Boot break-in

[JRESO]

Anyone have any tricks for shortening the break-in time for a new pair of boots, or am I just gonna have to put some miles on them? The boots are issue: Boot, Intermediate cold/wet with gore-tex, all leather.

[JayT]

Saddle soap'em up, and stomp around in them for a while.

[Brad]

Yep. Get the stiffness out before starting to polish them, else you'll get cracks where the boot bends.

And as far as building up a good polish, there is an invisible coating on the boots that you need to take off to help in building up your base. How do you do this? Shaving cream. Yep. Get some on the rag and rub it over the boot to get rid of the coating. You'll know it's working b/c the coating will build up on your polishing rag.

[JRESO]

Yep. Get the stiffness out before starting to polish them, else you'll get cracks where the boot bends.

And as far as building up a good polish, there is an invisible coating on the boots that you need to take off to help in building up your base. How do you do this? Shaving cream. Yep. Get some on the rag and rub it over the boot to get rid of the coating. You'll know it's working b/c the coating will build up on your polishing rag.

That's interesting.... I've done the saddle soap thing before but never heard of using shaving cream. I'll have to give it a try! Thanks.  I thought I heard once upon a time that, you fill a bathtub with water, put the boots on and dive in, walk around with them. Don't think I'll try that method.

[SarDragon]

I am not a big advocate of that method, but I will say that the most comfortable boot I've ever owned, got wet and dried on my feet a couple of time while riding my motorcycle in the rain. Talk about form fitting.  I did apply some good leather preservative after each time they got wet.

[Brad]

*nods*

Yea, water actually destroys leather, so be sure to give it a good polishing afterwards for protective purposes.

[SarDragon]

*nods*

Yea, water actually destroys leather, so be sure to give it a good polishing afterwards for protective purposes.

No, don't just polish them. You need something that penetrates the leather and replenishes the oils that have leached out. Water, by itself, doesn't hurt leather. It's the after effects, from the water leaching out the oils, and mold and mildew growing in improperly dried leather, that really hurts the leather.

[O-Rex]

First, what kind of boots do you have??  Jungle boots are relatively easy to break in, and ICB's can almost be worn right out of the box.

With standard combat boots (which now are sooooo '80s,)  like everyone else says, you can wet them and walk around in them a while.  If you are worried about the after effects of water, there are a few cream-base preparations out there to condition the leather: just avoid oil-based stuff like 'wet-pruf' or mink oil, unless you intend your boots for field-use only, because you'll never get a good shine...

If you're gonna do the "old school" thing, and want go back to square one, strip them until the leather shows though (this is a very labor-intensive process, if you are so inclined. Use green scruby pad-NO CHEMICALS!) Dye them with blue shoe-dye (yes, blue!)  then use black (most black dyes actually have a reddish tinge to them.)  Not to mention that the blue-black effect that it creates is actually "blacker than black." 

Standard combat boot leather tends to have a heavy grain, so start layering the polish, despite the advice of some, DO NOT melt the polish to apply because you'll' get a heavy buildup, and it will either crack ( the polish, not the leather) or flake off.

Best polish: Lincoln Stain Wax  Worst: Kiwi Honor Guard (silicone additives and high-gloss are mutually-exclusive terms.)  Neutral polish is good for a last coat, but don't use in excess, because you'll get a white film in the creases of the leather.

I'm not going to get into the whole spit-shine thing, we've explored on previous threads...

Maintenance: wearing boots under long-term wet conditions can produce salt stains: saddle soap them.  Some people say to use rubbing alcohol-DON'T (remember that leather once was alive and still maintains it's "organic" properties: so it needs moisture and conditioning.)

Back to break-in: if you can, do it slowly-an hour or two a day.

[♠SARKID♠]

My flight commander at encampment said to soften boots, turn on your oven to about 130 degrees, cake on Vaseline all over the boots, and bake them for about 15 minutes.  I have no idea as to if this works and I'm rather skeptic myself.

[Al Sayre]

Sounds like a good way to start a grease fire in your oven...

[O-Rex]

My flight commander at encampment said to soften boots, turn on your oven to about 130 degrees, cake on Vaseline all over the boots, and bake them for about 15 minutes.  I have no idea as to if this works and I'm rather skeptic myself.

See my previous post on this thread regarding oil-based products.

Also, heat is the mortal enemy of leather.

[RogueLeader]

I have a couple [air of ICB's and they specifically state to NOT use the wet or heating method of breaking them in.

[Brad]

My flight commander at encampment said to soften boots, turn on your oven to about 130 degrees, cake on Vaseline all over the boots, and bake them for about 15 minutes.  I have no idea as to if this works and I'm rather skeptic myself.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! </Vader>


Yea you'll soften them alright, but good luck being able to polish them ever again.

[the_newyorker]

one good way would be to stand in a bucket of water with the boots on for a little bit but when you get done u need to get some of you shoe shine on it or the leather is trash

[SarDragon]

I believe that method was discussed and discouraged above.

Also, would it be possible for you to honor the readers of your posts with some better spelling, capitalization and punctuation? I know that you think what you have to say is important, but it is barely readable.