FIELD REPORT

SNO-SEAL® ORIGINAL BEESWAX WATERPROOFING

February 5, 2006
Richard Lyon

Personal Information and Backpacking Background:  I've been backpacking for 45 years on and off, and regularly in the Rockies since 1986.  I do a weeklong trip every summer, and often take three-day trips.  I'm usually camping in alpine terrain, at altitudes 5000 to 13,000 ft (1500 - 4000 m). I prefer base camp backpacking, a long hike in with day trips from camp, but I do my share of forced marches too.   Though always looking for ways to reduce weight, I'm not yet a lightweight hiker, and I usually choose an extra pound or two over foregoing camp conveniences I've come to expect.

Male, 59 years old
6' 4" (1.9 m) tall, 200 lb (91 kg)
Dallas, Texas, USA
rlyon AT gibsondunn DOT com

PRODUCT DETAILS

Manufacturer: Atsko, Inc.
Provided in: 8 fl oz (237 ml) jar.  Other available sizes and product variations are listed on Atsko's website, http://www.atsko.com/, and in my Initial Report.
MSRP: USD 6.95
Net weight of jar, per product label: 7 oz (200 g)
Total weight of jar, as measured: 8 oz (227 g)
Contents: "Contains no silicone."  The only ingredients actually mentioned are beeswax and "a solvent."
Warranty: None found on website or container.
Recommended uses (from Atsko's website and other promotional materials, with my one comment in brackets): All "split, sanded, suede [but see following paragraph], rough and recycled leather"; specific products identified are boots, gloves, chaps, belts, hats, harnesses, saddles, and horse blankets.  Oiled cotton clothing.  As a wax finish for wood.  "To fill stitching holes in tents."  Horses' hooves.  "Severely dry and abused skin."
Atsko does say that Sno-Seal will provide necessary waterproofing for suede, but goes on "Not recommended for suede leather. If used on suede it will darken and flatten the nap, changing the appearance."  As reported previously, Danner Boots, whose new suede-napped Light IIs I purchased last fall, recommends against Sno-Seal for the same reason.

TEST RESULTS

As promised; I applied Sno-Seal to my Scarpa SL M3 all-leather hiking boots, two pairs of Timberland casual shoes that I regularly wear on weekends, and the leather panel on my Dana Designs "Sprint Pak," a daypack that I use when skiing.  I added a pair of cordovan-type leather street shoes to the roster when my skiing plans no longer included any Alpine skiing, making it unlikely that my Alpine boots (soft Rossignols with decorative leather panels) would get any use.  I cleaned each item with saddle soap, then applied Sno-Seal as described in my Initial Report.  I applied Sno-Seal in accordance with Atsko's recommendations (warm the target, rub in, wipe off excess), and my usual practice of waiting a day and then re-applying in the same manner.  I continued this until the leather would no longer absorb any more Sno-Seal: two applications on all but the ski pack, which needed three, except for my low-cut Timberland slip-ons, to which I intentionally gave only a single application. 

I write this just after Dallas recorded its driest December and January in fifty years.   The only hiking I've done in bad weather was a day hike in Wyoming over Thanksgiving weekend.  I therefore resorted to some arranged exposure to water to get the testing going.  My hiking boots aren't completely broken in, and the right boot is just a tad too short.  I have begun to add some flexibility "naturally" by hiking for five minutes or so in the creek that runs through my back yard, followed by walking up and down the street for half an hour.  The last time I did this I weighed one of the boots before and after this exercise, and the difference was negligible.  The boots have not felt sodden during this exercise.  They haven't kept my socks and feet entirely dry either.  After a long immersion my socks inside the shoe are damp but not soaking wet like the socks' uppers, so I believe that seepage down the boot cuff and water's leaching down the sock, rather than penetration through the boots, caused this. 

Sno-Seal has performed well on the ski pack.  After seven days of all-day skiing at ski areas and the backcountry, three of them in snowstorms and all involving falls in the drifts, the pack hasn't leaked and has not picked up any visible discoloration from exposure to the combination of snow and the grease and dirt on the lift chairs.

I did wear one pair of the treated Timberland boots around town in Wyoming on a ski trip, and they kept my feet completely dry despite some puddles and snowdrifts.  A very limited test, to be sure.

In summary, at this point my focused examination of Sno-Seal has confirmed my lengthy past experience with this fine product, but I've only had adequate testing to evaluate two of the criteria that I laid out in my Initial Report:

·        Effectiveness of waterproofing.  Sno-Seal appears to prevent absorption of water by the leather and consequent increase in weight, and to prevent water from getting through the leather.  There was no evident loss of breathability, even immediately after emerging from the creek.

·        Preservation.  As noted, no stains on the ski pack.  No leather rot or deterioration on the boots I've treated with Sno-Seal for years.

Further Testing

I have two more ski trips scheduled before my Long Term Report is due.  And who knows, it may rain in North Texas again someday.  If not (even if so), I shall do some laboratory toe-to-toe testing of the two pairs of Timberlands to see if the single application of Sno-Seal suggested by the manufacturer is as effective as the saturation dosage I've used for years.  I'll also apply some Sno-Seal to an old pair of tan shoes to see just how much the Sno-Seal will darken leather.  In my Long Term Report I shall compare results with Atsko's advertising claims and all my initial test criteria, as set out in my Initial Report.

Thanks again to Atsko and BackpackGearTest for the opportunity to participate in this test.