Boot Care

[Shambling Shaman]

After a trip I allways let my boot fully dry then with a stiff brush clean off any dry mud lightly wipe with a damp cloth.
When dry I apply a minimum of 3 coats of Neatsfoot oil. What other boot treatments do you use, I used to wax my boot but find Neats the best, my boot are water proff and suple. My boots are Scapa SLX

 

[addyb]

I let my boots dry, then I scrape off the mud and rinse them under a hose and scrub them. Waterproofing is usually Beeswax based. My Dad won't let me near neatsfoot oil, minke oil, or dubbin. He's told me horror stories of days gone by when he'd use minke, neatsfoot or dubbin and wake up in the middle of the night under his tarp to the sounds of little forest creatures nibbling at the leather on his boots. Apparently they like the taste don't like beeswax based treatment.

Mind you, I had a buddy of mine once who used ceder deck varnish to waterproof his mountaineering boots. Worked better than anything I'd ever seen, but didn't breathe worth a darn. Then he went and joined the military.....co-incidence?

I don't do anything to my jungle boots other than scrape and rinse. The more I wear them the more of an "old salt" look they get. A patina is important, I think.

Cheers,

Adam