Boot Treatment

Boot Treatment

What is a Hunting Blog without a post on boot treatment. I used to be very laxed on boot treatment and then I had a pair of my favorite boots crack and split long before the sole was worn down. At that point I decided to take better care of my boots. 

On top of that as I get older my feet become more sensitive and I have a hard time finding boots that I like. So once I do have boots that I like I want to take care of them. 

I tend to treat my boots twice a year. Once during summer in preparation for deer season and once during the winter. In between I clean them occasionally and treat if needed. 

I will be treating three pairs of boots, a pair of Lowa Boots, and two pairs of Danner Boots. I use different treatments for the boots depending on the mfg and the use for the boots. 

Here are my dirty boots getting ready to be cleaned. 

 First step is to remove the laces. For the boots that I use locally they tend to get a buildup of Foxtails in them. I make sure to brush out any Foxtails and dirt in this area of the tongue. 

 After the laces are removed I give them a good brushing with a stiff boot brush to remove the surface dust. 

 Then I give them a good scrubbing with saddle soap and water. In this case I am using Lexol leather cleaner. I spray it on and then scrub away. After I have scrubbed the boot sufficiently I rinse the boot in clean water and repeat as necessary until the boot is clean. 

It is important to get off all of the dirt, if you apply treatment on top of the dirt you are just forcing the dirt into the leather. 

 Once they are clean I leave them out in the sun to dry. I like to leave them 24 hours to make sure that the boot is fully dry before moving on to the treatment. 

 At this point I turn my attention to the laces. I give them a wash in the sink with hot water and some mild detergent. You would be surprised how dirty they really are. 

 I use different treatments depending on the the maker of the boot and the use. The Lowa Boots on the left are my Scotland boots so I treat them with Obenauf's LP, it is a waxed based treatment that does a really good job of nourishing the boot and protecting them from the wet weather in Scotland. These boots are fairly well treated so I will not treat them at this point. One item of note, Lowa recommends against over treatment as it can soften the adhesive that bonds the rubber rock rand to the boot. 

I have found that the leather in Danner Boots seems to do better with their boot treatment. So I will treat my Danner Hunting Boots with the Danner Boot Treatment. In this case the Brown Boot Treatment. 

The third pair of boots is a pair of Danner Boots that I use almost daily when working in the Vineyard. These boots are often covered in very fine soil from the vineyard and are prone to drying out. The fine soil from the vineyard sucks the moisture out of the boots leaving the leather very dry. I will not use the Danner Boot Treatment because it is a wax/cream base treatment and the film that it leaves on the surface can bond with the fine dirt in the vineyard. So, I will treat these with Obenauf's Leather Oil to nourish the leather. I will allow it to soak in and fully dry before using the boots. This pair of boots is over 18 years old and is still going strong. 

 Here are the two boots with the treatment applied. I will give them 24 hours to let the boot cream and oil to soak in. 

 All three boots cleaned and ready to be put back into service. The Lowa boots will be placed into the boot bag in the back of the picture for storage. I don't use the Lowa Boots regularly so I like to store them in a boot bag to keep them clean and dust free. The dust does not bother me from an appearance standpoint but it does dry out the leather and a boot bag helps protect them a little more.