Footwear thread here.
Your advice on keeping your shoes in great shape throughout the wear and tear.
Condition and polish your boots.
If it's starting to separate somewhere, get it glued by a shoe repairer before it gets worse (friction between two separated surfaces wears them out and this means harder to fix).
Don't dry your fucking boots in front of a fire or heater.
Get soles replaced BEFORE they wear fully through, unless you like paying to get the midsole and insole repaired too.
Stitched on soles are overrated, modern glued are bretty gud.
>T. Shoe Repair fag
How does one condition their boots? And how should I go about drying them if they get wet? Obviously you can leave them in the sun but what if it's cold, cloudy, or raining
>>705051
>condition
With leather conditioner or saddle soap
>dry
Dry the outside with a towel. Pull out the insoles and stuff in an old sock filled with either dry rice or cedar chips (you can get them cheap at the pet store)
>>705051
>>7051460s
This is good advice. I said no heaters, but if you have a heat pump/heat inverter putting it near that is okay too. The air coming out isn't that hot but it provides a flow of warm dry air that gently dries them out without shrinking or cracking.
Be careful with the sun, I left a pair of black shoes out to dry and the day got pretty hot, about 30c. When I got home the toe puff at the front had warped from the heat and I had to chuck them out.
If I could throw out one more piece of general advice it would be that you can fix more stuff than you would think. If in doubt take it to a few different repairers and compare opinions and prices.
You know they sell scented shoe fresheners at pretty much every shoe store ever, right?
>>705051
To condition I use Obenauf's LP, apply with bare hands so skin temp will melt it onto the leather. Let it sit for a couple hours then buff off with an old washcloth.
For drying, stuff with old newspaper and hang upside down. Or put on a boot dryer with no heat, just air circulation, or just leave sitting upright if I have a day or two to let them fully dry.
If the boots have been saturated with water, after they are dry make sure to clean and condition them.
>>705320
They all just overplay smell or temporarily disable bacteria. Organic matter (fats, proteins) from sweat will build up overtime and bacteria will eventually feed on it to produce stuff like propionic acid, butyric acid, capronic acid... as well as ammonia and other amines, so at a certain point only washing them out helps (eliminating the source instead of the symptoms)
>using leather conditioner
>using saddle soap
>buying specialized stuff that you can improvise at home
1 Wash boots with water and maybe soap
2 Pat dry
3 Rub any lotion on outside layer
4 Stuff dry towels in boots and let it dry
ur gud mang
>>704998
what I do with my boots:
wipe clean of dirt and debirs with damp cloth
shoe polish on old toothbrush to blacken the seams and sides
apply shoe polish with brush all over boot
polish with kiwi cloth
apply mink oil the same way and repeat
sprinkle a bunch of foot power into boot and shake it up
don't wear it for a day or 2 if possible
>>704998
The stink is often bacteria and fungi that love a warm wet environment.... I typically put my boots on a boot dryer at home every night. This dries out the boots. In the field I stuff them with newspaper after I take them off. The newspaper absorbs the moisture from the boot lining.
Last, and most drastic step happens during or after the hottest part of the year. I freeze them.
Yeah, newspaper to absorb moisture, then put them into a plastic bag, and into the deep freeze overnight. The cold kills the stink making bacteria and fungi.
Take dirty boots
Remove laces if applicable
Get rag wet
Clean dirty boots
Let dry
Apply obenauf's to all leather surfaces with me fingers
Done
>>704998
buy some cedar shoe trees to absorb moisture and keep their shape
they cost around $15
