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Yury wrote:I just bought a pair of nubuck leather hiking boots similar to http://www.rei.com/product/804864.
There is a label "Waterproof nubuck leather".

What waterproof treatment would you recommend for these boots?
Maintaining breathability is my first requirement and they should survive stream crossing and up to several hours of hiking in snow.

Nothing waterproof is going to breath enough to make any difference. If you want waterproof, use SnoSeal.

Nixwax for nubuck (applied liquid) is surprisingly good. But nothing will work on slushy, wet eastern snow for very long -- not even the venerable SnoSeal, which I used for 20 years. NixWax for nubuck works reasonably well on drier western snow.

Good gaiters will make a big difference.

Many years ago I found Sno-Seal very unsatisfactory and I switched to a product called Tectron Footwear Water Repellant sold at REI. I have used this on split leather hiking boots, and nubuck covered light gortex hikers (Asolo Fugitive) with great success. I can gauge the effectiveness on my nubuck/goretex mid weight mountaineering boots (Lowa Mountain Expert) by the fact that the suede keeps shedding the wetness rather than wetting out. It is important to re-apply the day before any outing in the snow. That is not so important in the summer for occasional stream crossings.

robertjoy wrote:Many years ago I found Sno-Seal very unsatisfactory

Why?

mconnell wrote:

robertjoy wrote:Many years ago I found Sno-Seal very unsatisfactory

Why?

A guess: SnoSeal on split leathers makes the boots stretch a bit, and also closes up the pores enough to make the shoes essentially unbreathable, but not enough to be waterproof.

MoapaPk wrote:

mconnell wrote:

robertjoy wrote:Many years ago I found Sno-Seal very unsatisfactory

Why?

A guess: SnoSeal on split leathers makes the boots stretch a bit, and also closes up the pores enough to make the shoes essentially unbreathable, but not enough to be waterproof.

That's pretty accurate, I think. I did used to snoseal my ol' Sorels, many years ago when working at the ski area. That was pretty much the only product available at the time, and the one everyone used. But, I'd be curious to see what Caribou/sorel recommend now.

MoapaPk wrote:

mconnell wrote:

robertjoy wrote:Many years ago I found Sno-Seal very unsatisfactory

Why?

A guess: SnoSeal on split leathers makes the boots stretch a bit, and also closes up the pores enough to make the shoes essentially unbreathable, but not enough to be waterproof.

Interesting. I've never had a pair of boots treated with snoseal leak, except that the soles of my old One Sports are coming apart from the uppers so they ain't so waterproof anymore.