Boot Oil vs Mink Oil - What's Best for Red Wing Heritage Boots?

Guys, don’t make the same mistake I did with my Red Wing Iron Rangers. Darkening your leather doesn’t *damage* it, but if you want them to maintain their color and attain a rich patina as they age, you need to use the right products.

There are a lot of mixed messages out there about how to properly care for your boots and which products work best for different purposes. To help clear the air, I spoke to no less than six Red Wing representatives around the United States to try and find out the answer, here’s what I found out.

Note that while you’ll get different advice for some of their fancier, smooth finished leathers like the Teak Featherstone, all the Red Wing reps I spoke to said these tips will work on any of the oil tanned leathers produced for Red Wing Heritage boots.

** Ingredients **

Mink Oil: Mink oil, lanolin, silicone, and some other ingredients. (Red Wing, like most companies, is cagey about revealing the precise formula of these products.)

Boot Oil: Mink oil, pine pitch, no silicone.

** Effects **

For an animal fat, mink oil is really high in unsaturated fat but it’s very stable and unlikely to ever go rancid, so it makes for a useful fat for moisturizing boots.

Mink oil is generally used to make boots weather resistant: it clogs the leather pores and makes something of a barrier that helps to protect the boots from water and muck.

It also darkens the leather. Note that this doesn’t mean you’ve damaged the leather, it’s just changed color.

For many people, all they want is boots that can withstand a beating and they don’t care about the color darkening. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

If you don’t want them to darken, is Boot Oil better? Not really, because it contains mink oil as well. The pine pitch appears to help the mink oil to last longer on the boot so it may require fewer applications and may be more useful for extreme temperatures.

** Preserving color **

Red Wing’s Leather Cream is what you want for that.

It’s made from neatsfoot oil — the rendered shin and feet bones of cattle — and it moisturizes the leather without darkening it. It’s a gentler product, the flipside of a cream that doesn’t penetrate the leather quite as profoundly as the other products is that it might need more frequent applications: every month or two, depending on how hard you wear them. And how much you care about all this stuff.

** The Takeaway **

Mink Oil and Boot Oil are great for weatherproofing and conditioning, and Boot Oil may last longer on the boot. (Red Wing’s Leather Conditioner, by the way, is the same as the Boot Oil with some beeswax added.)

If you’re more about lustre and patina, go with the Leather Cream.

[drzaius]

I only use mink oil, as it was recommended by the shop gal at Redwing. It works really well at conditioning the leather, keeping it supple, and I like the darker color anyway. My only concern is preserving the leather as long as possible, I don’t really care what shade of brown it is. I’ve had mine for 6 years, and I wear them probably 360 days a year, to work and on my motorcycle. I finally resoled them last year by RW, and they are going strong - just a small hole in the tongue where an eyelet grommet has worn through over time. No biggie. Love them. Mink oil for the win.

[redram]

I worked in a concrete plant and put my boots through Hell. I was tired of buying Brahmas from Wally World every six months, but needed to make sure whatever I bought was gonna last If I’m spending 3-4x bargain basement footwear. Several coworkers whose opinion I respected recommended Carolina Boots and Mink oil. Four years later, and I still wear those boots daily. They are in need of a resoling at this point, to be completely honest. About every three months I have a three day weekend. When I get home I use dish soap and a stiff brush to scrub my boots down, laces out. After they dry in the sun or on a heater vent, the following morning I oil them with a hairdryer and a rag. Once they’re reoiled and wiped down, they spend the remainder of the weekend in the sun or on a heat vent. More than once I’ve been asked if I bought new boots after returning to work. And my legs and back feel much better with quality boots

As someone who has never been vain or judgey about my footwear beyond “That looks good, I’ll have that...”, I REALLY, REALLY ENJOY cleaning and oiling my boots. It’s very meditative... like waxing a car or building an engine. If I know spending more money means I’ll get more for my money, I appreciate that.

[harrylime]

I was a meter reader in Pennsylvania for 19 years. That was my favorite job of my life now that I’m retired and look back on it. They paid me to stay in shape. No two days were the same.I walked for about five hours a day.I learned a lot about shoes. One thing is, you cannot buy cheap shoes For work. I actually wore a new pair of cheap shoes out in two days, Actually both shoes started to come apart at the stitching. They just fell apart. I think they were gorilla brand shoes, a copy of wolverine 6 inch shoes that were my favorites. They looked just like them and they were 1/3 the price so I bought them.
I have learned that if you use oil‘s on your shoes and the shoes are glued rather than stitched, the oil‘s tend to not only make the shoe grow and stretch on your foot And actually look like an old wet stretched out shoe.but it also softens the glue grip on the leather bond between the shoe and the sole..Sometimes using liquid silicone can act like a solvent and cause the glue to give up its grip on the sole also. I also learned that is
with cleated souls like Vibram soles with deep tread can cause you to trip on carpeting and they can catch as you roll over the edges of steps as you walk down causing you to lose your balance. I am not a big fan of the speed lace open hooks at the tops of shoes. They catch on your pant legs, and sometimes pull the threads out of your pants if they’re heimed..

