Obenhaufs and new leather boots

hat do you recommend? Well, other than not using HDLP on new boots? Part of the reason I posed the question is the LP sounds like it might be overkill.

Inquiring hipsters want to know, literally.

Click to expand...

What the guys above said.

It seems that there has been, in the past few years, this move toward buying "heritage" type work/fashion boots. Which is fine, whatever. I've been wearing these boots for a decade as part of my motorcycling gear, glad to share the enjoyment of killer made in the USA craftsmanship.


But then this WEIRD thing started happening.... people into the craze buy these boots, then slather them with all this stuff that kills the breatheability and makes the boot fit for duty it will NEVER see, yet unfit for daily casual wear. I wear mine through torrential rain on a motorcycle... and I don't even use this obeneuf stuff at all. But the craze is to get the boots, slather them up completely unnecessarily, go around in them kicking things and abusing them and then posting pictures and statements about how much you "beat up" your boots and waxing poetic about "patina" and such.

And then unnecessarily slather them with goop again.


I don't get it.

They even got boots INTENTIONALLY made with a leather that scuffs and fades and scratches real easily so that you can fake a well-worn 7 year look with them in just a few months.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against it. Cover them in chocolate if you like, none of my concern... I just don't get it.
Is it sort of like when you get a new car, you wash it all the time, even when it's not dirty? Then a year later, you almost never wash it, because the thrill of playing with it has worn off?


Anyhow, my last pair served as my daily footwear for 7 years of motorcycle riding before I wore a hole through the left vamp on the shift lever and had to retire them. I hit them with some neatsfoot oil 2x a year or whenever they got a real soaking and then dried out.

I can't imagine getting more service out of a boot, to be honest with you. But again, as long as people are buying american, I think it's great. (or british. Tricker's are fantastic I hear, as well)

If you take care of them from the beginning they will last longer than if you decide to take care of them later. I had no idea oiling up ones boots with non petroleum based products were a "hipster" thing. Petroleum based oil can cause cracking in leather and oils like neatsfoot could cause stitching to rot. Of course this is a worse case scenario, but why use them if there are better alternatives?

I have been wearing RedWings for work for 10 years now and with the ability to resole them the longer the upper last the further your dollar stretches. Wearing a hole in the leather will end a boot's life, but other than that if properly cared for they can last a a loooong time.

Some people wash and wax their car regularly. My wife still waxes her 2004 Corolla once a month, and I still oil up my boots almost as often.

I resoled shoes years ago. In my area, those days are over since there are no show repair shops anymore. Even with no care,my uppers outlast the lowers. N

ColtRevolver said:

I resoled shoes years ago. In my area, those days are over since there are no show repair shops anymore. Even with no care,my uppers outlast the lowers. N

Click to expand...

My store sends mine out to the Redwing Factory for me. Cost a bit more since I am not on the Continent. There are also a bunch of online places that will do it for you as well.

Fortunately, my employer provides my boots as needed. Currently, we get Danners.

Lucky you! I have to buy my own so I need for them to last. Some of my Coworkers buy a new pair of Kmart boots every 6 months, but in the end a high quality shoe isn't that much more.

Kentos said:

If you take care of them from the beginning they will last longer than if you decide to take care of them later. I had no idea oiling up ones boots with non petroleum based products were a "hipster" thing. Petroleum based oil can cause cracking in leather and oils like neatsfoot could cause stitching to rot. Of course this is a worse case scenario, but why use them if there are better alternatives?

I have been wearing RedWings for work for 10 years now and with the ability to resole them the longer the upper last the further your dollar stretches. Wearing a hole in the leather will end a boot's life, but other than that if properly cared for they can last a a loooong time.

Some people wash and wax their car regularly. My wife still waxes her 2004 Corolla once a month, and I still oil up my boots almost as often.

Click to expand...

There's a difference between caring for a work boot, and caring for a casual boot. Nobody's questioning using Obenauf's LP on actual bonafide work boots. Thinks like Iron Rangers, Beckmans, 1000 miles, etc. aren't really work boots. They're really casual fashion boots built on a work boot last. You can USE them as work boots but you can also use an Escalade to haul lumber. It's just not the best for the task. Hence why most people who buy those kind of boots are using them to look good, and aren't using them very hard. Nothing wrong with this, I own a pair for casual use.

For stuff like Red Wing and 1000 Mile, the manufacturers recommend you just oil them. In the usual, everyday use of these boots, LP is totally overkill and detracts from the way the boot looks. The "hipster" part of it comes from someone who's a blogger in Brooklyn slapping LP on his boots that do nothing but walk down the street, because it makes them feel "authentic". Except there's nothing authentic about the practice and they're just using the product without knowing if it's a real advantage or not.

The real problem comes into play when said hipsters start a trend online where it's now "common knowledge" that the first thing you do to these boots is apply LP. This leads to a lot of people potentially "ruining" their $300-400 boots.

true that, true that.

On styleforum.net, it is the standard practice to LP your boots first thing, then treat them monthly.

ridiculous. Grown men playing with toys.

jkh said:

Thanks, gents.

What do you all do for regular maintenance on your leather boots?

Click to expand...

