Sno-Seal

[StrawHat]

Spent New Year’s Day waterproofing the bottoms of my boots. I wear western boots daily and prefer leather soles and heels. So twice a year they get waterproofed. It also gives me time to remove and replace the heel taps. This year I used a new container of sno-seal. I like that it soaks into warm leather. A couple of coats on the soles and edges helps keep the water out of the cavity. I work it into the seams.

I rotate between many pair but whatever boots get worn are polished once a week and buffer again before I leave the house. It took the wife a while to get used to it and accept it but now she asks that her shoes get polished weekly also. My boots are easy, all black. Her shoes are practically a rainbow of colors.

She got me a new pair of Boulet boots for Christmas. Before I wore them they got the waterproofing and a good polishing. They were a bit stiff but the feel of new boots is nice. Of course, so is the feel of a pair of well cared for boots.

Kevin

 

[chief38]

Nothing like wearing a well kept pair of shoes/boots!

 

[BearBio]

Back in the 60s, there weren't many hiking boots available and no Gore-Tex or similar membranes (I remember reading test reports in Outside magazine). So, all the boots got Sno Seal annually== goop it on and set the boots on an old towel by a heater vent.

 

[bill2000]

Sno-Seal is great stuff. Used to do a lot of ice fishing, sometimes up to my ankles in slush. Used the stuff two or three tines a year and it kept my boots and feet high and dry.

 

[H Richard]

I've still got a container of Sno-Seal I used to use on my winter boots and hiking boots. With the newer waterproof boots out there now I haven't used it in a few years. I used to wear a lot of western bots, but after multiple back surgeries the Dr advised me against it.

 

[Marshwheeling]

Not just shoes and boots, but wooden knife handles, Brooks leather bicycle seats, and I suppose gun stocks, although I have never used it for that. In his Aerostich accessory catalog, Andy Goldfine details a method for prepping elk skin gloves for wet-weather motorcycling: Sno-Seal on the backs, silicone spray on the palms.

Although I haven’t tried it, I would use Sno-Seal to re-treat a waxed canvas coat or hat. It is mostly beeswax, maybe all beeswax. It will not degrade leather the way some waterproofing greases will. It is good stuff, and I always have a couple of jars around.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I also used that stuff when I had a Satellite Dish..........
to help the snow run/fall off of it in heavy storms.

In my younger days there was nothing like a well shined pair of boots and a shiny BIG belt buckle to go dancing with the young ladies.

New is nice but broke in, go on so much easier !!

 

[old bear]

Kevin and other posters, I'm pleased that so many of you understand that if you take good care of your boots/shoes they will take good care of you for years..

 

[StrawHat]

Thank you all. I figured few would use the stuff, fewer would care and less would remember! Nice to see an interest in the mundane side of life.

Herself bought me a pair of western boots when we we dating, 27 years ago. Tony Llama’s, black, walking heel, pointed toe, just as I like them. Still have that pair and others. That old pair is for marrying, burying and baptizing. They are comfortable but beginning to show their age.

Kevin

 

[dave1918a2]

Reading Sno Seal brought back memories of growing up in the Black Hills. Started using Sno Seal in Sept. and kept it up till May. Hardly ever see it down here. Too much new **** on the market. I still have an old tub of Mink Oil. Works almost as good.

 

[SuperMan]

Great stuff...have been using it forever....

Atsko products are all great. If you have not tried their SportWash it is great. I bought it originally to do my outdoors clothing but now use it for everything...no whiteners, brighteners, perfumes...and non-UV so it makes a great wash for hunting clothing....sleeping bags...

Bob

 

[roo_ster]

Never used sno-seal. Will have to look into it.

OTOH, I love me some leather boots and I do take care of them. Regular polish or cream, let that stuff soak into the seams. High brush shine most of the time, nowadays, but on special occasions I break out a spit shine.

