Dubbin Polish for Walking Boots

Q. I have been told dubbin is great for leather boots, but it rots the stitches??

Have you heard of that before??

Hope you can help.

Richard Simpson, Launceston

A. Hi I am an Archer I use dubbin on my cotton bowstrings my bows have an 80lb so I think that proves that dubbin doesn't rot cotton

Nigel Smith, Rotherham

A. Greetings all, over the years my time in the military has taken me to various battle terrain.

From wet jungle to hot desert and all the variations in between.

My combat boots were traditionally hi-laced leather with jump soles and DUBBIN was the only product used.

No ingress of water at any time during service.

My parade/inspection boots were boned to a hi-shine and on those I used traditional black boot polish (Kiwi, Nugget etc)

For post military PMC and then Law Enforcement use my boots were Hi-Tec standard leather and then Hi-Tec V-Lite (Ion Mask) with Vibram soles.

The constant has been DUBBIN and the only HI-TECH (pun intended) change has been a hair drier to really spread the dubbin and allow deeper penetration into the leather.

Sand (well mostly sand but sometimes mud and other dirt) was always thoroughly removed before the application of my trusty dubbin.

No lace rot at all was evident during any of the above deployments.

I hope my comment added value to this topic.

Regards

Kevin Bodenham, Dublin / Cape Town / Wherever I'm Deployed.mcn

A. Hi, I wear ex army boots, traditionally made from leather. My walks take me through mud and water etc.

I always clean and polish my boots after each walk followed by a liberal coat of "Dubbin" including the boot laces.

I have yet to have any problems with my boots so to conclude, Dubbin, in my opinion does not damage the stitching or fabric of the boots.

Philip Astley, Pembroke

A. Dubbin does not rot the stitches, but the conventional wisdom is that if used carelessly, it can get lumped around stitches on the weal, where it attracts dust and dirt. It's the detritus that damages the stitching, not the dubbin. Clean it off properly, and you'll be fine.

Ben Hudson, Bournemouth

A. I have been using Dubbin for 3/4 years on my current walking boots and have not yet found any problem with this rotting the stitching. My father used dubbin on all his outdoor leather footwear for many years and never seemed to have a problem.

Sheila Smith, York

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