Club Obi Wan

After an accidental cooking oil spill in the canteen at work I found myself with horrible dark oil blotches on the side of one of my 405 boots. I initially tried both talc and leather degreaser to remove the marks but to no avail.

Being a new member here I trawled the forum for ideas of what I could do and am pleased with the results I have achieved drawing from all your wise words!

My first move after the leather degreaser (which faded the stains a little but also started to remove colour) was to try Alden dark brown boot cream to try and darken the boots up a little and hopefully hide the stains. Initially I found the boot cream a little uneven so after the application I then cleaned the boots with a lexol cleaner wipe followed by a lexol conditioner wipe. This evened out the colour a fair bit and also brought the stitching back out as well. It gave the boots quite a nice antique look but alas the stains, although now a bit more subdued, still shone through.

I decided my next move was to go down the obenauf's leather oil route. I had seen some examples by you guys on here of the darkening results the oil has achieved so I figured I'd fight cooking oil with leather oil!

And I'm glad I did! Not only am I happy that the cooking oil stains no longer stand out but I'm happier with the new colour of the boots.

Here are the boots pre-staining


Here are the dastardly stains



And here is the end result after all of the processes



Without the help of this forum I would still probably be looking down in disappointment at the stains, so thanks everyone for all the useful tips and tricks on here!

Looks great!

Keep in mind, Lexol is a water based condition/cleaner, so you were, indeed, fighting a losing battle with an oil based stain.

You chose the right route.

Regard! Michaelson

Thanks

You're quite right, just using the lexol would have been pointless for the stains, it made no difference to them at all!

I did find the lexol evened out the Alden boot cream quite nicely and brightened up the stitching after the boot cream darkened them way too much though so at least a little good came out of using it.

The darker color is very nice. Glad that worked out for you.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

lankywookiee wrote:After an accidental cooking oil spill in the canteen at work I found myself with horrible dark oil blotches on the side of one of my 405 boots. I initially tried both talc and leather degreaser to remove the marks but to no avail.

Being a new member here I trawled the forum for ideas of what I could do and am pleased with the results I have achieved drawing from all your wise words!

My first move after the leather degreaser (which faded the stains a little but also started to remove colour) was to try Alden dark brown boot cream to try and darken the boots up a little and hopefully hide the stains. Initially I found the boot cream a little uneven so after the application I then cleaned the boots with a lexol cleaner wipe followed by a lexol conditioner wipe. This evened out the colour a fair bit and also brought the stitching back out as well. It gave the boots quite a nice antique look but alas the stains, although now a bit more subdued, still shone through.

I decided my next move was to go down the obenauf's leather oil route. I had seen some examples by you guys on here of the darkening results the oil has achieved so I figured I'd fight cooking oil with leather oil!

And I'm glad I did! Not only am I happy that the cooking oil stains no longer stand out but I'm happier with the new colour of the boots.

Here are the boots pre-staining


Here are the dastardly stains



And here is the end result after all of the processes



Without the help of this forum I would still probably be looking down in disappointment at the stains, so thanks everyone for all the useful tips and tricks on here!

Hey! I saw these a while back and always wanted to ask how they are looking now. Did the color stay dark like that? I have a new pair that are quite orange and I wanted to darken them up without the stitching changing as well.

Hey, look at that. New Indy boots, and at a fraction of the cost!

Capt. Blumburtt wrote: Hey! I saw these a while back and always wanted to ask how they are looking now. Did the color stay dark like that? I have a new pair that are quite orange and I wanted to darken them up without the stitching changing as well.

Hi Capt. Blumburtt!
They stayed dark but the reddishness has slowly crept back through over time. Here's a couple of pictures of their current state...

I read the title of your thread and thought, that's no big deal, just treat the boots in leather oil.

lankywookiee wrote:

Capt. Blumburtt wrote: Hey! I saw these a while back and always wanted to ask how they are looking now. Did the color stay dark like that? I have a new pair that are quite orange and I wanted to darken them up without the stitching changing as well.

Hi Capt. Blumburtt!
They stayed dark but the reddishness has slowly crept back through over time. Here's a couple of pictures of their current state...

Wow those turned out really well! I love that color. It encourages me to do the same. Thanks!