It's That Time Of Year, Let's Go Over How To Maintain Your Leather Boots And Shoes To Last Until Your

It's that time of year, let's go over how to maintain your leather boots and shoes to last until your feet fall off.

Your leather footwear does not have an infinite shelf life. It requires conditioning in addition to stuff like heel and sole replacement. I'm gonna go over the easiest way to take care of them and ensure you get your money's worth out of those spency boots you bought.

Remember: Take care of your shoes, and they'll take care of you!

Tools you will need

Shoe brush (easy to find at any shoe repair place or online)

Applicator sponge (i prefer the things they use to apply car wax, look for "wax sponge"):

Lint-free cotton rag (polish rags are perfect of course, buy a few extra, having dry clean ones handy is important):

Conditioners to use

Depending on whether you get your boots wet or not, you should choose the appropriate conditioner. Whenever you apply conditioner to your boots they will darken until they dry. However, over repeated conditioning they will take on a darker tone.

This actually looks really nice, and adds character to the footwear that you only get from years of breaking in, but just be aware that this will happen. If you have particularly light leather you don't want this to happen to then you're just going to have to condition sparingly and polish more.

Mink oil (this waterproofs and conditions, use this for leather footwear you plan on getting wet. I actually use this even for stuff I don't plan on getting wet because I like what it does to leather over time):

Leather honey (this does not waterproof, and it is the only non-waterproofing conditioner I recommend so stick with this brand. You can also use it for any other leather item you own):

DO NOT use seals or sprays on leather

Waterproof sprays/seals can work for suede but never ever use it on leather. You will ruin your footwear over time. Leather needs to breathe and dry out when it absorbs sweat and moisture. Creating a waterproof seal is not what you want.

How to condition your footwear:

This is pretty straightforward and easy! Only condition dry, clean footwear. Let wet stuff dry AWAY from heat sources.

Use the shoe brush to brush off any dirt/dust so you're starting with a clean surface. Try to clean out any lint or grime that gets caught in crevices like where the tongue starts

Dab a bit of conditioner on the applicator sponge, like a dime-sized amount.

Put bits of the conditioner on the sponge in a few spots around the shoe by dabbing it on the toe, sides, back, etc. Doing this first will make it a more even application

Use the sponge to work in the conditioner to the shoe in circular motions. If you need more, add more to the sponge a tiny smidge at a time. Don't go overboard.

Once you have it mostly done, use your finger (wear gloves if you want) to work conditioner into the crevices the sponge can't reach. The areas around the tongue and the eyelets (for the laces) experience a lot of wear and stress and you do not want to dry those out!

Wipe any excess clumps off with a clean polish rag. Let dry for at least 6 hours

That's it! Same process if you waterproofed them or not. Simple as. And you just gave your trusty leather footwear a spa treatment they'll love you for.

How often do I do this?

The answer, unfortunately, is "as often as needed". Excessive conditioning is bad. So you need to condition based on frequency of wear and the weather. The more you wear your footwear in shitty conditions, the more often they'll need to be conditioned.

I usually condition everything at least once a year before winter kicks in. Then, it's a matter of just checking the footwear occasionally. Is it starting to feel a little rough and dried out? Then it's time to condition. Does it feel like soft, supple leather? Then it's fine.

Danger Zone

These are sins against leather shoes and boots that cannot be forgiven

NEVER DRY YOUR LEATHER WITH HEAT

Sticking your wet boots by the radiator or vent seems like a logical idea to dry them out faster, but prolonged exposure to heat like this ruins leather. Use a towel to dry any excess moisture, then ley them air dry at room temp.

NEVER LET YOUR LEATHER STAY SALTY

In some places they use rock salt/other salts to melt ice during the winter. So many times I've seen someone's salt-encrusted winter footwear and I've felt the pain those poor soles (ha) are feeling. Salt dries out leather! It's a drying agent!

If you get salty slush water on your boots or shoes, as soon as you get home mix up 1 part distilled white vinegar with 5 parts water. Use a paper towel to apply this solution to the affected parts. Then wipe down again with a damp towel with just water, and let dry. This neutralizes the salt and gets it off. Too high a concentration of vinegar is bad, though.

NEVER WEAR YOUR HEELS AND SOLES OUT

Check the bottoms of your footwear regularly. Are the treads faded? Does the heel look like a doorstop? Take em in to be repaired. And by repaired I mean soles and heels replaced. If you have a shoe place that just glues a new plastic sole over the existing sole, you no longer have a shoe place. Find a good cobbler, it's gonna take research. If you're in New York, I know a guy. Never going to anyone else until he croaks. I love you Cesar.

Shoot me an ask or reply if you have any questions!

next time im bored i need to just browse itch.io THERE IS SO MUCH FUN LOOKING STUFF THERE ??? NOT EVEN INCLUDING ALL THE GAMES AND COMICS AND LIKE ART SUPPLIES AND SHIT OH MY GODDD

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Lorenzo!

I might've added the BG3 Art Book to my dnd assets stash

It' 100% does not have things like the 5e players' handbook + 5e’s character sheet, several gm guides, critical role's explorer's guide to wildmount, baldur's gate and waterdeep city encounters, 101 potions and their effects, volo's guide to monsters, both of xanathar's guides, a bunch of other encounters, one shots, and class builds

In no way are there any pdf’s relating to any wizard who may or may not be residing on any coast

(Edit that I’ve moved the folder to the new link above! So if you catch a different version of this post that link won’t work anymore!)

hi bear, remember when you made post about horses hooves being a toe? im drawing a centaur rn and remembering that helped me

so i had struggles with how certain horse leg position would look like and so i brought my finder up and looked at it, and turned out to be kinds similar you just need to add shoulder joint in end

hold on ill doodle examples

anyway thank you for horse toe

Oh heck that cursed thing actually seems pretty useful

400 year old abandoned maze in Spain.