Waterproofing Leather Comparison (Bee's Wax, Sno Seal, Neat's-foot and more!) 

I love how a simple apron can change the atmosphere. It's just a piece of cloth with some straps, and sometimes with pockets sewed on. Immediately it tells the viewer that someone is on duty and working. When it's on, it's straight to business. And of course, the rolled up sleeves just makes it better. The only thing that's missing is tying the hair back in a ponytail, then the look would be complete.

Hey, as a brewer, I'd suggest you look for a local beekeeper, possibly asking a homebrew club in your area if they have anyone who provides them honey, that keeper may have more wax around then they can sell.

I have tried many water proofing products over many decades, including Hubbard's grease, mink oil, and silicone based. Based on decades of use, I recommend Sno-seal. Sno-seal is best.

The wildfowlers who hunted across the saltmarshes in the north-west of England and southern Scotland traditionally used goose fat to waterproof their leather wading boots. I've used it to treat my leather hat, and it works well. The effect of waterproofing treatments can vary according to the tanning method.

I use Obenauf's HD Leather Preservative. It has a beeswax and propolis (tree resin) base, with a variety of oils that release with heat deep into the inner leather fibers to keep them soft and flexible. Made for wildland firefighters. Smells pleasant. Lots of oldschool ingredients, all rolled together in one package. Good for wood and steel weaps too.

You need to make a batch of dubbin. Dubbin was used to "waterproof" boots for hundreds of years. It is a mixture of beef tallow, beeswax, and some kind of natural oil (think cod liver oil). It is combined in weight ratio of 10 parts tallow, 5 parts beeswax, and 1 part oil. Like any "waterproofing" reapplication is nessissary. It will definatly darken the leather but it works as well as anything on the market today and it's all natural and historically accurate.

SnoSeal is my go to weatherproofing. My sketcher leather moccasin toe boots survived a whole winter vacation in Bavaria because of SnoSeal. Feet stayed dry despite trudging through snow and slush.

I’ve been watching your videos pretty much all morning. I’m loving the channel man! Your video about Rings Of Power, Tolkien, why these corporations attack fans, and the way we should respond was great. It’s all incredibly inspiring.

I'm taking this as a sign to stop putting off leather care... Glad to see the return to outdoorsy experiments! Thank you!

You’ll laugh to know that you released this the day after I received and waterproofed my turnshoes. I used Sno-seal, and while I have yet to try the shoes out, I’m glad it seems like the right choice! Also thoughts on bacon grease: I used to live in an area with a high rat population, and I know for a fact they would have chewed through leather if it had bacon grease on it. Something to keep in mind if you have a similar rodent problem 😅

I bought beeswax at the local farmers' market from a honey seller ... the wax was not displayed, but I asked and he had some behind the counter. It was not expensive, less than $2.00 for a couple ounces. [I use it in making lip balm, a couple grams at a time.] I have a jar of SnowSeal I bought, oh, 30 years ago? It's still perfectly good.

I've used Snow Seal with good results on modern hiking boots. It needs to be reapplied from time to time and heating it with a hair dryer after application seems to help it get into all the nooks and crannies if the leather, especially the seams.

My gold standard waterproofer is coconut oil; it's cheap, effective and you can get it at almost any grocery store. Apply the oil by hand, heat with a hair dryer and wipe off any excess to avoid a greasy surface texture; also if you go out in freezing temperatures you may have to wipe down the treated areas again as the extreme cold will cause the coconut to turn the surface white.

Love the vibe of this video! I will definitely be using some of these techniques 😁

Its good to see you back and with more quality and educational material to boot.

As someone who enjoys historical information as well as experimentation, thank you. This was very enjoyable.

Wow perfect timing. Ever since Skill tree made the leather water bottle. (Please forgive me for not knowing the name, I just woke up.) I have been thinking about making leather shoes since it is the main issue going to the Ren Faire. Everything matches, everything matches, everything matches all the way down then stupid today's shoes. To be fair PA's side Ren Faire is a patch of woods in the middle of a farm that is such a steep valley into the earth its impossible to farm. So need shoes with tread to make it all day. There have been videos of the PA Ren Faire and that one is Philadelphia side. With paved walkways and everything's flat. Not the Pittsburgh side but is more authentic. Anyways I wanted to know about protecting leather and weather proofing it, thank you so much for the deeper dive into it! Also looking forward to the shoe making! At a glance you gave us the boots are looking awesome! Once again thank you for being you and being here to share what you love doing! It's an awesome break from the wreal world, the times we are able to step into our fantasy, fun worlds!

