Neatsfoot oil on leather boots - How often?

FrenchieBoy

Well-Known Member
I have at long last got round to buying and using some Neatsfoot Oil on my leather boots. The general idea is to keep them as waterproof as possible and the leather in reasonable condition.
I have given my boots 3 coats of neatsfoot oil throughout today. The third coat seems to be taking a lot longer to soak in than the first two coats did.
My question is: How often should I "oil" my boots to keep them in reasonable condition? Should it be every time I wear them, or once a week or what?
Any advice from those who use neatsfoot oil on their boots please?
 
Don't know if it's the correct answer but every other month I stand my boots in a cat litter tray with the oil in the bottom and keep brushing it over them a few time in the day
Regards
Jimmy
 
the big issue is whether your boots have a Gore-Tex/other membrane in them.

if so, then use the oil, but only when give your boots a 'major service' - maybe once or twice a season - as the oil will seep into the holes in the membrane and block them up producing the effect of having a plastic bag wrapped around your foot. which is nice...

if your boots don't have a membrane then you can use it more regularly, but i'd be careful about using it - it has a significant softening effect on the leather to the point where, if used very regularly, it can turn a £160 pair of Meindls into a boot with all the ankle support of tissue paper, as well as making the leather fragile to the point of tearing on rocks, branches or fences...

personally i use it at the begining and end of each season, and if i'm putting a pair of boots away for months/years. other than that i use Alt-Berg Leder Gris (neutral) which is 70% wax and 30% oil. they do an extreme version thats 50% oil that does a similar job to neats foot oil, but is less, erm... extreme.

NFO is used to take dried out, hard, possibly brittle leather and make it supple - you can, i promise you, have too much of a good thing...
 
Much appreciated WF I certainly will be cutting back on its use as never gave the membrane a thought
Regards
Jimmy
 
i would have to agree with the above post, i used it on a pair of danner boots i found that the boots became sweaty.
 
Leather has insulation properties due to air trapped in the fibers. Replace air with oil and you get cold feet.
 
What kind of boots are they? Do you know what sort of oil was used on them originally?
Have they been treated before?

Neatsfoot oil may be 3rd or 4th down on the list of the best treatments.
 
Many years ago when oiling the deer saddles i thought I would give my boots a couple of coats of neatsfoot oil as well. This resulted in a telling off from the head stalker as he thought this wasnt good for the boots. Not sure how true this is but never used neatsfoot again on my boots. Nowadays I use ether nic wax liquid stuff or meindl wax for my boots.
 
on my leather only meindl I lightly oil them four times a year,my meindl goretex ones only twice a year.
 
Neatsfoot is not best for saddles, bridles, traces, cinches halters, etc, in a damp climate because it will attract moisture and make the leather slick. Later on, its ingredients will feed backteria and mold.

Lexol is better for most leathers like that, and for leather jackets and furniture ( if it is not sealed, as car seats are now ).

Griot's makes a great product for softening and restoring dried leather. Then treat it with the normal one in a few weeks.

Danner Boot Dressing is great, especially if you apply it to new boots from the first day. It lets the leather breath and trap air, and does not mess with the waterproof liner ( like Gortex) nor with the wicking liner ( like Cambrelle ).
 
There must be gallons of NFO in army quarter master stores as some time ago, my memory isn't what it was, but I remember the Army changed their style of boot from the old fashioned boots DMS to some modern 'don't damage your feet' type boot and the supply branch suggested that NFO was the thing to keep them trim and proper.
However shortly after the new boots came into service and a few complaints about the new use of NFO they found that it made the leather so soft the boot laces could be pulled out of their holes and the reports of cold wet feet was assumed to be caused by leaking boots.
As a result an order went out across the board that NFO was no longer to be used and instructions were given for it's disposal through the system but only unopened cans were to be back loaded through the system.
I knew of two QM's that had drums with sticky lids, as a result of being opened, stood in the corner of the stores with no legal method of disposal, probably still there now.
 
NFO is good to soften leather however it is also bad because it opens the pores to make it softer was what I was told as s lad
i use it once per year typically the spring then dubbin or nik wax the other times
had no issues and unless really muck wet always use boots
 
There has been a couple of posts about what type of boots Neatsfoot Oil in being used on so just to clarify:
The boots I use are basic Rigger Boots (Not expensive ones) so could be replaced quite easily if need be. I don't have too much of a problem with cold feet as when I am wearing my rigger boots I wear a good set of insulated socks inside them.
I don't know if this makes any difference to the use of Neatsfoot Oil on them?
 
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Not usually much support in rigger boots anyway, heel usually goes pretty quickly.

With riger boots i wouldnae really bother, usually not dear. If u really want to waterproof them i'd use dubbin but wear of the coats of oil

I'm more a dubbin man, used to cover alll my old gear in dubbin (fitba boots, fitba's and any hill walking boots)
Now i use that mendl stuff on my mendls, seems quite good.
Tried nikwax cream on the last pair but was never impressed by it and went back to dubbin
 
Ko-cho-line for leather dressing. Or as already said plain old dubbing. Neatsfoot I would use more sparingly on expensive boots, as previous posts have mentioned.

M
 
Thee's a significant difference between neatsfoot oil and the more commonly available neatsfoot compound; the latter contains mineral oils which will soften leather and NEVER dry out, so it you overdo it, it's there for good. Best used very sparingly on leather that has gone to stiff or brittle, not as a routine water proofer.

Really a good idea to stick with the manufacturers recommended products in most cases, although the waxes they contain often tend to separate from the dressing and just remain on the leather surface, the oil they often contain do penetrate and condition the leather. As another contribute observed: Altberg make a standard dressing, and an 'extreme' version for use on leather that has started to dry out. presumably it contains more oils than the standard version.

Avoid dubbin (originally a mixture of cod oil and tallow); rots the stitching.

I used to use something called 'British museum leather dressing' occasionally on boots, and regularly on other leather products. You can probably get it on-line. It contains lanolin (a waxy material from sheep wool; easily absorbed into leather, to lubricate the fibres and stop the leather drying and cracking), cedar wood oil (to prevent the growth of mould) and beeswax (which tends to separate out and retain on the surface leaving a protective 'buff-able' layer). In some instances some of the lanolin is replaced by PURE neatsfoot oil.

This stuff can be obtain thinned with organic solvents such as hexane, which can easily catch fire before it dries and is therefore a bit of a risk (it might also dissolve rubber randing etc!); or better, as an emulsion which is much less hazardous!

To be honest you're probably best-off sticking to something like nikwax, and just using neatsfoot (pure oil if you can get it) very sparingly where and when the boots are starting to dry out and stiffen up.
 
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