Letter Re: Sno-Seal for Boots and Gaiters

Mr R.:
I finished reading “Patriots” and have begun passing it off to others with the admonition to buy it, link to SurvivalBlog, and pay attention. There are hard-info gems throughout. I can certainly tell that you were in communication in your other life. Info noted. Your passage [in Patriots] on the “book code” is superior to the [Vernam] one-time pad generation, sans a book. If security is rigorously maintained, a book code is “break-proof.”
We got hit twice on successive weekends with big snowfalls. We went out slogging in the storms and got a chance to check just how waterproof the gear really is.
After treating boots and other gear with silicone sprays, I went back to Sno-Seal for all of our boots ( and would do so for leather gaiters too.) Their recommended application method is actually not the best, if I may humbly disagree. Order cans, place one in a saucepan surrounded by water and gently heat on the stovetop. Then carefully apply with a small 1/2″ brush and work it in by hand as you paint it into seams and the entire surface – no better way to feel the process. Split/suede leathers are of course more absorbent – and will darken – so be aware of that cosmetic aspect. I take special care with the tongues and their seams. Finish by letting them bask in the sun for an afternoon.
I shoveled snow off our flat roof yesterday and was working in snow-melt for a few hours – feet dry !
Between that product and SealSkinz [waterproof socks], the feet can be reasonably secured. In a devolved world, that could mean the difference between life and death
Regards for the New Year – MurrDoc. P.S.: I’ll be sending in my 10 Cent Challenge contribution again this year, gladly.

JWR Replies: Thanks for the positive feedback on my novel “Patriots”. I’m glad that you find it useful. On the topic of Sno-Seal: I also use it on my boots. It is a great product. OBTW, back in 1980, when I attended the U.S. Army’s Northern Warfare School at Fort Greeley, Alaska, they were still using Neat’s Foot Oil on their mountain climbing boots. To treat the boots, they warmed up a 30 gallon drum of Neat’s Foot Oil and the members of our entire training class rapidly “passed in review” and dunked the exterior of the boots, doing our best to avoid getting any inside the boots. This was boot waterproofing in the “expeditious, crude, but effective” mode. I have heard that the Army has since switched to some sort of silicone spray. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some large spray rig to treat large numbers of pairs of boots in rapid succession. (The U.S. Army always seem to tend toward expeditious en masse operations for everything from inductee physical examinations to policing litter at a kasserne.) Like you, I prefer Sno-Seal over Silicone sprays. Just be careful not to get any on the upper portions of cloth boot laces. (The portion that you tie.)