Wolverine 721LTD Shell Cordovan 1000 Mile Boot Review - Page 35

Originally Posted by Crane's 


Bridle leather, Chromexcel, Predator and Cordovan are all vegetable tanned leather in whole or in part. Filson boot oil is specifically made for vegetable tanned leathers. There's nothing in it other than the oils and waxes that's used in the tanning process. If I didn't have a steady stream of Filson boot oil and snoseal I would be using Obenauf's products. LP was specifically invented to protect leather footwear in really nasty environments. Sound familiar? Obenauf says they made the oil to protect things like horse tack, saddles, boots and so on that are used in less harsh conditions. That should sound familiar as well. Many people have used Montana pitch blend but I'm not to sure about it. It has pine tar in it and it's my understanding that this component isn't all that good for leather. Same goes for Wolverine boot oil. It has the essential oils and waxes but there's pine tar in it. Other things to avoid is petroleum products and animal fats like real mink oil.
So for general care Filson boot oil or Obenauf's oil.
Gonna expose them to water, mud, muck, cow crap and so on you use Snoseal or LP in addition to boot oil.

Originally Posted by Crane's 

The wax is for retreating oil finished tin, cover and shelter cloth. It's not made to treat leather. You got the right stuff. Now get an old rag and literally soak it with boot oil and wipe the entire boot down with it. Apply it liberally and I do mean liberally as in wet. You'll be surprised how fast it absorbs into the leather. Let them sit for a day and wipe them down with a dry rag and you're done. The boots will be a tad darker and feel oily. That settles down in a week or so as the oil penetrates and you wear them. When they get scuffed all you need to do is rub the spot with your thumb and it should disappear. If not a dab of oil rubbed in will fix it. After a week or so of treating them with oil you can treat them with Snoseal for added protection. Wipe them down with a damp rag, brush them and then follow my Snoseal instructions that are posted in this thread. They'll be more or less bullet proof after that. Retreating is subjective. Over time you'll learn when they are dry or need to be treated with oil and or Snoseal. Now if you go hiking in knee deep water all day with them they need to dry for a couple of days and treated with boot oil inside and out. In general you do want to apply boot oil every once and a while to the smooth leather inside the boot. The reason should be obvious.

Originally Posted by Crane's 

I don't think I've ever posted a pic of any of my boots when they were really filthy. Well here ya go. I went out with a buddy to Mark Twain Lake for a lil rock hunting. We went back to one of our honey hole mud flats to see if anything new popped out of the mud. The day before the lake was hit by storms that dumped about 1.6 inches of rain. We worked it over and another spot for about 5 hours. My buddy found a nice point and the best I could come up with was a broken Madison point and a few hammer stones. Not bad really since we did not wade like we usually do. It was cold out and the water isn't so warm these days.
Anyway, if you keep them maintained muck like this just sits one the surface and doesn't penetrate into the leather causing stains and all kinds of other problems. About all I need to do with them is knock off the clods and wipe them down with a wet sponge and they're ready for another day. BTW these are my world famous original brown 1Ks.....

Muddy Boots and a Point by DYSong Photography, on Flickr