I can't wear my old western boots anymore, as I busted my lower leg and ankle some years back. Ankle joint just not as flexible. I still have them and they get a semi-annual polish. I keep them for my son, when he is fully grown, is likely to have feet my size.

 

[dockmurgw]

I still have an old tub of Mink Oil. Works almost as good.

This is all I ever use. Until this thread I never heard of Sno-Seal.

 

[2152hq]

I can remember using or at least having Sno-Seal around.

I'm not much for gooping up leather stuff and walking around in the water, but it seemed to work OK back then.
Seems like it was/is a common biproduct of the petro industry from one of their many processes.
They found a use for it that didn't kill you or make you sick.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Mink oil and Kiwi.............

the old standards in taking care of shoes.

Ever hear of the word "Spit Shine" ? !

Give me a old "T-shirt" and a match and I will show you a trick..........

 

[Marshwheeling]

I can remember using or at least having Sno-Seal around.

I'm not much for gooping up leather stuff and walking around in the water, but it seemed to work OK back then.
Seems like it was/is a common biproduct of the petro industry from one of their many processes.
They found a use for it that didn't kill you or make you sick.

It’s beeswax.

 

[Big Cholla]

I spent 5 years in Reno, NV attending the University. I fly fished two streams in Calif. that had many places one could ford and never step into more than 6" of water. I used 'Sno-Seal' exclusively on my high top hikers to waterproof them. Worked like a charm and I caught far more than my share of rainbows and browns. That was more than 60 years ago. I have never used anything but 'Sno-Seal' since.

 

[anoblefox]

Been using Sno-Seal for nearly 50 years! I apply with old rag and then use a 1200 watt heat gun to get product to melt into threads that bind lower to upper; then repeat once more. When I moved to the town we now live in, I went to the local western store and asked for this product. The 20 something year old young woman said that she had never heard of Sno-Seal. Too young I guess? Good Stuff!

 

[fishcreekrim]

Been using Sno-Seal for nearly 50 years! I apply with old rag and then use a 1200 watt heat gun to get product to melt into threads that bind lower to upper; then repeat once more. When I moved to the town we now live in, I went to the local western store and asked for this product. The 20 something year old young woman said that she had never heard of Sno-Seal. Too young I guess? Good Stuff!

I recently read on an Internet forum (can’t remember which one) that to properly apply sno-seal, you preheat the leather. You do not apply sno-seal and then heat. The reasoning is that the solvents move toward the heat. If you apply to heated leather the solvents penetrate, if you apply and then heat the solvents come to the surface. This sounds plausible, I started to apply sno-seal in this manner. I have not figured out if it is true are just internet wisdom.

I do know sno-zeal is a great product. I use it to waterproof chaps, pack boot uppers, and leather work boots after oiling.

 

[2152hq]

It’s beeswax.

Now I had to look it up.
With Mr Google's help,,


MSDS 'Sno Seal' says it's:

Distillates (petroleum), hydrotreated light ....25-50%
Xn R65
Flam. Liq. 3, H226
Asp. Tox. 1, H304
>
>
Petroleum distillates, hydrotreated light.
A complex mixture of hydrocarbons obtained by treating a petroleum fraction with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst. ... between 150°C and 290°C, and is a by-product of the petroleum refining process.
>
>
Petroleum distillates.
A group of hydrocarbon-based chemicals that are refined from crude oil. Petroleum distillates include gasoline, naphtha, mineral spirits, kerosene, paraffin wax, and tar.


I see no Bees Wax, a natural substance or at least something bees make and not made from petro oil.
Maybe they put some natural Bees Wax in the Sno-Seal, but it's not shown on the MSDS sheet.

My guess is that sometimes MSDS sheets don't show harmless, proprietaty or inert ingredients from looking at a few of them trying to figure out what is in some of the stuff I use.

But it looks like a biproduct of the oil refining process to me.
Probably something that at one point in time got thrown away in quantity.

Doesn't make it a bad thing. Vaseline, Mineral oil (Baby oil) are all petro biproducts