Perfect timing actually, I've been wanting to look into water proofing some of my cloth gear. Mostly my hat and cloak. Its great to really see how some of it works on leather.

100% use Sno-Seal. I put it on my reenactment shoes for the whole family. I've walked through rain and my feet stayed dry. It does work better if you heat the shoes up when you treat them. I tried a hair dryer, but decided a 120F oven works better. Just pop one in while you apply the wax to the other and switch.

Most helpful video you've ever made!

Ahhh i was just wondering about this! Thanks!

I use mink oil paste and love it, glad it showed good results here!

I've been looking for a good water repellent to add to my leather riding jacket & this has helped a great deal. Thank you for your experimentation.

Just what I was looking for! Thanks. Guess I'll go with Snow Seal!

thanks for saving me a ton of time and experimentation!

My go to is Hubbard's Boot Grease (has 🐝 wax and pine tar). I work outside dealing with rain and water half the time. Hubbards keeps the boots in good shapes, let's them breathe in the heat, and won't eat the threads. I also use it on my belts and leather multitool sheath (awa the leather pouches of my renfaire kit). @ 17$ for 7.5 oz it lasts me around 6months. When I run out or for items I will store I use a mix of beeswax and linseed oil.

Well done!

I saw a guy once that used candle wax for waterproofing a pair of boots.

Interesting results. My dad has always used neat's foot oil on all his leather projects, but I have never been impressed with it. I also find that is drastically darkens veg-tanned leather when used in enough quantity to have any effect.

Thank you!

If you can't get goose grease use lard . cheap and effective and can be improved by a few drops of rosemary oil for US delicate noses

cool stuff :) it's interesting to see that neatsfoot doesn't work very well, probably because you're using chrome tanned leather which shouldn't be conditioned/waterproofed with oil based products (liquid mink oil also counts as one of these), because of the chemical tanning process it doesn't take to oils that well and the structure of it is fixed so it can't really be conditioned, and there is a risk that the oil can separate the fibers and actually damage it. For chrome tanned anything wax based will be your best bet, that includes dubbin, mink oil, snow seal etc... However if you have a veg tan leather (knife sheath/gun holster etc...) a lot of professional leather workers will dip the item in neatsfoot oil for a few seconds to make sure it's evenly coated then leave it to drain/wipe off the excess and the leather will adsorb the oil and become almost fully waterproof, and the oil will replenish the natural oils that should be in veg tan leather that have been lost to the wet forming process and prevent the leather from becoming brittle and cracking. I think that the leather treatments behaving differently depending on how the leather is tanned is why so many different people online say conflicting things about them? My preferred go to for chrome tan is just to use dubbin or (solid) mink oil and reapply every so often, snow seal will do exactly the same thing, and possibly work better if it id designed for use on chrome tan (I don't know, I've never used it). and for veg tan I will treat the item after I have made it with an oil based product first, to condition it, then when that has dries I will do a top coat of mink oil or dubbin because the wax layer they leave on the surface will buff to a nice shine

A great follow up video would be for you to put multiple of these on an item that gets plenty of stress, like a belt or a pack, in different sections, and compare the long term results. And, honestly, just for the science of it, I would love to see the bacon fat compound tested.

I just want to say, I love that chonky door behind you. Also, thanks for testing all of these products for us. This was very helpful. Will be you uploading a video on the making of your boots?