Wolverine shoes used to make a 6 inch unlined buckskin Colored smooth leather work boot with a black hard rubber looking sole, it was softer than a hockey puck but it looked like it was made out of similar material. They were my favorite work boots, I went through about eight pairs of them over the 19 years, and I never wore the soles out on any of them. They had good traction, a soft quiet walk, and they broke in quickly. After lots of service, The tops would separate from the soles because my shoes were wet by 915 every morning walking in the grass reading meters. And then in the evenings being dried by a fan, I tried to keep up with leather conditioners to keep the leather from drying out from that harsh wet/Dry/wet/dry cycle they were in, but I usually did get two years out of a pair. I always switched to insulated winter boots for cold weather then Heavy duty winter boots for snowday, I would read average 500 meters at individual houses walking through the grass and on concrete up-and-down steps up and down lawns over fences through bushes, In and out of private homes, in and out of businesses and apartment buildings/in and out of mall utility rooms behind industrial parks, ECT. I walked fast because I got to go home and get ready to start my second job, so the shoes really got punished.
I have learned that you cannot have a flexible sole shoe. You have to have a stiff so shoe for walking on all types of services. It makes your foot flex and all directions if you have a soft soul and your feet will be killing you within two hours
I have also learned that there is no such thing as waterproof. I did have a pair of Timberland elk hide boots, they’re very dark brown, they were winter boots with calf lining. They were expensive, but they were the only boots I ever had that were actually waterproof by the factory. The inside of the shoes actually rotted out before the elk hide gaveup it’s water resistance. I had them for about 12 years, I only wore them on snow days. I guess I should have rinsed them out with a mixture of baking soda and water to get the acid from my skin out of the leather lining every year. But other than that, there is no such thing as waterproof except for rubber.
When you work outside, and you walk in grass, winter is not the time that your feet get wet, it is all summer, the grass is wet every morning up until about noon even if it doesn’t rain. And your feet are soaked from 9 AM on. Waxes that you apply with a hair dryer heating and work it into the leather helps with water resistance, but it also makes the shoe not breathe. I have also heard that mink oil can rot some shoes stitching...
I have been using a lubricant rustproofing product called fluid film, which is an extract from wool bearing animals, I suppose that means sheep. That is lanolin, and I’ve been using it on shoes and belts, and that works for reconditioning making the shoes look good and moisturizing dry leather.. I also use it on my leather motorcycle jackets, and wallets. I originally bought fluid film to rust proof my truck, and right on the label, in the applications for use paragraph, it’s suggested using it on leather.. and I have been using it on leather ever since..
I have learned that to break in work leather boots. This sounds crazy, but it worked for me. Fill them up with water and put them on and wear them for a day. They will fit your foot perfectly like a paint job. They were going to get soaked anyway walking in the grass, so I started doing that when I would buy a new pair of work boots/shoes and it works.I would not do that with a pair of wolverine thousand miles shoes or the red wing Rangers. But work boots that are all leather,
Some work shoes have a gimmick soul called a durashock absorbing sole..It has a heightened center that is not flush with the sole or on the heel. The problem with that sole that I have had is, I would have my ankle kickout sideways if I would step on something as small as a peach seed and I even fell a few times.there were a couple times I thought I broke my ankle because That durashock sole with that shock absorbing center is not as wide as the shoe sole. And I never bought those shoes with thedurashock soles again. I think they’re called Durashock soles.. they might be good for somebody working in a machine shop that doesn’t do much walking and they stand on concrete all day. But for someone that’s out walking on grass and up and down steps, I don’t think they’re very safe. I’ve turned my ankle many times with those shoes.
Don’t buy cheap work boots. Joe

[MrHonwe]

Literally just bought a pair of Red Wing IRs without considering to by boot care products...your video helped. thx.

[Stridewise]

Sorry the sound was a bit weird on this one, guys!

[melissasolis]

Redwing recently made a new product called heritage leather conditioner. Specificly for hydration without the darkening. Definenlty recommend it for anyone who specificly cares about the look. Great vedio once again. 👌

[MrBlizzard]

I’m 32 now and still have my same pair of danner I got when I was 15 . I now have quite a few pairs for work etc and I’ve always used mink oil . It softens the leather and my boots feel like a comfortable pair of slippers . I’m sure other products work well also but I like to stick to what I’ve always used . Although it’s become more difficult to find now due to animal rights activists etc .

