Too much boot wax?!

[malley]

Anyone tried removing excessive wax build up from their boots? I have a fantastic pair over Meindl Engadin boots that I may have 'over-waxed' when new. Not really a problem - just quite a bit of build up in the creased areas. Purely an aesthetic issue, but I wonder if anyone can reccommend a method of removing wax treatment - other than my finger nail!

Also, I bought these in a 9 and 1/2 size to allow for socks,etc. Great with loads of thick wool in the winter but after a size 9 pair for the summer if anyone knows of any?

Off to Skye in June and want everything sorted!

Cheers, all.

[Chris the Cat]

Hair dryer mate,and a cloth for the excess!
Chris.

[w00dsmoke]

Just walk a wet walk...on rough stuff and it'll come off.

[malley]

Tried the walking - works for the majority of the boot, just not the nooks, crannies and creases where the main build up lies. Now, a hairdryer! There's an idea!

Thanks to you both.

[QDanT]

I 'm taking it that this is a joke thread ? or are you really serious ?
Danny
I always have a tin of dubbing and an old toothbrush in my pocket
and quite often larap a bit more on during a walk especially if it's wet
never heard of over waxed before

[The Joker]

Hair dryer mate,and a cloth for the excess!
Chris.

As above

[malley]

Cheers for replies.

An ex-marine mate has also cited the hairdryer method as working. Ta.

Size 9 Engadins or Supercamp going cheap anywhere? Loving the leather lining. Won't go back to GTX.

[nige7whit]

Cheers for replies.

An ex-marine mate has also cited the hairdryer method as working. Ta.

Size 9 Engadins or Supercamp going cheap anywhere? Loving the leather lining. Won't go back to GTX.

Lundhags..... recent walk in the Lake District, a bit boggy from the snow melt, just stomp through it all regardless, even walking across streams to almost full depth of boot tops !

[rik_uk3]

I 'm taking it that this is a joke thread ? or are you really serious ?
Danny
I always have a tin of dubbing and an old toothbrush in my pocket
and quite often larap a bit more on during a walk especially if it's wet
never heard of over waxed before

I think he's serious Dan

[QDanT]

I think he's serious Dan

They must be Pink Meindl Engadin boots
come on too much wax ! it's wet it's boggy there's becks.
This is a Bushcraft site. Not fashion monthly
How can you have too much wax ? they are outdoor boots
or does the wax obscure the labels ?
each to their own
cheers Danny

[DavidJT]

I once had a pair of real good quality, quite expensive leather brogues. I bought them thinking that they would last for donkey's years, but after just a year or so the leather cracked quite badly where it was flexing.
I'd been polishing them a couple of times a week thinking that I was really looking after them, but I was told by an old shoe maker that I'd used too much polish on them and "poisoned" the leather. Didn't know it was possible.

[John Fenna]

Too much wax just stops the leather "breathing", and also works itself away from fold/crease areas and so does not add to the overall waterproof performance of the boots but does add weight (more than the difference in weight between a steel spork and a Ti one ).
The place that you want the wax is IN the leather and a thin skin on top, not cloggy great lumps .....
I used to scrape the excess out of my boots with a rounded Tea spoon handle....the scrapings make pretty good firelighting aids....

[John Fenna]

I once had a pair of real good quality, quite expensive leather brogues. I bought them thinking that they would last for donkey's years, but after just a year or so the leather cracked quite badly where it was flexing.
I'd been polishing them a couple of times a week thinking that I was really looking after them, but I was told by an old shoe maker that I'd used too much polish on them and "poisoned" the leather. Didn't know it was possible.

Ah - that could be the solvents in the boot polish - probably not the waxes themselves...

[malley]

Too much wax just stops the leather "breathing", and also works itself away from fold/crease areas and so does not add to the overall waterproof performance of the boots but does add weight (more than the difference in weight between a steel spork and a Ti one ).
The place that you want the wax is IN the leather and a thin skin on top, not cloggy great lumps .....
I used to scrape the excess out of my boots with a rounded Tea spoon handle....the scrapings make pretty good firelighting aids....

