Re: Boot Issue/Repair

From the pictures it looks like the leather is cracking along the rubber seam. This is probably caused by the rubber not flexing when the leather needs to. If you got another pair of exactly the same size, I bet it happens again. So, you could take it to a boot repair and have them stitch a piece of leather over the crack, then seal it up. But, the boots will be stiffer there and cause some other problem. You could leave it alone and don't sweat it. You could dump a bunch of glue in the crack to help it not mitigate any faster and keep it waterproof. At least you should condition the leather a little better to allow more flexibility before it cracks.

looks like a crack from the leather flexing against the rubber.
your boots may be lacking in conditioning. nubuck wax and stuff won't condition them, it will seal the outside. you want stuff to get into the leather to condition it.

What I do? wash and dry thouroughly (scrub it off in the sink)
let it dry out slowly. then I use Shoe Goo in the crack. then
oil it down thouroghly with a penetrating conditioner (I use a boot oil). once my boots are thorougly oiled I may wax before a trip, particularly in snow. then when I come home I clean them off and wash and dry and re-oil

Anyway, that's how to prevent it - keep the leather conditioned. Then you'll do like me and go walk through karst and crud and chop 'em up anyway

Shoe Goo is for repairs to shoes. It is not for conditioning. I would recomend using REI's liberal exchange policy, as it is my opinion (nearly ten years in the retail shoes business) that this is a fatal tear. You can patch it, but it will come back. At 250 miles the soles of those boots have probably lost a good deal of the traction and protection anyways.

>boot oil, any you'd reccomend?

No, just find something good and penetrating that will condition the leather. It should soak into clean dry leather, not sit on the outside. the idea is not to have the leather be dry and cracking. it also helps keep out water.