I've found that 'compound' Neets foot oil takes a several years to wreck leather but I have some boots I heavily treated with straight Neets foot oil in the 1970's where the leather is still good. Also Neets foot oil will wreck wood if you slather it on there, its NOT like linseed oil despite what the kid at the big hardware chain will try to tell you. Another possibility (if you make another similar video) to consider is Lanolin aka sheep grease - its used by locksmiths to grease locks as it does not dry out or go gummy, you can get it in better hardware stores as a spray lubricant, as a hand cream (with additives & perfume) or from wool processors & spinners - its a natural byproduct of wool production. Bacon grease: This is an oldie (like from my Grandmother) - just render your fat then boil it up with plenty of water, the salt will preferentially go into the water and while its all liquid you can easily strain out any chunky bits too - works for all rendered fat aka 'dripping' - beef, sheep, pork. When you finish just let it cool and the fat will form a hard crust (if its not hard, change the water and boil again) on top of the water which you can cut with a knife into chunks, soldiers used to carry a tin of dripping to aid in their cooking, you just need a leak proof canister to store it. Sno-Seal is also recommended by Boots by Bohemond, a long time supplier of decent leather boots to medieval re enactors. WARNING! Yes, use a double boiler when melting bee's wax - it is relatively easy to overheat bee's wax in a regular pan or boiler, it has a relatively low 'flash point', once a wax (or fat) reaches its flash point, it all wants to burn at once - KABOOM! So, do your wax & fat heating outside on the lawn or driveway, not inside your flammable home, and use a double boiler if you have one (they used to be fairly common in charity second hand shops aka Op Shops in Australia).

I heated my leather shoes, then applied beeswax, then heated again, then applied beeswax, then heated again, then did a third application. Inside and outside my 100% leather shoes. Then with them on my feet blasted them with a water hose for about 30 seconds (sides, bottom, top, all over). Then immediately weighed and compared to before. Total water retention was about 4% weight gain. Which means very little water seeped into the leather. Visually it was bouncing right off during the testing. Go to your local butcher for beef fat to make beef tallow. Extremely useful stuff.

Ooh, cool! We've used mink oil in a paste form, but I think it does darken the leather. Perhaps my sister can use this info when waterproofing her leather cowboy hat. I am sending her this video.

Thanks for sharing your results! A couple comments regarding fat wax: If the only issue with using bacon grease is the salt content, lard might be a good alternative. It's widely available in grocery stores and is relatively inexpensive. Another good option would be to check with a local butcher if they'd sell you some tallow or lard; I suspect it'd be another cheaper option.

Thank you.

Neetsfoot is more of a way of feeding leather or hydrating it. That is why it was common for saddles and harness. Obenauf's and Huberds are both great shoe grease. They might be higher priced but a container will last years. I should add that warming the leather helps with the any grease getting in to the seams. A hair dryer will work.

I have used Snow seal for over 20 years. My 6 year old doc Martens where in excellent shape when I retired them due to shoe soul issues. If I find where they went I will spend the money to resoul them. Currently going to buy some Redwings and snow seal them. Protect them from salt and chemicals that will certainly get on them from the snow and from work.

As a leather worker who also has horses and armor.... I love HEAVY LP from Obenauff... It is the BEST I have ever found

I used to have an enormous stash of tallow. I would get raw beef fat from a butcher I knew and render it myself. I was planning to make soap with it, but other things were happening in my life - and after not using it for several years, I ended up throwing it out. Now I keep thinking of reasons why I want tallow again!

I am very familiar with the howard feed n wax. Thomas Johnson from Thomas Johnson antique furniture restoration in Gohram Maine uses it on most if not all of his antique furniture restorations where he restores the existing finish on the antiques. Wow small world. Thats the first thing i thought of when i seen the products your using. Personally i use a kiwi saddle soap then kiwi leather conditioner then sno seal then kiwi shoe polish in that order for a complete work boot clean and water proofing. It doesnt get done in one day. I like to let things dry in between products.

The best leather protector and waterproofing product I have found is Obenauf's heavy duty LP (leather preservative) . It is bee's wax with natural oils. It was originally developed for firefighters, and I have been using it for years.

One of the leather workers at my LARP recommends mixing 50%/50% neatsfoot oil with melted beeswax to form a sealing paste to use between events to seal and condition. Even on painted leather.