Cheers John,

That is exactly what is happening. These are my first pair of expensive boots and I got a bit over keen to treat them with wax before wearing them - as per Meindl's instructions. I used Leidergris and put far too many layers on ( 5 or 6 I think?). Recent walks in a variety of terrain, from snow covered Lakeland Fells to boggy Northumberland moorland, have found the wax 'creasing' away from the leather where the boot flexes. As they are leather ( non-goretex) lined I realise the importance of maintaining them as best I can. I must confess this thread was also prompted by this month' Trail magazine, where a so-called 'boot expert' stated that too much wax on leather boots could be detrimental to their performance?

Clearly, several people have had cause to remove excess treatment or proofing from their footwear before and I thank them for their responses.

Strange to find the other views on here. As a member of the emergency services, I am well aware of the difference between 'aesthetically perfect' and 'well maintained' kit and equipment all too well, thank you. It would appear that, for some, a problem 'they have never had' is either foolish, ignorant or related to the colour pink?!?!?! Come on lads! In my experience this is an inclusive, accepting and family friendly forum. Long may it remain so. Surely the 'Clothing and Footwear' title to the thread was a clue? Isn't this where people ask such questions?!?! After a couple of years on here and a fantastic trip to the Bushmoot with my 8 year old daughter last year, I have found it to be an inspiring, generous and expert arena to seek advice. It has been ( and will remain) my FIRST port of call for a long time.

Or, is that just my view?

Cheers,
Steve.

[wingstoo]

I used to strip the wax polish off my boots and shoes with the bristle brush that came with my dremel style tool, soon sorted it out

Wings

[rik_uk3]

When your out in the bush and have no socket for a hair dryer you could use one of these to melt the excess wax

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...den-hand-tools

[ananix]

New boots are NOT to be treated, they are factory treated. If not next rule applies anyway.
Boots are to be waxed WHEN they need it and WHERE they need it. Spot waxed with finger.
Leather CAN get to much wax, it will rotten! If not allowed to breath, never wax before storage.
Wax DOES have an effect on water proffness, it seals sewing wholes and makes leather repel water.
There is a BIG difference in wax and polish! and so with the materials its used for! Wax is for rovers, polish for (tin) soldiers.

"Wax new boots, wax every time you use them, wax many layers". I hear it all the time from SALESMEN to tenderfoots but listen to it, it can only be a wax manufactor that made that up. OR because the manufactor or distribuater gets many boots back because the tenderfoot goes for looks and as a consumer dont exspect a long lifetime, there for the manufacotor or distribuater is more interrested in preserving the boots original look and feel than lifetime atleast i often hear the tenderfoot more conserned about preserving looks than life and functionality.
Normaly i would also say wear it off.

Normaly i would say "your not out enough" but it deffently sounds like your boots have gotten so much "love" in its "cracks" that you cant wear it off before it will start to rotten but water and a soft toothbrush to clean your "cracks" should bring it to an acceptble level unless there is more than just "wax" in your wax.
Did the expert say in what way it would be detrimental to their performance??

[malley]

Er, I'm at home not in the bush as I write this! I KNOW excess will wear off gradually through normal use. I am out in them every week.

I MADE AN ERROR! FORGIVE ME!

. I applied too much wax initially, causing it to peel away in certain areas. The wax is cracking in such a way as to leave un-waxed, untreated cracks where the boot flexes. This will possibly lead to them letting water in at these points. I have sorted it now. As a preventitive maintenance measure.

Ananix - I think you are right. Would have been better to leave them alone and not take the shop/manufacturer's advice. Just wanted to do the right thing as they're my first experience of leather lined boots. Much prefer them to GTX, now. Just my opinion!!!!

. . . . and, relax . . .!

[johnboy]

I wonder how long it takes for the leather on an 'over waxed' pair of boots to rot or become damaged?

