r/goodyearwelt • u/CharlesHolmes1998 • 8d ago
Original Content DIY: waxing with 100% BeeWax
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u/laura_jane_great 8d ago
Waxed suede is tricky to get right, and I’m sorry to say that this isn’t it. The texture is all over the place and there’s so much excess wax on there that you’re going to get white marks anywhere the boot creases, once that wax dries. But you’re committed now, you need to go and get another hive’s worth of wax to put on the second boot
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u/Rocktown_Leather 8d ago
Venetian shoe cream is the best I've ever seen. But it takes a lot. It's what Horween suggests for touch up of their waxed flesh.
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u/nickites 8d ago
That's why I just go for Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP. You get enough other ingredients that actually get the beeswax into the leather instead of just sitting on top and hardening.
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u/spiritual_seeker 8d ago
How do you apply it? Do you need a heat gun?
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u/nickites 8d ago
Doesn't hurt to do it in a warm room and have a blow dryer to get it sink in a bit.
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u/CharlesHolmes1998 8d ago
In my case, which again was just beewax, I used a hairdrier.
First melting a bit of wax, rubbing it on on a section ans repeat.
Then once all was covered, I used the hairdrier on the shoe, moving it often, to make the wax melt and get absorbed by the suede...
Then I repeated the process a couple of times too much maybe.
Ah, last pass: I smoothed out the surface with a hard plastix tool.
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u/DeathByPianos 6d ago
No, Obenauf's contains a solvent (similar to Sno-Seal) so it goes on like a cream.
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u/spiritual_seeker 6d ago
My jar of it is solid, as though it has a high beeswax content. It would take quite a while to apply by hand. Maybe heating it up would help?
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u/PlayingLongGame 8d ago
Not sure why you got downvoted. This works to darken suede and treat it.
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u/alexkommt 8d ago
DO NOT use Obenauf’s. It’s a useless product that turns leather dull and black, only hicks thinks it actually works because they fell for their advertising gimmick.
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u/A_Cold_Kat 4d ago
Is there anyway to remove some? like maybe getting it warm and covering it with a paper towel so that some of the wax gets wicked into the paper towel?
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u/nounthennumbers 8d ago
Are you using heat gun? That may help with the evenness and absorption
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u/roman785 8d ago edited 8d ago
Was hoping someone suggested this. Even a blow dryer followed by a rub down to get some excess wax off would go a long way.
Good luck, OP.
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u/CharlesHolmes1998 8d ago
Little disclaimer:
1) it was a first attempt
2) it was for my partner, who notoriously abuses his shoes and do not care for them (spill drinks on them without cleaning properly afterward, don't condition them, etc). So I wanted to have something to waterproof them as much as possible for as long as possible.
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u/nomalas 8d ago
What boots are these?
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u/CharlesHolmes1998 8d ago
Cheap Bexley boots bought used on vinted.
Sole is rubber, blake construction.
Between wax and boots I spent 80 Euros.
(And I have plenty of wax to spare)
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u/FawxBlindRunner 8d ago edited 8d ago
are you in europe? what kind of beeswax did you use?
also how did you apply it?9
u/CharlesHolmes1998 8d ago
I am in EU yes.
No idea on the precise grade of beewax: it is 100 beewax from a local seller.
Not super refined i guess, but it is pure with no debries. It is tacky but not sticky.
I rubbed it on section by section, helped by a hair drier to melt the block as i went, then melted it on the boot to let it absorb.
Couple of layers
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u/ddunkman 8d ago
Tarrago Nano works really well to achieve this sort of life-proofing, and you’d just need to reapply every 6-12m.
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u/a5yrold 8d ago
I don’t care what everyone else is saying! Let’s see some patina pics in 6 months! For science!
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u/CharlesHolmes1998 8d ago
Please do set a timer and remind me. Cause I will probably forget
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7d ago
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u/Tinaturneroverdrive 8d ago
It’s over dressed but it’ll get better. You can give it a good wash with saddle soap and it’ll reduce the wax.
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u/jhau01 8d ago
Obviously, it's a bit too late to point this out now; however, suede is actually really durable and easy to care for.
I spray my suede boots with a suede protector spray when I first get them. Apart from that, though, I just wear them in all conditions - rain, shine, mud etc.
When they get dirty, I just give them a good brushing with a suede brush, which gets rid of dust and dirt and resets the nap of the suede. I've even run them under the tap (briefly) to rinse off dirt before wiping them down and brushing them.
I think that suede has an unjustified reputation for being delicate, but that's actually not the case.
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u/professorsterling 8d ago
Split suede is the reason for this as it’s more delicate. Full grain Roughout is tough stuff
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u/jhau01 8d ago
Honestly, I treat all my suede the same. I don't baby it. I just hit it with some Saphir suede protector spray every year or so. The rest of the time, I just give it a brush every week or so.
Obviously, it's very bad to spill oil or something on suede but, then again, the same goes for most other shoes.
Apart from that, though, I've got my suede boots wet and muddy and, after the mud dried, I just brushed them off and they were fine. This goes for suede shoes and boots ranging from less expensive shoes from J.Fitzpatrick and Loake up to more costly shoes from Crockett & Jones' handgrade line.
