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As is the case with much of the country, we've been hit by a fair amount of snow over the past few days. This means that my Red Wing boots, which I bought new something like 35 years ago (no foolin'), got pushed into service.
Three days ago I swung by the home of a friend of my wife's to help with her tire chains. My feet got wet and cold.
Later that day I was at a variety store and bought a jar of Sno-Seal, this beeswax-based stuff I recalled using of these very boots years and years ago. Following the instructions on the jar, I preheated the oven, turned it off, let it cool quite a bit, put the boots in there for a few minutes and took 'em out and smeared the Sno-Seal on 'em. The Sno-Seal liquified and seeped into the leather. The instructions say to apply as much as the leather will hold, so I made a second application. (After the first application the leather was darker and a bit more supple, but not as much so as I wanted.)
The upshot is that over the past couple of days I've worn these boots through foot-deep snow and have kicked aside the snow on walks so that a power wheelchair could get through. And through it all my feet stayed dry. So, call that a product endorsement. It doesn't last forever, of course, but it does indeed work. And if it's doing any damage to the leather, well, those long-ago applications haven't kept these kicks from lasting well into their fourth decade.
Three days ago I swung by the home of a friend of my wife's to help with her tire chains. My feet got wet and cold.
Later that day I was at a variety store and bought a jar of Sno-Seal, this beeswax-based stuff I recalled using of these very boots years and years ago. Following the instructions on the jar, I preheated the oven, turned it off, let it cool quite a bit, put the boots in there for a few minutes and took 'em out and smeared the Sno-Seal on 'em. The Sno-Seal liquified and seeped into the leather. The instructions say to apply as much as the leather will hold, so I made a second application. (After the first application the leather was darker and a bit more supple, but not as much so as I wanted.)
The upshot is that over the past couple of days I've worn these boots through foot-deep snow and have kicked aside the snow on walks so that a power wheelchair could get through. And through it all my feet stayed dry. So, call that a product endorsement. It doesn't last forever, of course, but it does indeed work. And if it's doing any damage to the leather, well, those long-ago applications haven't kept these kicks from lasting well into their fourth decade.
