WESCO-MRLOU-BLK - Wesco® - 10" Horsehide Pull-On "Mister Lou" Engineer Boot - Black

[Luijim78]

@bluemantra not a very good friend, while the Iron ranger size 8D are also too long and wide, the black Mr Lou in Black Maryam are precise (they forced me to go to the beautician once a month to cut the nail of my left big toe, because I revealed a micro callus on the nail bed ), from the Wesco 100 anniversary, basically a pair of bosses with a rounded tip, I comfortably wear an 8.5 D and have much more space)

[BloodEagle]

Hey there - Any idea if there will be a restock of these in the near future?

[Ross]

@BloodEagle we'll have them back but ETA currently I'm afraid

[Oaktavia]

Been a while since I posted evo photos of my black Mr. Lous. I bought these in April of 2022 for my wedding day. Starting to see brown reveal itself underneath the black. I quite like where these are headed.

[goosehd]

@Oaktavia you might want to condition those as the leather looks dry to me.

[Oaktavia]

@goosehd yes i was thinking the same. I need to get more of that Renovator.

[long_john86]

@Oaktavia I love the various tones revealing themselves in your boots! They are thirsty for some lovin!

[Luijim78]

@Oaktavia gorgeous my friend, simply gorgeous … great work congratulations

[Oaktavia]

@long_john86 me too, I'm curios what some conditioning will do to the tones.

@Luijim78 thank you my friend, I thought you might like these photos

[seawolf]

Wesco Bee Oil is awesome if your boots need a nourishing drink.

[Oaktavia]

@seawolf perhaps I will give that a try this go around. Thanks!

[seawolf]

@Oaktavia happy to help!

[Nik]

They look really good. Could also try Bick4 to condition without causing any change in colour.

[Giles]

Or mustang paste....There are loads of options....

[Oaktavia]

Thanks Gents, I will weigh my options. I was thinking of getting some Mustang paste for my Extractor too so maybe I'll go that route.

[Oaktavia]

Would Obenauf's leather oil be an OK treatment on my Mr. Lous? Or do they require something higher grade?

[Ross]

@Oaktavia I typed out a long ramble about leather care and then realised it'd take you 10 mins to get the answer you wanted . So, for brevity: yes, you can use obenaufs - it's what I use here to keep the oil in the sample pair Ben wears, alongside a once over with some natural polish once the obenaufs has soaked in to help keep the oils in and the water out

If you want the long winded ramble:

Leather is probably the most use materials for footwear in all of human history, it's tough, durable and dependable and maintenance is surprisingly easy..

If you search the interwebs you'll find dozens if not hundreds of different 'the right way to maintain your leather' posts, sites and videos. It's not that there's no right answer, in my experience it's the opposite. There's dozens or indeed hundreds of correct answers.

Leather is animal hide at the end of the day, it's skin, and just like your skin it's strength is in its natural oils. If you've ever had your hands become extremely dry before you know the skin cracks and splits. Leather is the same, only unlike your skin which is attached to a living thing, it won't naturally replace it's own oils - so we have to do it.

The big enemy is water, if water gets into leather it'll displace those natural oils (oil floats on water) then evaporates, leaving your leather dry. So we want to get natural oils in and keep water out!

So for tougher leathers I use obenaufs, it's a liquid oil that's going to permeate into a thicker boot leather, other people may swear by Mustang paste or bee oil or any one of the thousands of products out there but the most important thing is you use a natural oil - beyond that it's down to preference, will it tint your boots (if they're a lighter colour)? Will it absolutely stink? How easy is it to apply? - all factors on that personal choice.

As for keeping the water out I've always sworn by a natural kiwi boot polish, my grandfather was in the royal logistics corps and insisted on teaching me how to polish boots and the necessity of it when I was about 12, been doing it ever since and never had a pair of shoes or boots die on me. The waxy nature of the polish will give you boots that extra shield against water penetration and massively slow down the 'drying-out' that comes from it.

As for how often to do it: I know lots of people have a schedule of every 3/6/12 months ect but really i don't find life to be so predictable, at least not here in the UK with our weather. So I just keep and eye on them and do them whenever they're starting to feel a little dry, keeping a closer eye on them during the wet seasons. If they ever get completely saturated (as in 'i jumped in a puddle that was deeper than i though it was and now my feet are wet') i'll let them dry fully then give them a once over to stay on the safe side but really even heavy rain should pose no problem to a well maintained pair of boots

Long winded ramble complete....for now....

EDIT: Edited for extra ramble

[goosehd]

@Ross Outstanding!!

[Oaktavia]

@Ross thank you for the excellent response my man. I will need to bookmark this or even print it out to stash it somewhere when I inevitably forget this and need to read it again. I appreciate you taking the time to wind and ramble it all out, so to speak!

I am happy you are for the Obenauf's, as I happen to have a decent sized amount at home with one of those wire/cotton ball applicator doohickies. I will take photos before and after (and post them here this weekend) as my Lous look even dryer in person than they do in the photos. I think my trip to Iceland and England did a number on them, plus wearing them with no care subsequently and lately.

I will also look into some kiwi boot polish and see how to apply that afterwards....that would be a first for me. At this point the boots are nearing 1000 days old from when they arrived so it would make sense more now than ever.

Thanks again and I hope you have a good day today and weekend.

[goosehd]

@Oaktavia Pro tip: since your boots are very dry, apply one coat and allow it to sink in and dry completely, then apply another coat. Most likely this will take a course of a few days.

Only when the boots look wet and can wipe away excess conditioner, should you think about applying the shoe polish.

This may take you 4-5 days depending on just how dry they are.