The only reason I clicked is bc I saw the "Feed n Wax" wood polish and was curious. I'm commenting before watching so I'm unsure how well it will work on leather but I can tell you from firsthand knowledge that it works great on oiled wood finishes, not so much for varnished or lacquered finished as its unable to absorb into the wood but it will help to buff them to a bright sheen. 👍👍

Try saddle lac or similar impregnation spray for upholstery.

ngl. This is useless information for me, but I still want to tell you how much I appreciate your work. I love medieval fantasy and I learned to respect all the costume designer and all the people involved behind the scenes giving their best to make a show like GOT feel authentic! Shoutout to all the creative nerds out there. Your the real MVPs!

On a side note, Dawn dish soap works extremely well for cleaning leather. The easiest way I've found for boots is dish soap and a brush in the shower. Remember to re-waterproof after.

No saddle soap test? Another odd one to consider is SC Johnson Paste Wax. This can work to seal wood or metal and mentions leather on the room. It is a petroleum product as I recall, but it's good for protecting metal tools against the weather as well as allowing saws to slide better. Have surface rust? Use 000 or finer steel wool then paste wax to seal it. The 16oz tins are affordable, but I don't know how it is on leather. On wood it seals even the natural smells away and is not good safe like mineral oil. Good luck and I look forward to leather sealing part two! 😎

I use mink oil paste on my leather hat. After a couple of times out in the rain I have to reapply it

Question please. You may be able to help. If whiskey coloured leather has a faded or lighter area due to weer...what can l use to hide or treat that area please?

You might want to also consider using beeswax like a polish, rather than a soak. That is, heat it up so its warm, and use a brush or rag to buff it on in many layers (like shoe polish... its harder to explain than it is to find demonstrations). This might result in a similarly performant waterproofing, but a much more supple and lighter colored leather.

If you hunt around online, you can find beeswax for prices approaching $10-$15 a pound (though that's especially true if you are looking to get large quantities).

Walmart sells a nice inexpensive brand is called Armour thats about $14 for 4lbs, the best part is you can fry up foods in it after the fact ! I especially like popcorn popped in this lard - very tasty!

Anyone tried the Nikwax leather cream? I wonder how that compares to sno seal. I like sno seal for my boots, but for my gloves, the sno seal makes harder than I like because I lose dexterity. I heard good things about Nikwax, but don't know anyone that used it.

Can you make fat wax by mixing beeswax with mink oil? I don't have tallow at the moment but I have both of those right now.

I prefer mink oil. Been using it since the '70s. Liquid, never tried the paste. An accidental discovery: soft leather soles, like moccasins, seem to last longer if dampened then worn and walk on a hard surface. I first did this by walking across a dew covered lawn then onto a brick road. I think my weight compressed the leather a wee bit. It did not harden enough to notice but did last much longer.

Equal parts of Beeswax & Carnauba Wax melted and mixed with equal part of Neatsfoot Oil is the best natural thing for water repellency. Don't know how it works on chrome tanned, but definitely for veg tanned and oil tanned leathers

A recommendation for aesthetics: buy a very light colored or undyed boot and mix a bit of dye into your first layer of waterproofing. Hit it with a heat gun and reapply the waterproofing without any dye if you like the color. It’s worked well for me in the past. I used a paraffin/beeswax/mink oil combo for my waterproofing with a skew towards mink oil on the dye layer and a skew towards paraffin/beeswax on the sealing layer. Additionally, beeswax/paraffin is better used on seams/soles and a higher oil ratio is better used in areas where flexibility is a priority.

One thing that helps with any type of wax product is heat. Use a heat-gun on low or a blow-dryer on high to help the wax seep deeper into the pores of the leather - don't soak all the way through, though. This improves the water resistance and longevity of the treatment. Wax will always darken the leather, so keep that in mind. Don't worry about the leather becoming a little stiff. As you wear the shoe it will conform to your foot nicely. edited to add: if you want to experiment with animal fats, use beef fat from unseasoned hamburger or fatty steak. Just remember not to add any spices to the meat, nor oils or sprays to the pan. An old George Foreman grill is great for collecting the fatty grease.

I will say that with my hands and feet in the cold/ snow. I take no chances. As much fun as it is of course to dress up, I won't risk some of the bad things if I can avoid them (frostbite, gangrene, etc). That said, when I make my official character, I'll be sure to incorporate some of the modern aspects in a way that fits the story. That said, these are wonderful thoughts, examples and suggestions. I've heard of beeswax used for this; but I'm excited to look further into your suggestions here!