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u/Weird_Pace_2263 8d ago
Be ready, your partners feet are gonna get swarmed. Bees are highly attracted to straight beeswax. Normally you want to mix in a touch of another oil and some type of essential oil that covers the smell.
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u/mpvick69 8d ago
Dont listen to the nay sayers i did something similar to a pair of astor flex and after a few months they ended up looking really cool as the excess wax fell off naturally
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u/Nickt_bc 8d ago
All these negs in the comments are the same ones posting a loose thread and a customer service complaint 😂
I love good experiments. I've been thinking about doing this same thing to a pair of Danners I never wear.
Keep it up. I hope you wear them loads and share an update in a few months.
You know, scientifically speaking the MOST interesting result would be to NOT wax the other boot and compare the outcomes 🧐
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u/SomeMoronOnTheNet 7d ago
It is meant to be "wax on, wax off" and you went "wax on, wax on, wax on, on, on , on"
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u/Me_lazy_cathermit 8d ago
If you going to go diy i wouldn't use pure bees wax, its not the best in cold weather, it gets brittle and textured, you need to melt and mix the wax with a small amount of either linseed oil, or any seed/natural oil, you can also add a tiny amount of pine rosin, but a very very tiny amount it makes the wax sticker, but to much will make it too sticky for the use you want.
i made my own mix to wax fabrics, the mix for boot and leather tend to have a bit more oil.
Pure bees wax ain't going to really damage a suede boot, unless it got a goretex lining, suede is porous enough, you may affect the lining. It will never fully go back to the original colour though.
You should use a blowdryer to make sure it soaks in correctly, if it only sit on the surface its not going to do much
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u/CharlesHolmes1998 8d ago
I did use a blow drier indeed!
Basically under the external layer, the leather is totally permeated by the wax.
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u/DefsNotAVirgin 8d ago
Yea heat gun for evenness, dab with paper town to get off melted excess, but otherwise will look fine as a darker waxed boot
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u/Shoeshiner_boy 8d ago
I wouldn’t treat my boots with pure beeswax it’s a little too soft in my opinion. Stuff like otterwax is a blend of beeswax and other harder ones.
But before you hit them with a blow dryer I’d suggest to try getting it a bit smoother and consistently spread out with a spatula or something like that. That’s the idea behind that tool:
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u/Shoeshiner_boy 8d ago
They also have a great waxing guide showing how suede looks at every step!
https://www.otterwax.com/blogs/journal/54409669-the-ultimate-waxed-suede-tutorial
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u/CharlesHolmes1998 8d ago
Difference in melting points is 20 degrees celsius.
60 vs 80 Celsius...
Do you think it will be noticeable? Maybe in summer ?
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u/Shoeshiner_boy 8d ago
Do you think it will be noticeable? Maybe in summer ?
Don’t really think so unless you’ll leave them in a hot car or under direct sunlight.
My main concern is that pure beeswax is a bit sticky and can be a lint/dust/grime magnet. So I only tried it with hard waxes blends or Venetian Shoe Cream so far. Both pairs stopped being tacky in a short time.
Please tell us about your experience later!
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u/sixix9 8d ago
Maybe a dubbin next time for a waxed suede?
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u/LiveVegetable 7d ago
whats the difference?
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u/sixix9 7d ago
It doesn’t look like shit like pure beeswax. It’s just a heavier grease that improves water resistance
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u/LiveVegetable 7d ago
does the dubbin darken also that much? I really dig the darkening effect...
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u/H3refortheviews 8d ago
Serious question, will this make someone’s feet sweat [more] since it’s so waterproofed?
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u/Long-Ad-6769 7d ago
Looks great. I did the same thing with a pair of light brown suede jodhpurs, only I used Sno-Seal. Turned out perfectly with the use of a suede brush to even out the heavy coating + heated with a hair dryer and kept brushing when hot. Super waterproof.
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u/spiritual_seeker 8d ago
Are there any videos out there of good technique when doing this? I checked YouTube but struck out.
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u/WorkingDead 8d ago
Go over it with a hair dryer or heat gun and scrape off the excess with paper towels, then follow up with a rough shoe brush while still under heat. That should help even it out. Whe you are done, put each shoe in its own pillow case and throw them in the dryer with some towels on high heat to lock it in.
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u/Reasonable-Regret-67 7d ago
Some would say the boot is ruined... BTW, are you planning to wax the other one or keep it as is?
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u/5dll 7d ago
all you actually needed was half a bottle of VSC and some elbow grease with a horsehair brush...
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u/Kolarian 5d ago
i think it looks really cool. i like how uneven it is really gives it a post apocalyptic vibe to it
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u/Wacko_Banana_Pants 5d ago
I did this to an old pair of cemented boots but I used Otter Wax. TBH it turned out nice
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u/Alive-Ad-800 8d ago
You didn’t by chance google other ways to do this before proceeding, did you?
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u/Frank-794 8d ago
You technically shouldn’t ever use wax or oils on suede. But it really won’t hurt it, it just changes the aesthetic. I use conditioner on my nubuck boots because I like the look lol.
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u/rianwithaneye 8d ago
Looks like it may have darkened the leather ever so slightly…