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

Whatever little gunsmith boy. Does it get weely, weely wet and snowy in your little shop ?

I've spent my fair share of time wearing greased Whites for the last ten years and can honestly say Whites boot grease and Obenaufs are the two best. Can't get my head around the emotional pissing contests about boot grease though.

Absolutely agree 100%...

If the waxed leather is so bad how come you wore it for so long?

Doubt seriously you have come close to matching my time in waxed leather boots, but it is your fantasy, so carry on.

I have more time in really bad weather than you can imagine. No idea where you live, work, and or hunt, but doubt it has anything on Kodiak for wet and with a dozen Booner deer from Kodiak (with plenty of people from here that have seen them) there is little chance it was done on one hunt in a small pen...

The man that started this thread wants to know which boot dressing will be best for his new(old) leather boots!! Not nessasarily which is the best water proofer.

I too don't understand why one would be so emtionally attached to their boot dressing

I told you how much I wear boots and I'll not tell you again. I switched over to Gore-Tex for use in the wet and snow about 16-18 years ago now, so maybe even you can figure out how much time I've spent wearing waxed leather. Suffice it to say a few weeks a year for your hunting trips ain't gonna surpass it sweet pea and I don't much care whether a known thief {you} believes it or not.

9point3
Plain beeswax will keep boots useful far longer than any other boot dressing... Nothing else comes close. It also keeps water out of the leather far longer than anything else. Nothing else comes close.

When posters say things patently untrue to bolster their arguments it misleads others to doing things that are not in their best interest.

For example Irish Setter boots are not magic... Use second-tier waterproofing like Obenauf's and by the end of a couple days, maximum, they will be waterlogged and stretched beyond safe use for anything requiring support. Sno-Seal will not last a day... Suggesting Obenauf's is too much and the Irish Setter boots are going to be functional boots after repeated, prolonged, swamp water soaking is bullschit. Notice there is absolutely NO leather dressing listed? Gore-Tex is going to do it all!!!

I am not THAT adamant about beeswax... If you notice I have repeatedly said you might not need beeswax level waterproofing and I have listed lots of drawbacks to wax... I simply resent obvious smoke being blown up ticklish orifi by pretenders.

Some years back I had a guy show up in Kodiak for a chartered deer hunt wearing leather "boots" with dress shoe soles! I had given everyone the rundown on what works and what was absolutely needed. No wax and no grip will not last long on Kodiak. The guy never left the beach and bitched about not seeing deer. Boots are way too important for what we do and keeping them functional is even more important. I guarantee bare Irish Setters would be a total failure on the average Kodiak hunt, Gore-Tex included.
art

Not counting dinks?

You obviously have NO EXPERIENCE with Gore-Tex if you think you can't stand in ankle deep water all day, day after day, without a bit of a leak. The uppers of my current Irish Setters, being primarily constructed of 1000 denier Cordura nylon with some sort of hard rubber heel and toe caps and only a small amount of leather along the sides of the footbed, don't seem to stretch much no matter how long they're exposed to water. Open your mind and learn something for a change you arrogant, stupid thief. Talk about a [bleep]' pretender ! Oh and BTW, I've worked outdoors every day for nearly my entire adult life. Much of that time very near the NY/Quebec border with snow ass deep to a tall indian in winter and temps down to -30F. It might not be your blessed Kodiak but it ain't no [bleep]' picnic to work in either. Gore-Tex, good socks and plenty of Thinsulate are a blessing.

Let's see, first year of college at SUNY Plattsburgh, a parent from the area between Massena and Malone, and an uncountable number of relatives in the area. No, do not know anything about cold or snow or wet in your area. And well over 40 years in Alaska...

The issue about Gore-Tex is not the Gore-tex as much as the leather. Did you read what I wrote? What good are 40 pound boots with leather stretched to size 20? You are the one that mentioned Irish Setters as the great boot...

And you have to go and add comments and insults about another entirely different subject you know nothing about...
art

Gortex quality boots-nikwax treatment every couple days in really wet hunting conditions-I have never found any wax/mink oil that lasts more than two days in the field in nasty conditions. Take two or more pair of boots hunting and swap them out as needed.

