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Taking care of brogans

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  • #1

    Taking care of brogans

    I recently purchased a pair of used MB&S brogans off this forum and I love them. I have diabetes and foot care is important. These fit better than any brogan I have worn in 16 years of being in the lifestyle.
    My question is, to keep them in good shape, what do YA'LL do to your shoes? I recently melted some sno-seal into them to water proof them. They have evidence of heavy polish at one time. I may work some more polish into them.
    But in general what does one do? I want these to last me a good long time.

    thanks in advance for hints n kinks..

    Ronnie - Shreveport
    Ronnie Hull
    Lt Co G 3rd La / Co C 48th OVI
    Shreveport, La

    Independent Rifles and all of hell followed "
    Western Independent Greys

    Descendent of Levi W. Leech - Private, Co G Tenth Texas Cavalry, Dmtd 1861-1865, AOT

    2009 Bummers November 13 - 16
    2010 Vicksburg L.O.L February 5-7
    Before the Breakout September 10-12
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Taking care of brogans

    I use Hunberd's Shoe grease on my Brogans and Boots. Keeping them properly treated with this, my footwear stays waterproof, supple and in great shape.

    Sorry... I originally identified the product as Hubert's placing a 'T' where there should have been a 'D'.
    Last edited by BrianHicks; 03-30-2008, 10:09 AM.
    Brian Hicks
    Widows' Sons Mess
    Known lately to associate with the WIG and the Armory Guards

    "He's a good enough fellow... but I fear he may be another Alcibiades."

    “Every man ever got a statue made of him was one kinda sumbitch or another. It ain’t about you. It’s about what THEY need.”CAPTAIN MALCOLM REYNOLDS

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Taking care of brogans

      Good saddle soap for the occasional cleaning and mink oil after they dry is good maintainence. Serio sells shoe blacking as well if you are into keeping them black but I just let mine wear the color naturally. Also, if you get them wet at an event and have the time afterwards, wear them till they are dry as it'll help them better contour to your feet as well as keep them from shrinking too much.
      Chris R. Henderson

      Big'uns Mess/Black Hat Boys
      WIG/GVB
      In Memory of Wm. Davis Couch, Phillips Legion Cav. from Hall Co. GEORGIA

      It's a trick, Gen. Sherman!...there's TWO of 'em! ~Lewis Grizzard

      "Learning to fish for your own information will take you a lot further than merely asking people to feed you the info you want." ~Troy Groves:D

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Taking care of brogans

        Both the above gentlemen offer perfect advice. I too use mink oil, just occasionally as they make the shoe heavy with too much applied. Also, do not DRY them at the campfire, if they get really wet, as they will shrink, dry out like toast and warp. The very best advice I can offer you, especially with your concern about foot care with diabetes, and if your budget allows, is to print off an MB&S order form with foot tracing and get them to make you a pair of your favorite shoes conforming precisely to your own 2 feet. The investment is clearly worth it.

        I own 2 pair of MB&S bootees; first pair I ordered fit to my feet, second pair I bought off this forum in my size but somewhat shaped to previous owner's feet. I can get through a weekend in them, they fit great, but there are wear points on my feet with the second pair. The ones I had "custom" fit, they are like a second skin.

        My 14 year old son came down with type I diabetes just over 2 years ago. I am sensitive to your issue and hope I have helped you on your search for answers. I hope one day you can put a traced pair on your feet, but by no means should you discard the ones you just got; care for them well and save them for a rainy day. Best of luck.
        Joe Madden
        13th New Hampshire Vols.
        Co. E
        Unattached

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Taking care of brogans

          A couple quick thoughts...

          When using Neatsfoot Oil or Mink Oil, one must be careful how these are applied to the leather, as they can prematurely rot the leather...thereby making the leather brittle and prone to cracking.

          I reccommend using a good saddle soap to clean the dirt out of the leather regularly, letting the shoes thoroughly dry...and then following up with a good coat of Dubbin.

          *Dubbin is essentially a mixture of beef tallow and cod-liver oil, and beeswax...this mixture is absolute in maintaining ones leather...and yes it's period.

          If unable/unwilling to go through the tedious produce yourself...talk with Nick Duvall about obtaining some, as he has stocked some by the brand of J.E. Sedgwick & Co. (an English Leather Company in the business for the past 200 years).

          Paul B.
          Paul B. Boulden Jr.


