Boot Cleaner & Leather Conditioner

W

Wing Shooter

Member
What do you guys use?

I've always gone with generic conditioners after cleaning with warm water without soap. I was recently told that not all leather conditioners are the same.
 
It also depends on the type of leather. I usually go with the boot manufacturer's recommendation. Russel Moccasin says Oenaufs and I have used for countless years and would recommend. Red Wing recommends Mink Oil, (theirs of course) and also good results but if I had to choose one, Obenaufs heavy Duty LP (Grease). Big thing for me is stay away from things with chemicals on leather.
 
Like others have stated it depends on the boot. Kenetrek recommends using their oil as it is different then Obenaufs in the ingredients because Kenetrek uses a different leather. I have no complaints on the Kenetrek oil on their boots, I have 2 pairs one is 7 years old the other is 5 years old and both pairs still look new after years of pounding ground in them.
 
I've used Mink Oil since the first time my dad handed me the can and said, "Go oil your boots." It works well, for my purposes. I'm a big believer in keeping boot leather in good condition, as it's carried my first pair of Danner Pronghorns for 18 years and I'm now on year 6 with my second pair. Dry, fall vegetation, really sucks the moisture out of leather and I'll apply twice a month sometimes, during hunting season.
 
I bought a new pair of Irish Setter wingshooters in Dec of 2020 and started using Obenaufs on them. The leather has held up really well, the stitching not so much. I think it will be the stitching that drives replacement, which is likely to be much sooner than I'd hoped. I chose Obenaufs because of recommendations here and on the Russell Moccasin Company website.

Before that I used snowseal. I have a pair of Bean-style boots for wet days that probably have 10-15 layers of snowseal on the leather uppers, applied heavily over the leather-to-rubber stitching. Since there's some left in the jar and the boots have so much build-up, I'll keep using it on those boots.

It will be Obenaufs on leather boots going forward.
 
This picture is the 7", mine are the 9". I couldn't find the 9" on the website, maybe they've discontinued them.

The stitching on the side started to fail after the first full season and might be a fit issue. While buying running shoes, I've had my feet laser measured. It seems my feet are quite "tall" right about there. Regardless, I took them to the Redwing store where I bought them to see about restitching them. They told me that a restitch would pierce the waterproof membrane, so I said no. They took them in the back and glued the leather back together, which seems to be holding. For now. When my pronghorns gave up the ghost, it was this exact spot where the seam between the leather and the nylon failed.

I'm sure it's just abrasion that is causing the stitching on the toe to give way.

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