I also wonder if that time period is longer then they could reasonably be expected to last under normal 'outdoor' use?

[ananix]

Er, I'm at home not in the bush as I write this! I KNOW excess will wear off gradually through normal use. I am out in them every week.

I MADE AN ERROR! FORGIVE ME!

. I applied too much wax initially, causing it to peel away in certain areas. The wax is cracking in such a way as to leave un-waxed, untreated cracks where the boot flexes. This will possibly lead to them letting water in at these points. I have sorted it now. As a preventitive maintenance measure.

Ananix - I think you are right. Would have been better to leave them alone and not take the shop/manufacturer's advice. Just wanted to do the right thing as they're my first experience of leather lined boots. Much prefer them to GTX, now. Just my opinion!!!!

. . . . and, relax . . .!

Sorry my post was aimed just as much to others soon to face or faces same problem as to you there for the nazi walk through, i just tried not to make it a daily issue about leatherboots for tenderfoots as it often becomes

I beleave the part in regards to your issue was much more understanding and friendly, considering your person and your problem oposit the general walk through. Ill cut down on the ! and capital letters in general so i seems as relaxed as i really am

Im happy you solved your problem but may i ask for my own understanding and knowledge, pealing wax that leaves dry spots and cracks, sounds an awfull lot like polish not wax. Can you explain further? is the wax coloured and smells other than dull??
Leather lined you say, maybe i missunderstood the issue is it on the inside or the outside you have the problem?? do you have two diffrent materials on the inside and outside?? I talked about (and only use) treating the outsides of no lining leather boots, same piece of leather on the outside as the inside.
And again did the expert say in what way it would be detrimental to their performance to over wax??

[ananix]

I wonder how long it takes for the leather on an 'over waxed' pair of boots to rot or become damaged?

I also wonder if that time period is longer then they could reasonably be expected to last under normal 'outdoor' use?

Your questions are to simple to pay any justice to the equation moist/wax/time/wear but to answer your first question just as simple.

FAST!!

And your second
Most defently I have seen a pair like my boots have servere rot damages in the exact spots, mention in this threats subject, after a year and if they are left untreated or if the person keeps on treating them as usal, it will specialy comprimise the areas around the sewings/asampling as thats the most challenging area to maintain, and in general comprimise the leather as it weakens and thins it.

Havent thrown out a lether boot for more than 10years.

[malley]

Sorry my post was aimed just as much to others soon to face or faces same problem as to you there for the nazi walk through, i just tried not to make it a daily issue about leatherboots for tenderfoots as it often becomes

I beleave the part in regards to your issue was much more understanding and friendly, considering your person and your problem oposit the general walk through. Ill cut down on the ! and capital letters in general so i seems as relaxed as i really am

Im happy you solved your problem but may i ask for my own understanding and knowledge, pealing wax that leaves dry spots and cracks, sounds an awfull lot like polish not wax. Can you explain further? is the wax coloured and smells other than dull??
Leather lined you say, maybe i missunderstood the issue is it on the inside or the outside you have the problem?? do you have two diffrent materials on the inside and outside?? I talked about (and only use) treating the outsides of no lining leather boots, same piece of leather on the outside as the inside.
And again did the expert say in what way it would be detrimental to their performance to over wax??

Ananix

I am grateful for your post. Your advice was relevant and helpful. Apologies if my response appeared to direct any frustrations to you. It certainly wasn't intended to. I do agree with your comments on salesmen and wax - I will bear this in mind in future. Good advice.

My boots are not rotten, just want to keep them in good condition for years to come. I have got rid of the excess, which has allowed me to ensure a clean, evenly treated pair of boots. Thats all. I have sorted the problem by applying the friendly constructive advice offered by members on here. Thank you all.

[johnboy]

Your questions are to simple to pay any justice to the equation moist/wax/time/wear but to answer your first question just as simple.

FAST!!