[uniquehorn]

If you are going to use mink oil, use it very sparingly. I just dab a little bit on my finger and spread it on the upper very thinly. As thinly as possible, just enough to hit all areas of the upper. This way, you minimize any darkening. My results doing it this way gives you the good protection of mink oil with minimal darkening.

[MMMX]

It's difficult to generalize, it really depends on the type of mink oil.. I've been using Angelus "Mink Oil" spray for years and it works great, especially against water. It does darken a little bit, but eventually the oil will wear off and the leather will retain it's original color.

[bezclip]

Having using Red Wing Leather Cream for all my RW shoes, colour unchanged! Best shoe care product ever!

[IMAXXHEW]

Living in Pacific Northwest, my boots go through a lot. Weather ranges from below freezing/snow about 20°+F, to hard wet rain, harsh wind, and blazing hot 120°+F. I ride a motorcycle as my only form of transportation most of the time, or I walk to work about 1 mile away. My boots are not for fashion, but for purpose. I have some Iron Rangers, Moc Toes, Supersoles, and a pair of steel toes. Leathers are a mix of Charcoal rough and tough, Oro, and some other plain work boot brown. The only products I will use on them is Safeguard bar soap for cleaning, and Huberds Shoe Grease fir protecting. Safeguard is antibacterial for cleaning with foamy lathery bubbles, and Huberds is made of some kind of sticky beeswax mix with pine tar for weatherproofing and durability. It does darken the leather, but I don't really care about that. I also use Huberds on my Harley-Davidson FLSTSCI leather seat, saddlebags, and leather jackets/vests.

[Citizen__]

Oil mink paste for everything. Clean up and making them loon pretty. Keeps me dry through the winter all year.

[FrankGutowski-lsjt]

I apply mink oil, then heat it with a hair dryer. It liquifies and soaks in, allowing for multiple coats. It does a fantastic job of water proofing leather.

[Gnorfgnegeff]

I personally use a leather fat on my red Iron Rangers to prepare them for the fall/winter season. At spring repeat that and use a colour matching shoe cream every other month. They look great in their third year, the color is almost like new and they show some wrinkles and scratches from use. I use the same method for all my other boots and it works very well.

[CH-bpbj]

I’m literally watching this in front of a Red Wings store. Thank you for another great review! 🙏

[ZakHancock]

For smooth leathers (that will take a shine) I use Venetian cream. For all else I use Bick 4. Neither will ever darken leather, and work amazingly well.

[michaelburgess]

I'm an employee at red wing. I wouldn't be even a little surprised if many people at red wing weren't sure or didn't care which products were best for your heritage. Boot oil and mink oil are the most convenient, effective and easy to use products, but they are going to darken your leather dramatically. I would recommend using fiebings saddle soap and sometimes this is good enough for a one and done, but if you want more conditioner then you should use red wings leather conditioner (not to be confused with all natural leather conditioner). I only use the 'boot cream' if it's black cream on a black boot. If you don't want to use one of our conditioners then I would recommend venetian leather balm, chamberlain's leather milk, or leather honey. Those are the three products that will darken your leather the least.

[robertsandgren]

Note regarding the winter performance of these boots. When walking (NOT remaining stationary) they are comfortable at least down to -5C, thick leather is nice! The sole gives quite good grip on ice but is less suited for slippery mud and snow. Gravel doesn't seem to get stuck NEARLY as easily in mini-lugs as it does in real lugs.

I've chosen to use Red Wing boot chream on most of the boot to maintain the colour, but saphir renovateur on heel- and toe-cap. Both because the caps need more care And because I enjoy the variation in colour it creates.

[pete]

I've only ever used mink oil & love the results. I have a pair of boots that are probably about 18 years old and they still look new. Now, I primarily just wear them in the winter or when it's raining in the summer, so I guess they're only about 9yrs old LOL.
I didn't realize that every company has there own recipe. I switched to a different brand this year & noticed that it darkened a different pair of boots up quit a bit, probably 5 shades darker. The older boots are black, the newer ones are now a very dark brown. Oh well, as long as the results are the same.
Thanks for your videos brother. Love them

[Glassjaw]

Mink oil also softens leather. I've used it on leathers to make them more supple. Some leather don't darken with the mink oil, depending on the finish. As for the cream. Not sure if it would darken the leather, but pure neatsfoot oil certainly will, depending on the leather.