My Limmer Boot Journey - Part 3 (Care and Feeding)

My posts about my Limmer Lightweight boots have been quite popular, so I thought I'd post an update now that I have a couple hundred miles on them -  not that you would be able to tell if you looked at them.  In case you missed it, here's part 1 where I talk about what it takes to get even off-the-shelf Limmer boots, and here's part 2 where I discuss my first impressions and how I broke the rules and wore them backpacking way sooner than recommended.


Since that first trip, I've worn my Limmer Lightweights quite a bit.  Mostly yard work and tough outside chores getting ready for winter, but also some day hikes on my favorite local trails.  One thing I've noticed is that they can go from pristine, recently cleaned and greased to a muddy, lived-in mess in just a few miles.  I love that about my Limmers.  I've been very faithful in following care instructions.  When I bought my boots I also bought a cleaning kit from Limmer which included a brass brush for cleaning, two jars of Limmer Boot Grease (the recommended leather conditioner), and a horsehair brush for applying said grease, all neatly packaged in a nice little storage bag. 

My Care Routine 

Every now and then my boots get muddy or stop shedding water efficiently, and I know it's time to give them a good clean and condition.  The picture below shows mine after a couple of days of light yard work.  They're dirty, but not awful... I've seen them much worse.  But, for the sake of demonstration, let's just assume they need some love.  One very important thing to note is that the boots need to be absolutely dry before starting.  I try hard to keep mine indoors, especially if I know it's going to be more than a few days before I wear them again.  By storing them in a warm, dry spot in my basement (I know, basements are usually neither warm nor dry, but mine is) they can dry slowly and naturally.  This helps prevent shortened life and cracked leather.

My Limmer Boots before cleaning (they actually can get much worse than this)

 

The first thing I do is knock off all the large chunks of mud.  I do this outside because my wife, for some reason, doesn't like when I knock chunks of mud off inside.  I do this after every use.  Leaving mud on there for a long time is just asking for dry rot, so I try to always knock the mud off before I take them off for the day.

Assuming they're free of chunks of mud and also completely dry, I grab the brass brush from my cleaning kit and start scrubbing.  I try to get all the dirt out and open up the pores of the leather.  It's also important to really clean the welt - this is the area where the upper is attached to the sole, and it's the hardest working part of the boot.  My completely unofficial belief is that more good* boots have failed from people mistreating or failing to care for the welt than from any other reason.

*I say good boots because shitty boots fail for all kinds of reasons.  Good boots fail because of lack of care and lack of care only.




Scrub that welt!

 

 

Back to cleaning.  So I scrub the whole boot with my brass brush, paying special attention to get the welt clean.  After I'm done with this step, the boot looks even worse than when I started.



The boot in front has been brass brushed, the one in back is next.

Next up I'll pull out the laces and inspect the boot all-around.  Now that it's clean this is the time to look for any damage or other potential issues that need to be addressed.  Lucky for me these boots are built really well and they're also really new, so no major issues to be seen.

I'll do this cleaning, brushing, and inspecting for both boots, and then it's time to apply the Limmer Boot Grease.  As I mentioned above, I ordered a care kit with my boots that included two jars of the grease along with a horsehair brush to apply it (and the brass brush that we already covered).

Limmer Boot Grease is a Limmer concoction of animal grease with some waterproofing additives.  Application is pretty simple - I rub the brush around inside the jar and then rub it into the leather.  I tend to go in circles and also back and forth, trying to really work the grease into the boots.  As this happens the leather starts to come back to life.  I've found that a thin layer is plenty, but really "thirsty" boots might require a second thin later a day or two later.  A couple of thin layers is better than one thick layer - the leather needs to be able to breathe. 



The boot in the front has been greased, the one in the back just came in from outside.

Once both boots are well cleaned and greased I'm all done.  I will argue that a well treated full leather boot is more waterproof and breathable than any synthetic membrane boot.  Here's how my Limmer Lightweights looked recently when I took them off after a snowy hike:



Who needs Gore-Tex with water beads like that?

A Final Note

I did not receive compensation in any form from anyone to write this article.  I purchased my Limmer Lightweight Boots and boot care kit with my own hard-earned money.  The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone and have not been tainted by any third party.

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