          RAH VA MIL '04
          (Loblolly Mess)
          [URL="http://23rdva.netfirms.com/welcome.htm"]23rd VA Vol. Regt.[/URL]
          [URL="http://www.virginiaregiment.org/The_Virginia_Regiment/Home.html"]Waggoner's Company of the Virginia Regiment [/URL]

          [URL="http://www.military-historians.org/"]Company of Military Historians[/URL]
          [URL="http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer"]Museum of the Confederacy[/URL]
          [URL="http://www.historicsandusky.org/index.html"]Historic Sandusky [/URL]

          Inscription Capt. Archibold Willet headstone:

          "A span is all that we can boast, An inch or two of time, Man is but vanity and dust, In all his flower and prime."

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Taking care of brogans

            Thanks fellows for all this wonderful information. Its why I posted here, I knew I would get the right answers. The pair of brogues I bought off this forum do fit me fine but yes they have a couple of wear points. They don't cause blisters but I am always aware of those spots. I did, in fact, print the order info from MB&S and will custom order a pair to have in time for the summer. My diabetes is pretty under control. In fact I have noticed that I really don't need to take as much of my meds as usual at an event, because I'm so active my level stays wayyyyy down. Thanks for the concern.

            Ronnie
            Ronnie Hull
            Lt Co G 3rd La / Co C 48th OVI
            Shreveport, La

            Independent Rifles and all of hell followed "
            Western Independent Greys

            Descendent of Levi W. Leech - Private, Co G Tenth Texas Cavalry, Dmtd 1861-1865, AOT

            2009 Bummers November 13 - 16
            2010 Vicksburg L.O.L February 5-7
            Before the Breakout September 10-12

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Taking care of brogans

              I've had a Query on where to find the Huberd's Shoe Grease.

              Misssouri Boot and Shoes carry it, and you'll also find it at: http://www.huberds.com/products.html
              Brian Hicks
              Widows' Sons Mess
              Known lately to associate with the WIG and the Armory Guards

              "He's a good enough fellow... but I fear he may be another Alcibiades."

              “Every man ever got a statue made of him was one kinda sumbitch or another. It ain’t about you. It’s about what THEY need.”CAPTAIN MALCOLM REYNOLDS

              Comment

              • #8
                Hallo!

                Just to amplify some previous caveats...

                IMHO, leather longevity is a mix of maintaining the proper oil (moisture) content in the leather (less than 30%).
                Too little moisture and the leather cracks and breaks from dryness and its inability to have its skin cells move and slide.
                Too much oil and the leather cracks and breaks from the individual skin cells swelling and distending or bursting.

                The fastest way to destroy shoes is to wet them and dry them too fast by a heat source like a fire. (It causes trapepd water in the cells to expand violently, and so dries out the leather that one can get potato chips instead of shoes.)

                Slower ways to decrease life and longevity is to:

                1. over oil them.
                2. or use modern petro-chemical based shoe or boot water-proofing products. The petro- chemicals can be acidic, and they can also break down into solvents that destroy the leather (skin).
                3. put them away wet
                4. expose them to heat when wet

                Plus, while judicious oil application is good for maintianing moisture levels, non petro chemical shoe polishes/greases are superior because they can help the leather grain surfact resist excess environmental water as well as molds that attack the "dead skin" to feed off of it.

                I still have every pair of shoes or boots I bought since 1977.

                Curt

                (Herr Ronnie...

                You may want to soak your shoes for a bit, put plastic bags over your stockinged feet, and then wear them around until they start to dry. (Then let them slowly fully dry). This can have sometimes have a positive effect on customizing or "wet molding" the shoes to the peculiarities of your left and right feet (our feet are not symmetrical) and help to reduce or eliminate minor disagreements between feet and shoes.)
                Last edited by Curt Schmidt; 03-30-2008, 10:37 AM.
                Curt Schmidt
                In gleichem Schritt und Tritt, Curt Schmidt

                -Hard and sharp as flint...secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
                -Haplogroup R1b M343 (Subclade R1b1a2 M269)
                -Pointless Folksy Wisdom Mess, Oblio Lodge #1
                -Vastly Ignorant
                -Often incorrect, technically, historically, factually.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Taking care of brogans

                  Just as another question, does it make sense to collect beef fat at home (like drippings off of steaks or hamburgers), let them sit over night and use the white fat or tallow on the leather? Seems to me, since the leather came from the cow, the fat from the cow should be a natural fit for keeping the leather in good condition. I read the reference to dubbin a few posts ago but this seems simpler and cheaper. Just wondering....:sarcastic
                  Chris R. Henderson

                  Big'uns Mess/Black Hat Boys
                  WIG/GVB
                  In Memory of Wm. Davis Couch, Phillips Legion Cav. from Hall Co. GEORGIA

                  It's a trick, Gen. Sherman!...there's TWO of 'em! ~Lewis Grizzard

                  "Learning to fish for your own information will take you a lot further than merely asking people to feed you the info you want." ~Troy Groves:D

