Mink oil

[A.Merrill]

I'm sure this has been asked but I missed it. Is the mink oil for shoes the same as the stuff for patch lube?   

[dvsjw]

So, I have been looking at patch lube and have seen information ALL OVER THE PLACE... I will say that mink oil is usually neatsfoot oil from the sources I looked to get it from... That is from cow bone reduction. There is apparently real mink oil to be had but it is expensive if you can find it. I dont know a source or cost but be sure you are getting what you think you are getting.

That said I used mink oil on my boots as a kid and it was the oil for leather boots in the winter. It was expensive then also... I think that it would be ideal but costly for my patch lube needs.

[Daryl]

Does anyone know the composition of the boot dressing DUBBIN?  That is all I ever used on my ball gloves as a kid or leather boots as a young and old adult, for suppleness or water proofing.

[Ghillie]

in regards to DUBBIN, there should be a MSDS sheet for it that tells pretty much anything you want to know about the product.

[Daryl]

Just wondering if someone knew.
No tin of Dubbin I've ever purchased, came with an MSDS sheet.

[Habu]

Dubbin recipes tend to vary by locality: somewhere I have a book with more than 300 regional recipes from the UK.  Different professions sometimes used different recipes too (I have one from one of my great-grandfathers; he was a railroad patternmaker so it uses some of the old steam engine oils).  Ive even seen one that calls for bunker oil. 

All contain some sort of oil, a grease, and a wax.  The oils are usually neatsfoot oil, codliver oil, shark oil, whale oil, turtle oil, etc.  The grease is usually tallow or lanolin; sometimes both: goose grease is common in the UK recipes.  This was usually beeswax but I've also seen various microcrystaline waxes, soy wax, bayberry wax, Japan wax, spermaceti wax, montan wax, and a couple of oddballs.

Some recipes contain carbon (lampblack or similar) for color.  Some recipes are even saponified.

(Yeah, this was a rabbit-trail I wandered down while working on lubes for BPCR.)