Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Best boot grease?

Bear grease and a horse somtimes can be wreck.

Sitka

It surely was not you.This hole tennis shoe/sneakers use as hunting attire has just turned funny.Lot's of people have used tennis shoes/sneakers hunting including myself, but there are those with little or no experience that say it is foolish.

Yes,I wore Tennis Shoes(not sneakers) hunting this year along with Sorrels in the snow..No broken ankles/twisted knee's/cold feet just much more stealth than alot of boots will give you.

And back on topic...Sno Seal has worked for me if I heat the leather good to open the pours and then apply on a nice hot boot and then take it out of the heat and it kinda seals in.Between Mink Oil and Sno Seal,I have never had to look around for another alternative as there always on the shelf in the areas I live and work in.That is just my experience with Sno Seal.





Jayco

Snow seal makes the leather soften and stretch/breakdown IME.

Just so you guys know, Sno Seal is made using 65% bees wax mixed with 35% mineral spirits, which is an old timey bees wax recipe to waterproof leather.

I've used Montana Pitch Blend for quite a long time, prior to that I used Pecard's. I've not had the same issues as you described. The Pecard's would leave a sticky tar residue which I always disliked, but any excess of Pitch Blend would wipe off leaving a dry to the touch finish. The only time I experienced the dry cracking leather was when I made the mistake of leaving leather too close to the stove or fire too often.

Best

The beeswax in the Sno-Seal is not the issue, obviously... The solvents are added to make the beeswax easier to apply, but fail to account for what happens as that 35% (by your numbers) of the product evaporates. Straight beeswax has half again as much wax with none leaving to create "pours" in the process.

As I keep saying, you may not need straight beeswax type waterproofing, but nothing else comes close if you truly do.

I have yet to wear out a pair of beeswaxed boots. Before beeswax I got a year or two from Danner uppers. I have destroyed a pair of boots in one week of sidehilling in shale. I have done the same hunt for repeated weeks in the same area in boots that are still going strong...

How do you apply the beeswax?

I heat the boots with a heat gun (air) and rub the wax on the heated leather until it melts and soaks in. I move on as each area takes up its fill. I repeat any areas that look dry.

The welts get lots of extra wax, also.

They stiffen up and require a little break-in, but a couple hours in warm weather will cure that quickly.

I also do not have good luck using straight wax over Sno-Seal or Mink Oil.

If you decide to melt it on the stove and brush it on to speed the delivery you need to realize how easy it is to light that stuff off.

Bear grease.

Perchard Leather Dressing is used by the Smithsonian. It works great.

Thanks, I have been using Mink Oil because that is what is available here. It really doesn't last when it is wet.

You have the internet. Everything is available there.

http://www.bootgrease.com/ bearguard leather teatment. Works like a charm. Beeswax and bear fat!!!!!!!

Anyone hear of an old time recipe involving Neatsfoot, beeswax and tallow. Cant remember portions. Was a lengthy post on saddle care I think that ended up in boot dressing also.... Would like to know portions if anyone has ever heard of it....

Thanks

Woofer

It stinks so bad I can't imagine using it while hunting.

Obenauf's is the best I've ever used but by the time you plug up all the leather's pores with wax you might as well be wearing a rubber boot {clammy feet}. No thank's, I much prefer a Gore-Tex lined boot. My current Gore-Tex lined Irish Setter's have been through three seasons and I can still stand ankle deep in swamp water all day and be perfectly dry when I go home. My last pair went 6 years before they started to leak and I wore those to work every single day for 5 months out of the year. Someone else is welcome to my share of beeswax or bear grease. I'll never go back to trying to turn leather into rubber.

Sitka, do you use straight honeycomb wax, or do you have a different type that's already melted into bars, cakes, or such?

I've been as pleased with Sno-Seal for almost 30 years as anything. Any of the oil based stuff softens the leather and depending on the type of oil can rot the thread in the stitching. Most of the wax type stuff works no better than Sno-Seal. Sno Seal leaves something to be desired though. I found in the 70's while climbing Mt Rainer, that Sno-seal would last a day or so in hard climbing in snow. We carried extra to put on the boots at night before the next day's climb. That experience has held true for almost 40 years now. I've had Sno-Seal treated boots for over 20 years, eventually even their leather ended up cracking. Yes, I've tried the wax/pine pitch types too. Worked about the same as Sno Seal for my purposes, usually more expensive.

For "dress' type boots/shoes, paste shoe shine wax only, none of that liquid junk. A good brush, soft cloth, lots of elbow grease, and a nice shine! Boots that last 20yrs too.

Sitka, I'd like to try your method, thanks for posting it. Please post the type/source of your wax, or PM me if you'd rather not put it up on the board. ( I may have access to some beeswax combs)

Spoken like someone with absolutely no idea what he is talking about. The lack of "rubber boot" foot is obvious to those that have actually used beeswax...

Valsdad
I have used every kind of wax I have been able to get my hands on... Some straight from drippings off the hive, captured on strings and nuts... And I have used highly refined, and over-priced stuff, too. No differences aside from odor, and that is pleasant, to my nose.

I damn well guarantee I've spent more time in waxed and/or greased leather boots than you ever will in your lifetime ! I don't work indoors and have earned my living for nearly 40 years in a pair of boots. In fact, I don't wear anything else but boots, 16+ hours a day, 365 days a year, rain, shine or snow. Waxed leather is the pits and I know damn good and well what I'm talking about.

right....