Does anyone still use dubbing on their boots?
Or what's your leather boot care regime?
Does anyone still use dubbing on their boots?
Or what's your leather boot care regime?
If it can't be carried it aint needed
clean with saddle soap and apply polish for my hi leg boots. For my walking/hiking boots I use nikwax
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Didn't dubbing tend to rot the stitching on boots?
Nobody wins, unless everybody wins
Dubbin (no g) is ok for boots. I have heard that it can soften the leather too much but I've never had a problem with that, or boots being too soft. The place I bought my walking boots from basically thought of dubbin as a tool of the devil and pushed nikwax - guess which one they sold!
Various sites mention its effect on stitching - they tend to blame leaving too much dubbin on the stitches and it attracting dirt rather than the wax itself as the damaging agent.
I use nikwax. Applied with my finger not the supplied sponge.
I used Parade Gloss on my boots. They are black anyway but parade gloss has a high level of bees wax in it. I've had wet feet in the past when the water has been too deep or the rain so severe that it's traveled down my socks and in to my boots. Never force your boots dry in a hot environment, I put newspaper in mine and leave them to dry at room temp then repolish. G wax is a high wax content that boasts about it's mix of natural oils and is supposed to be good and I used to sell it along with Nikwax products. They both seemed to work but for leather boots like Brasher I used to recommend a good shoe polish. The best polish I have found recently is the stuff sold by the Timpson shops. It seems to have a high wax content and leaves the leather well nourished. I have used olive oil to soften new boots in the past as this seems to work without rotting the leather or making your feet smell later. In America I've seen bear fat applied to boots which smells as bad as you can imagine and really should stay in the bear for more that that reason alone.
So my way of doing things is brush off mud, allow to dry slowly, polish with a good high wax shoe polish.
It would be a interesting project to make your own waterproofing leather wax. I've had a google for ingredients and for a natural product, you start off with beeswax and pine resin.
you could probably also use the sticky sap from douglas fir tree blisters.
Other ingredients to use could be any, or a mixture of the following.
Tupentine, Carnauba wax, Hemp oil, Vegetable oil, Linseed oil-(flax oil) Lanolin.
Tallow.
Mink oil,, this is taken from the pelts used in the mink fur trade.
Neats fot oil, taken from the shin bones of cattle.
Basically you heat equal amounts of beeswax and pine resin until they liquidise then add what ever you think will work. In fact create your own recipe.
If my boots are muddied after a hike, I wash them with a brush and mostly water. I use a little (very little) dish detergent if necessary. Then I let them dry and apply Red Wing Boot Oil to them with my fingers. I just rub it in like I'm putting lotion on my hands, until it feels like it doesn't need any more. I use the same stuff on my leather sheaths. Works great so far.
The boot oil just lists petroleum and beeswax as the ingredients, so I can't be sure of exactly what's in it. Either way, it works well.
I usually give them a wipe then use meindl's sportwax on it - amazing stuff, boots both breathable and completely waterproof.
Hi Reaps72 ... Just a wipe or brush clean and when dry Effax Leder-Balsam !!! A cheap but highly effective leather balm , got mine from local equestrian shop been using it on the hooligan pipes for years ... don'seem to do'em any harm and keeps the bag and bellows soft , flexible and air tight Good on the boots too , don'kno 'bout the waterproofing ... both my Hi-Teks and Brashers have Gortex membranes Ha ha ha !!!
Cheers Whistle
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