I like otter wax for sealing and protecting my deer and boar hide moccasins, and for full grain cowhide leather gear I use with my working dogs. The deer and boar hide I harvest and tan myself first, and the cowhide is Amish sourced. Totally not biased. But seriously, my gear is constantly submerged and lasts me for years of constant use.

1. Commenting for the algorithm. 2. Glad to have you back Kramer, I hope whatever personal reasons kept you are going well. 3. I have video evidence of the channel’s banner being carried to new lands, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oWn90ot5Rvs.html, skip to 1:04:00 for the section about you, but I think you would enjoy his channel in general, he seems like the artistic flip side of what you are trying to do with your channel. His motto is “Be your family’s bard!”

neat's-foot oil and mink oil are more conditioners (i prefer natural over the compound as it has other ingredients)for your leather and work fantastic as such the paste versions will add some water repellency more due to the other ingredients in the paste. i make my own waterproofing conditioner balm by melting down and mixing 1-1 ratio by weight beeswax and coconut oil ( ive read copies of 1800s articles that use caster oil instead of coconut oil) then let it solidify in small gifts tins that i get at the dollar store. altiods tins work perfectly for storage too if you have those laying around

what about lanolin or a mix of beeswax and lanolin?

Wait shit, you know the guy from the Shadow of the Conqueror short film? That’s dope.

Tallow is easy to make at home. Get beef roasts, trim off the fat, and save in the freezer until you have a good amount. Chop finely, then put in a very small amount of water and heat slowly. The fat chunks will reduce, when the water is boiled off, and the remaining bits start to brown you're done. This can take a few hours on a suitably low temperature to maximize yield.

on Beeswax: 01. I bought 5 lbs of White Beeswax from Amazon for only $22. LOTS cheaper than $6 for 0.7 oz. (26 times cheaper?) This is a clearer wax than the Yellow Beeswax you appear to have so it should not darken as much. 02. My Grandfather, RIP, said he mixed alcohol with beeswax to waterproof his boots back during the depression. Though I've yet to try it, using a thinner like alcohol or naphtha sounds reasonable.

For waterproofing it’s either Sno Seal or Fibertec Show Wax for me, with an additional coat of Collonil Carbon Pro or Saphir Super Invulner. But chrome tanned leathers tend to be highly water resistant already - depending on the finishing. Veg tan is where the real battle’s at…😂 Now to think…if one made their shoes more “authentic” as a turn shoe with a thick veg tan sole, I have yet to find a way to actually keep them weather proof… But that may be down to the quality of my leatherwork. Best way so far is saturating the sole with a mixture of beeswax and paraffin wax and a little tiny bit of lanolin, but don’t go for any harder wax. The soles usually become slippery, especially on hard surfaces such as stone floors, and I bet if one used carnauba wax too it would be a straight up walking hazard…

what your looking is dubbin which would have been carried by just about everyone who had leather goods. It's used to waterproof and soften leather it usually made from some combination of fat,oil,wax or tallow . Beeswax; fish oil, lard or lanolin have also been used . Bag Balm which a combination of lanolin, petroleum jelly and a antiseptic can be used or so i've been told. The problem is leather needs constant care and attention so frequent reapplication is a must. traditional duddin is usually a mix of lanolin/neatsfoot/mink oil and beeswax. Whether Vaseline is good for leather or not i've had conflicting advice on

I use bee's wax to waterproof most things. I can get it cheap from an Amish Store. I rub it on dry then make it soak into the leather by using a heat gun on Low.

