dr. Wallach?
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
I lost a jar of Obenaufs and found it a few years later. It smelled rotten like old spoiled cooking oil. I thought it was supposed to be something like beeswax.
Called them up and no. Told to open lid and heat in a microwave. If it still smelled like rotten veggie oil to chunk it. I did. Ill use beeswax.
The same happened to me with an unopened can of mink oil. It was setting on the shelf for a couple of years. I think that any vegetable or animal based oil turns rancid/ oxidizes eventually without an antioxidant preservative. Dr. Wallach told me that he doesn't recommend any oils for frying or dressing because they start oxidizing from the hour the olives or seeds are picked and processed.
I just would like to know if the same rotten odor happens when a fresh coat is applied? I've never noticed the boots or belts smell that way.
I lost a jar of Obenaufs and found it a few years later. It smelled rotten like old spoiled cooking oil. I thought it was supposed to be something like beeswax.
Called them up and no. Told to open lid and heat in a microwave. If it still smelled like rotten veggie oil to chunk it. I did. Ill use beeswax.
The same happened to me with an unopened can of mink oil. It was setting on the shelf for a couple of years. I think that any vegetable or animal based oil turns rancid/ oxidizes eventually without an antioxidant preservative. Dr. Wallach told me that he doesn't recommend any oils for frying or dressing because they start oxidizing from the hour the olives or seeds are picked and processed.
I just would like to know if the same rotten odor happens when a fresh coat is applied? I've never noticed the boots or belts smell that way.
Who is Dr. Wallach?
LMAO! Good one jag!
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
My Dad was born in 1900. I remember he bought horse harnesses in 1943 and was told they were 10 years old when purchased. I remember about 1948 Dad told me we were going to oil the harnesses to keep them supple. He warmed and mixed beeswax and Neatsfoot oil. We spent about two days disassembling, applying by hand, flexing the leather, rubbing in that mixture and reassembling the harnesses. I later learned those harnesses were oiled about every year. By 1955 the horses were gone but those harnesses still hung in the barn the last time I was there about ten years ago. Though stiffened the leather was not cracking. That's a 77 year history. I have no way of knowing whether the Neatsfoot oil of then is the same as now but the beeswax sure is. That same concoction has been mixed and applied to our leather boots over the years. At age 80 I just buy Goretex lined or rubber boots.
Neatsfoot oil is synovial fluid from the hooves of cows. Same today as 1900...
Sitka deer Thanks for that bit of information. I have wondered for years what it is. Amazing what a man can learn on the campfire. There's always someone who knows something that I don't. Fun. Appreciated. Jim
Last edited by Rug3; 08/16/20.
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