They say that silicon,sno seal/ bees wax do not let your leather boots breathe. Synthetic wax products like nikwax are supposed to.

Where does one get a PHD in BOOTDRESSING?

Kodiak, Kodiak, Kodiak,

Been there as well as many others and wet brush is wet brush

Hunted Kodiak, Afognak, the ABCs Cordova, Ketch, the AK Range the 40 mile and there is nothing that makes Kodiak the ultimate boot testbed

What is your proof that beeswax is the be all-end all of boot dressing.

Nothing that makes Kodiak the ultimate testbed? Agreed, there are lots of places that would do nicely... But it IS the Farthest NW Temperate ainforest in North America. And it IS as good as any you listed and better than some. And I have been in all you listed and a lot more.

And I strongly disagree with the contention that "Wet brush is wet brush" as there is a huge difference for boots between wet tundra brush on a peat moss sponge and wet brush on essentially dry ground.

My proof is strictly what I have found and what just about everybody that has tried it says. By your comments I would believe you have not.

Now, the incredibly basic point I am trying to make is hardly in the Boot Dressing 101 category. Plain leather boots not dressed with something reasonable are NOT going to work for standing in swamps all day. Sorry, but experience trumps that notion, cold.

Thanks, I may try some over the winter. I too find the odor pleasant, but then again, I've kept a hive before. I'll look for a source of the cheap stuff.

On the Gore-Tex issue. Yep works really fine until my upward pointing toenails (even when they're trimmed) wear a hole in the lining. Then I hope I'm in a dry spot. If not compromised and if the boot is primarily nylon with leather accents, they will provide some support even when soaked. I tend not to hunt "swamps" so I therefor won't get into which boot is best. I'd probably go for something along the lines of a "Juneau" tennis shoe if I was to go swamp hunting.

My feet sweat a lot, I go barefoot or wear sandals (yes, even while hunting in some areas) until the snow flies mostly, except at work (steel toes required), so I generally go with unlined leather boots that breath. Even in waxed boots my feet breath better than in nylon gore-tex boots, so that's what I tend to wear. Wax 'em good, good wool socks, and generally good to go. No, I don't work outdoors as much as some ( I work on boats/barges 4 months a year, mostly in good weather, rubbers and Helly's if not) and can't imaginge having to wear boots 16 hrs a day. 10-12 hrs while working and my feet need a change of pace. Even while hunting the boots come off as soon as I get into camp. I Don't put shoes/boots on until I actually get to work. I have a wonderful pair of hip length Apache style buckskin moccasins I wear hunting in dry weather (lots of that in AZ and E WA where I primarily hunt), with rawhide soles, and they are "very" sneaky. Those might be my favorite "boots" as the old Apache woman who taught me to make them called them.

You all enjoy your winter weather, whichever boot dressing you choose to use or not use.

I wonder if the OP got his answer?

Thanks again for the beeswax info Sitka,

Ever tried anti-perspirant on your sweaty feet? It makes a huge difference for me in hot weather, especially...

I will second the Sno-Seal....remember buying my very first can from REI in Seattle....been using it for over 40 years now.

I like pure beeswax for leather knife sheaths and leather work gloves. I prefer Obenauf's or Sno-Seal for leather footwear. Pure beeswax gets too inflexible in the cold and does not allow your feet to breathe. If you use a heat gun or hair dryer when you apply Obenauf's or Sno-Seal the waterproofing ability of these products is greatly increased and will last much longer. If you apply two good coats when the leather is new and clean, periodic applications should preserve the leather for a number of years of good service. If I plan to be in swamp or standing water for a long period of time I'll be wearing rubber boots.

Always used sno-seal. Seem to work for me.

Huberd's Shoe Grease. It is a beeswax formula that has been around for years.

I keep bees and I'm a cheap bastage so I've always just melted some beeswax in a double boiler and added a little olive oil to it to keep it from stiffening up a little and used that on warmed boots,knife sheaths,holsters etc. It seems to keep the leather in good shape and lasts pretty good.

I use the same stuff on patches for my muzzle loader too and it'll take the place of chap stick in a pinch.

I am by no means an expert on leather care and I live in Arkansas so my boots don't get beaten by the extremes that some of y'all who live in my dream hunting areas do.