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Re: Taking care of brogans

                    I can see my dog chewing off the beef drippings on my shoes now! :tounge_sm
                    Frank Perkin

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Taking care of brogans

                      Originally posted by C.R. Henderson View Post
                      Just as another question, does it make sense to collect beef fat at home (like drippings off of steaks or hamburgers), let them sit over night and use the white fat or tallow on the leather? Seems to me, since the leather came from the cow, the fat from the cow should be a natural fit for keeping the leather in good condition. I read the reference to dubbin a few posts ago but this seems simpler and cheaper. Just wondering....:sarcastic
                      Chris,

                      Unfortunately, while the drippings from your steak and hamburgers is beef fat, it most likely is not tallow. I found the easiest way to render tallow is to go to the local butcher and procure all the beef fat trimmings in bulk (usually I've gotten this for free as they typically throw this away)...I then pack a crock pot or stock pot full of the beef fat and water...as this cooks down, I pull out all the fibrous junk that would act as impurities...after straining and boiling down several times you will be left with pure tallow...I found for a few pounds of tallow, it typically took me 2-4 days to cook down (not being my center focus).

                      The rendered tallow, should appear as an opague white cream when properly cooked down.

                      Yes, the rendered tallow is great because it adds the natural oils back into the leather...the beeswax in the mixture helps to keep the dubbin in more of a thick paste as opposed to a gooey liquid...the cod-liver oil must have some beneficial purpose to the mixture, but this is beyond me...perhaps Nick D. or Neil Rose may have more insight on this.

                      Paul B.
                      Paul B. Boulden Jr.


                      RAH VA MIL '04
                      (Loblolly Mess)
                      [URL="http://23rdva.netfirms.com/welcome.htm"]23rd VA Vol. Regt.[/URL]
                      [URL="http://www.virginiaregiment.org/The_Virginia_Regiment/Home.html"]Waggoner's Company of the Virginia Regiment [/URL]

                      [URL="http://www.military-historians.org/"]Company of Military Historians[/URL]
                      [URL="http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer"]Museum of the Confederacy[/URL]
                      [URL="http://www.historicsandusky.org/index.html"]Historic Sandusky [/URL]

                      Inscription Capt. Archibold Willet headstone:

                      "A span is all that we can boast, An inch or two of time, Man is but vanity and dust, In all his flower and prime."

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Taking care of brogans

                        just two big, interesting-shaped hide chews.
                        [FONT=Trebuchet MS]Joanna Norris Forbes[/FONT]

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Re: Taking care of brogans

                          Originally posted by hiplainsyank View Post
                          just two big, interesting-shaped hide chews.
                          My big black Lab would probably think the same thing. Big being the key term here!
                          Chris R. Henderson

                          Big'uns Mess/Black Hat Boys
                          WIG/GVB
                          In Memory of Wm. Davis Couch, Phillips Legion Cav. from Hall Co. GEORGIA

                          It's a trick, Gen. Sherman!...there's TWO of 'em! ~Lewis Grizzard

                          "Learning to fish for your own information will take you a lot further than merely asking people to feed you the info you want." ~Troy Groves:D

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Re: Taking care of brogans

                            Hallo!

                            Yes, in CW era tanning...
                            Cod oil was used as a medium term treatment, and tallow as a longer term treatment for leather as part of the process.
                            Beeswax as part of subsequent dressings or "shoe polish" helps "seal" the surface grain of the leather item making it more resistant to water, mold, mildew, and insects.
                            (Plus the lampblack restored and keep a decent black look to what otehrwise would be worn gray looking leather.)

                            Curt
                            Curt Schmidt
                            In gleichem Schritt und Tritt, Curt Schmidt

                            -Hard and sharp as flint...secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
                            -Haplogroup R1b M343 (Subclade R1b1a2 M269)
                            -Pointless Folksy Wisdom Mess, Oblio Lodge #1
                            -Vastly Ignorant
                            -Often incorrect, technically, historically, factually.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Re: Taking care of brogans

                              Thanks, Curt! I might try dubbin my brogans. I'll get in touch with Neill.
                              Chris R. Henderson

                              Big'uns Mess/Black Hat Boys
                              WIG/GVB
                              In Memory of Wm. Davis Couch, Phillips Legion Cav. from Hall Co. GEORGIA

                              It's a trick, Gen. Sherman!...there's TWO of 'em! ~Lewis Grizzard

                              "Learning to fish for your own information will take you a lot further than merely asking people to feed you the info you want." ~Troy Groves:D

                              Comment

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