And your second
Most defently I have seen a pair like my boots have servere rot damages in the exact spots, mention in this threats subject, after a year and if they are left untreated or if the person keeps on treating them as usal, it will specialy comprimise the areas around the sewings/asampling as thats the most challenging area to maintain, and in general comprimise the leather as it weakens and thins it.

Havent thrown out a lether boot for more than 10years.

'FAST!!' eh....

One of my first pair of 'hiking' boots were a nice pair of Zamberlan Treklites. Reading Zamberlans blurb I was only supposed to treat them with Zmaberlans own product Hydrobloc cream IIRC which I dutifully did and again following the advice only use it sparingly... Which I did and after a good few weekends walking on Dartmoor of course the initial proofing on the leather of the boots wore off and I followed the sparing application approach. This resulted in Damp feet. Eventually after a series of wet foot weekends. I cracked out the Nikwax gave em a good coat which I topped up and never looked back damp feet being a thing of the past as long as the boot wasn't swamped (not easy to achieve on Dartmoor in Winter). I would have worn those boots out ( sole was poked) in about 2 years of use I suppose but then I did use them for everything.. The uppers were still in ok'ish nick.. I think the drill than as now for me was to give em a good scrub on return from a trip to clean all the mud off of them. Then let dry naturally with a bit of news paper in them to suck out the water. Then place em in the drying room to warm up for a day ( or out in the sun) then sort out the proofing.. Bog stock Nikwax, generally on the seams and stitching a coat on the overall boot and particular attention on the tounge gusset and the crease behind the toe box..

After this I converted to Yeti's and Scarpa boots.. Alp Attak and a pair of Fitzroys...

I must admit I didn't think it was possible to over wax boots if you were using them. I always thought the rate at which the proofing wore off as you used them sort of counter balanced the rate at which the proofing could degenrate the leather....

Still you live and ya learn....

[ananix]

'FAST!!' eh....

One of my first pair of 'hiking' boots were a nice pair of Zamberlan Treklites. Reading Zamberlans blurb I was only supposed to treat them with Zmaberlans own product Hydrobloc cream IIRC which I dutifully did and again following the advice only use it sparingly... Which I did and after a good few weekends walking on Dartmoor of course the initial proofing on the leather of the boots wore off and I followed the sparing application approach. This resulted in Damp feet. Eventually after a series of wet foot weekends. I cracked out the Nikwax gave em a good coat which I topped up and never looked back damp feet being a thing of the past as long as the boot wasn't swamped (not easy to achieve on Dartmoor in Winter). I would have worn those boots out ( sole was poked) in about 2 years of use I suppose but then I did use them for everything.. The uppers were still in ok'ish nick.. I think the drill than as now for me was to give em a good scrub on return from a trip to clean all the mud off of them. Then let dry naturally with a bit of news paper in them to suck out the water. Then place em in the drying room to warm up for a day ( or out in the sun) then sort out the proofing.. Bog stock Nikwax, generally on the seams and stitching a coat on the overall boot and particular attention on the tounge gusset and the crease behind the toe box..

After this I converted to Yeti's and Scarpa boots.. Alp Attak and a pair of Fitzroys...

I must admit I didn't think it was possible to over wax boots if you were using them. I always thought the rate at which the proofing wore off as you used them sort of counter balanced the rate at which the proofing could degenrate the leather....

Still you live and ya learn....

´
I hope i do and think you are pretty much right and i do it pretty much the same way with pretty much same expierences my soles just gets repaired and the boots sometimes storaiged but people who over wax often or get rot damages dont do and use them like that and even a scout might feel like giving them a good wash and wax down before storaige.
I also seem to understand from your posting that you asume a very wet enviroment, sometimes a minimum of wax is required for functionality and maintenance.

Besides that in this specific case considering the persons describtion wich i dont find to mach yours and considering he's own feeling i think something should be done.

[johnboy]

´
I also seem to understand from your posting that you asume a very wet enviroment, sometimes a minimum of wax is required for functionality and maintenance.