When I get a pair of boots the first thing I do is wear them in the shower. The hot water softens the leather. I will take them off dry them off really good with a towel, apply a lot of saddle soap with a dauber brush and work it into the leather really good. I'll put on some wool socks and my wet boots and go cut the grass. By the time I am done they are mostly dry. I will buff them off with a brush and take the insoles out and let them dry overnight. The next day I will put them back on and wear them around the house. Then that I'll wipe them off with a damp cloth and when the leather dries I'll buff them really well with a diaper cloth. When I have time I will set my oven to the lowest setting about 160 degrees and put my boots in to warm up. After a few minutes I will apply snoseal and let it soak into the boot. I'll keep applying it until it stops absorbing, then I will set the boots aside, when it has hardened I will scrape off the excess snoseal until both are done and put them back into the oven until its all melted in. I'll let them cool and when I have time again I'll apply edge dressing and leather dye and let them dry. Then I'll cake on shoe polish let it dry and buff it off. My boots are then done and ready for wear.

I am being absolutely serious when I say that I can't tell if that is a troll or not. Wearing the boots in the shower? Putting on polish after already saturating the leather with sno seal? It's like a list of every "old trick" that doesn't really work. What are the goals of all those steps?

Been uzing a Francaiz prouct, Zephyr leather contitioning cream w/mink oil. Thiz w/leather honey will provite a fine leather,like you haven't known. Zoft like my GF azz!

I value comfortable footwear very much. I don't skimp but I do look for value. I don't mind paying a bit or a lot more for a boot that will last a good few years. I'm also a big fan of Obenauf's. I use their products on my leather couches and my leather jackets (one is close to 30 years old). Mostly for my work-boots treatment is a recovery operation as they stiffen due to being wet and dried etc. I'm pretty quick about getting dubbin or mink oil on boots I'm wearing in snow and salty slush.

I'm ok with someone putting LP on their boots . . . because they are their boots. Not sure that makes things more authentic. You want authentic you might need to do the actual job that makes the boots look like you want them to look like.

LogisticEarth said:

I am being absolutely serious when I say that I can't tell if that is a troll or not. Wearing the boots in the shower? Putting on polish after already saturating the leather with sno seal? It's like a list of every "old trick" that doesn't really work. What are the goals of all those steps?

Click to expand...

I have done this with every pair of boots I own except those junk desert boots and it most certainly does work. I still have most of my boots and they are in great condition despite having thousands of miles on them several resoles and being a couple decades old. If you take care of your stuff it will last, if not you can sit there and call it every old trick that doesn't really work and wonder why you have to replace your boots every few years.

I'm not saying it damages the boot, just that's its all unnecessary, uses products incorrectly, and potentially does more harm than good. It's great that your boots are lasting you years, but I highly doubt that it has anything to do with that regimen. Plenty of people, myself included have boots last forever just with regular cleaning and oiling/conditioning depending on the leather.

For example, you're applying leather dye AFTER you've already saturated the leather with a waxy protectant. That's like waxing your car before you fill in a scratch with paint. And why dye a brand new pair anyway?

I've had my IR's for 2.5 years now. I treated with mink oil soon after getting them (recommended on the Red Wing website for this boot), but since then have used nothing else other than the Red Wing boot oil that I have the Red Wing Store in my area apply twice a year along with the free replacement laces. The oil makes the leather buttery soft. I wear the boots 2-3 times week week during the Texas summer, and 4-5 times per week the rest of the year, always using cedar shoe trees when I take them off. I've had great success with just the boot oil.

Cheers.

LogisticEarth said:

For example, you're applying leather dye AFTER you've already saturated the leather with a waxy protectant. That's like waxing your car before you fill in a scratch with paint. And why dye a brand new pair anyway?

Click to expand...

It will actually dye the wax and the leather, which after being cleaned the leather will have some light spots and the snoseal will also add some slight discoloration. The leather dye just makes sure everything is the same color.

LogisticEarth said:

I'm not saying it damages the boot, just that it ... potentially does more harm than good.

Click to expand...

Doc4 said:

Click to expand...

A better way of putting it would be that it might not decrease the overall lifespan of the boot, but it wastes material, and could potentially ruin the boot's finish. Case in point:

It will actually dye the wax and the leather, which after being cleaned the leather will have some light spots and the snoseal will also add some slight discoloration. The leather dye just makes sure everything is the same color.

Click to expand...

If the break in process is stripping the dye off the leather, then you either 1.) have cheap boots (nothing wrong with that, just that they're already unlikely to last long), or 2.) are doing something really wrong. Probably scrubbing too hard or over-buffing. Furthermore, applying leather dye to "make sure its' all the same color" after you've soaked the boots in wax is, for lack a better term, sloppy.

I don't want to rag Aqua Velva Man's regimen any more. But boot care really comes down to a few simple steps:

1.) Brush the boot to remove loose dirt and dust.
2.) If still dirty, wash gently with a leather cleaner/soap. Hint: New boots shouldn't be dirty enough to require this.
3a.) If a casual boot, apply appropriate oil/dubbin/conditioner
3b.) If a work boot, apply Obenauf's LP/Sno-Seal/etc. and don't worry about the discoloration.
4.) Done.

When you break in boots, oiling conditioning the leather softens them and allows them to break in more easily. Water does this as well, but is really not good for the leather. Doing it once is probably not terrible. But why do it at all when a more appropriate method exists?

People just want to play with their stuff and keep the consumer high going by buying oils and treatments and polish and stuff.

Usually it does no harm, but it is hard to listen to people tell other people that they should coat their new boots in goop and then bake them in the oven if they want to care for them properly.

I got some Copper IR a few weeks ago on sale... a really good sale I might add. The more I wear them with jeans, the more i kind of wish they were darker. Any suggestions for making mine darker?