A nice comparisson of different products. How about testing them on veg tan leather though? Before watching your video i watched a leather guy talking about the difference of chrome tanned leather and veg tanned leather. The difference is significant, since veg tanned is an all natural product, processed through natural tanning methods; compared to chrome tanned which is a natural product (leather) prosseced through a lot of chemicals. Chrome tanned has a lot of advantages, as disadvantages, one of the advantages is that it doesn't need any sort of care apart from cleaning it with a wet cloth. This leather is sealed permantly, it's not porous anymore, it cannot absorb any conditioner. Real leather is porous, such as your skin, it needs to breath, to absorb oils and waxes etc. Back in the day of WWs they changed the way boots were made, by having the top grain side in and the flesh side of the leather out, to protect their feet from water, chemicals etc. I prefer the all natural, as you do too, what we need to accept and understand though is, that all natural will eventually crack, get damaged and will need repairs. If you want a boot to last ages, invest into thicker veg tan leather and treat it with care (clean it -condition it - buff it out... yes, buffing helps so so much, it basically burnishes the top grain, this is how it gets sealed through time). Hope that helps :)

Hmm I thought foot oil was for rehydrate leather right?

I've been a fan of Sno Seal for a long time. Glad it "won". I put that in quotes because I'm aware of availability issues. I think the problem with oils is the fibrous structure of leather. Oils coat the fibers but don't fill the voids between them allowing water to seep through, where waxes and high molecular weight fats and greases can fill those voids as well as coat the fibers. Unfortunately, organic oils and fats will eventually go rancid, not just stinking but rotting the leather. Waxes won't do that in my experience. The only real disadvantage of waxes in my experience is that flexing and temperature changes can work the wax out of the voids allowing water in. Hence you have to reapply it every so often. Eagerly awaiting the construction video for those tall moccasins.

Wd42 works as well

Well, I guess I should have waited till the end.😂

I assume u did it to the smooth side of the leather, as opposed to the fuzzy side? The footage isnt clear and i dont know if others would assume that. Did u apply the agent to both sides? Should u?

Just a suggestion. When you apply the cream to your leather. Heat it with a hair dryer or leave it by a heater for a couple of hours(the leather). It causes the pours in the leather to expand. My dad taught me this when I was little. I have used it on my hunting moccasins every year since without complaint.

How would this work on dyed leather?

I've gotten 2lb blocks of beeswax from Michaels for about $12 Canadian, which doesnt seem too bad. But I've been wanting to try SnoSeal for ages, since, Canada. Where did you get yours and what brand is it?

If you're not going to use bacon grease, a tub of lard does the same with less salt. It's worked for me for years. It doesn't go bad as quickly, it's more solid and it has less of a bacon-y smell. (May or may not be a con instead of a pro on that last one.)

Toilet bowl wax seal ring is a pretty cheap alternative

Hi Kramer, do you have merch? -- Official Lauren Brown

I'm a beekeeper and I'd be happy to sell my excess beeswax in discounted price for such a reasonable purpose 😊 I just bought brown leather boots I've been wanting for almost 10 years and wonder how to waterproof them. Should I mix my own stuff or buy sno-seal... 🤷

Science!

About bacon grease, rendering should draw out the salt into the water. Pests eating the treated material may still be a problem.

Put Sno-seal on my beautiful brown Meindl boots that turned the color to almost black. Not happy.

Does anyone have an idea on what to use to waterproof a leather drinking flask? I bought one a couple months ago on a historical market, but it is leaking

There is a thing called "pine Resin" that a lot of people use. No idea how much it cost.

Personally i like using the little bees wax i have just on the soles of my boots since thats whats exposed to more moisture and they're hard leather soles anyways so hardening is a benefit.

Got to say, all the leather stuff I've seen is for canteens or how to harden a breast plate or similar items. Never shoes or boots.

If you don't care about a little more anachronism, paraffin wax applies the same as beeswax, is cheaper than snoseal, repels water the same as beeswax, and has a higher melting point than bees wax which is better for hotter environments. I use either straight paraffin or a beeswax/paraffin mix in a dedicated (goodwill) crockpot when hardening leather

i use mink oil on my leather boots. I can stand in a stream and come out on the other side with my feet dry.

Sno-Seal, and a ceramic coat. 🤙🏼

narural tallow can be extracted from the berries of the chinese tallow trees. those trees are everwhere.

For bees wax. I contacted a local apiary. $5 got me roughly a pound.

im currently transforming a pair of good boots into a leather look instead that will save me plenty of time and resources

The grocery store is better for beeswax than the hardware store. A dollar store even.