Yep I did assume that waxing the boot meant it was going to be used in a wet environment. Nikwax / Dubbin / Snowseal AFAIK are proofing agents to improve the water repellancy of boots.. I guess if you're waterproofing boots you expect em to get wet..

Any how I ditched the idea of slapping on Nikwax these days and just run with a light non waterproof boot that dries quickly.. teamed up with some decent wool socks this combo seems to work very well if the boot is getting immersed a lot in river crossings etc. If I was back in the UK and on upland moorland areas such as Dartmoor or North Wales / Lakes etc I'd probably run with a non goretex lined leather boot and nikwax it to keep it water resistant and use it with a pair of Yeti's...

What works well in Denmark??

[ananix]

Yep I did assume that waxing the boot meant it was going to be used in a wet environment. Nikwax / Dubbin / Snowseal AFAIK are proofing agents to improve the water repellancy of boots.. I guess if you're waterproofing boots you expect em to get wet.

its not about waterproffness but about maintaining leather and its proberties, yes you can add more to do so and if you then use them as wet boots it will wear off just as you described and just as i described, but if you dont you risk your leather starts to rot. Not sure where you wanna go with that and again the problem described in subject is real.

Any how I ditched the idea of slapping on Nikwax these days and just run with a light non waterproof boot that dries quickly.. teamed up with some decent wool socks this combo seems to work very well if the boot is getting immersed a lot in river crossings etc. If I was back in the UK and on upland moorland areas such as Dartmoor or North Wales / Lakes etc I'd probably run with a non goretex lined leather boot and nikwax it to keep it water resistant and use it with a pair of Yeti's...

What works well in Denmark??

Dont think you can say so but what works best for me is to give them wax when the leather needs it, i rarely waterproff my boots, i dont have lining and change and dries socks at rests. So again pretty much the same.

[walker]

ive had a pair of lowas for 8 years now leather lined and have used dubbing on them since new they have covered hundreds of miles both here and over seas hot and cold wet and dry never had any trouble from them leather is still in great condition but will need resoling soon i reackon so i wouldnt worry about it to much

[Ratbag]

I used to work in an outdoor shop and I've seen loads of boots "killed with kindness" - overtreated with leather proofing products until the leather is so soft it simply splits apart.

My suggestion would be to use Aqueous Nikwax - it is almost impossible to overtreat the leather using this stuff because it simply runs off any leather which is already adequately treated.

The other advice is to put normal boot polish on most of the time, to keep the leather in good nick, and then proof them only every so often. As leather is a natural material it is difficult to be proscriptive about how often re-proofing is necessary.

If you have Goretex-lined (or similar) boots then the leather doesn't need to be waterproof at all, just nourished to keep it in good nick, because you're not relying on the leather itself to keep the water out

HTH

Rat

[malley]

I used to work in an outdoor shop and I've seen loads of boots "killed with kindness" - overtreated with leather proofing products until the leather is so soft it simply splits apart.

My suggestion would be to use Aqueous Nikwax - it is almost impossible to overtreat the leather using this stuff because it simply runs off any leather which is already adequately treated.

The other advice is to put normal boot polish on most of the time, to keep the leather in good nick, and then proof them only every so often. As leather is a natural material it is difficult to be proscriptive about how often re-proofing is necessary.

If you have Goretex-lined (or similar) boots then the leather doesn't need to be waterproof at all, just nourished to keep it in good nick, because you're not relying on the leather itself to keep the water out

HTH

Rat

Cheers, Rat. Feeling much better about the question now! Thought I'd lost my mind for a while there. Yes, I'm afraid I took Meindl and the shop's advice - who both said treat withe AT LEAST 2 or 3 layers of meindl wax or similar. I used Leidergris, as reccommended by Altberg. Might go for the aqueous nikwax after this!

Many thanks for the guidance.

[treefrog]

I got a free tin of 'Leder Gris' wax with a pair of Altbergs, and use it on all my leather boots when they need it. Found it to be better than nikwax/Gwax and others. Can't recommend it enough.

http://www.altberg.co.uk/Web/bccare.jsp.