The Gun Counter

Last night I was giving my boots rubdown with Nor-V-Gen oil paste and had a "you might be a redneck" moment. ie."You might be a redneck if you have a favorite brand of boot grease."

When I was a boy, my father taught me to rub neatsfoot oil into his hunting boots. Nor-V-Gen is another traditional product made here in Minnesota and used by many farmers and hunters for generations. I have also used Sno-Seal on some of my boots over the years.

I'm just wondering if there has been any change in the way people take care of boots in the decades since my habits were formed. What do other people around here use? I generaly figure the neatsfoot oil protects without reducing the breathability too much, while Sno-Seal waterproofs completely, eliminating any breathability. Nor-V-Gen is somewhere between the other two.

As a sidelight, I notice that my almost empty green Nor-V-Gen can has become a collectors item, with empty cans listed on E-Bay for between three and five dollars.

As a boy Dad had me rub Bag Balm on my boots. Some times I used Vaselene. I don't know if this was beneficial to the leather or not, the Bag Balm gave them a nice camphor smell. These days it is mostly mink oil.

I usually use sno-seal for my boots -- I really like Lowe boots, and they have a wax finish. Otherwise, boot cream, and, if it's my "pointy-toe boots" a spit polish on top w. a hard paste wax.

Mink oil and Sno-seal (melted on woodstove of course).

I personally like Pecard's Leather Dressing, liquid for non-shiny leather and paste for shiny.

I like Sno-Seal, or straight mink oil for most of my boots, because wet feet, especially COLD wet feet, really ruin my day.

MarkD wrote:I personally like Pecard's Leather Dressing, liquid for non-shiny leather and paste for shiny.

+1 on the ducky stuff. It's the business. Now, if I could only stop Mrs Denis pinching it to do her boots too...

I use mink oil every once in awhile. I have stepped in some 4-6 inch deep puddles in them and my feet have remained dry. Sometimes I find myself deliberately trying to step in huge puddles just to see if they will leak.

Hah! LOL.

Of COURSE you have to test them. We always did that very thing growing up in Western WA.

In case your wife/kids question you sanity; you're not jumping in puddles you're engaged in proof testing in the interest of the scientific method.

Results of that type <ahem> scientific inquiry is what led me and my buddy to our hybrid Sno-seal, Mink Oil method. Mink oil has the advantage of being fast to apply. It works well on the broad surfaces. However the oil doesn't seal the welts and seams as reliably as the waxy sealer. Also, the Mink oil only holds up so long before being depleted. In and of itself mink oil wouldn't make it a full day working in the woods or hunting through Salal, Oregon Grape etc.

When it got real wet and cold we'd sometimes go to straight Sno-Seal but would take extra precaution to maximize uptake into the leather by melting the sno-seal and warming the boots over the shop stove. When I worked in the winter woods I didn't have time to get boots dried each night (couldn't afford a boot drying tree -- had to rely on newspaper stuffing and fireplace).

Resealing in the morning was a hurried business at 5AM. Mink oil was the go-to sealer in that case. Just had to resign myself to feet being soaked before lunch. If I'd had the money I would have had a boot drying tree and a 2nd pair of boots to alternate/seal fully each night.

I remember one old timer telling me he kept a bucket of pea gravel near the fire place. He'd get it warm then pour it into the boots to dry them out.