Huberd’s Shoe Grease Review: Read This Before Buying

There must be 150 different boot conditioners out there. 

It’s confusing as heck. 

Rather than always wondering, I decided to do something about it:

I bought ten of the most popular leather conditioners and compared them all against one another. 

One of the most extreme was Huberd’s Shoe Grease. In this review, I’m going to break down the positives and negatives of this leather conditioner so you can decide whether or not it’s right for you. 

Huberd’s Shoe Grease Ingredients

Huberd’s Shoe Grease is an all-natural leather preserver and only uses a few ingredients:

• Beeswax
• Pine Tar

And that’s it. 

And the beeswax isn’t refined, either—it all comes from apiaries in South Dakota and Montana. The recipe has been the same since 1921, when J.W. Huberd started making it and selling it to lumberjacks.

There are no synthetic ingredients, nor is there any animal fats or oils. 

A lot of conditioners have a nasty chemical smell, but Huberd’s doesn’t—it smells kind of like bacon, which I’m not entirely sure if I love or hate. 

How to Use Huberd’s Shoe Grease

Huberd’s Shoe Grease is easy to use—make sure both your grease and leather are at room temperature first, though. 

I left my Huberd’s in my garage in the winter and if it’s cold, the grease can be pretty chunky and go on less smoothly. But if it’s at 60 or above, it applies pretty evenly.

I scoop about a nickel-sized amount into my fingers and just rub the grease into the boot with my hands. It’s best to do a light coat at first, let the conditioner soak in for ten minutes, and then do another light coat. 

You can also use a rag to apply Huberd’s if you don’t want your hands to smell like bacon all day.

I condition all my boots with different products usually on the same day, so I’m fine with just smelling insane for that day. But I don’t have a date night planned for later in the evening, either. 

Things to Consider Before Buying

Huberd’s Shoe Grease will permanently darken the leather of your boots. There’s no way around it. 

If you have black leather boots, then there’s no problem. 

But if you have a medium brown leather, you like the color, and you don’t want it to change, then use another product like Venetian Leather Balm. It won’t darken the leather, but it also won’t add as much weather resistance. 

Huberd’s Shoe Grease is more of a weather-proofing formula rather than a conditioner. It’s a great choice if you have a pair of work boots and you want them to be able to handle mud, puddles, rain, and snow. 

But it’s not great for dress boots—I don’t even use it on my casual boots. The high wax content can close off the pores of the leather and make it difficult to revive if the leather starts to dry out. 

For that reason, I stick with formulations like Bick 4 or Venetian if the leather just needs a little conditioning and I’m not planning to get the boots wet often. 

Before and After Using

Here’s an untreated sample of natural vegetable tanned leather. There’s no dye on this round, so you can see what undyed leather looks like before and after applying Huberd’s Shoe Grease. 

And here’s an image of what Huberd’s looks like before and after on an actual pair of work boots. 

Again, I’m not going to use Huberd’s on any of my more dressy or casual boots because I usually don’t like to darken the leather on my boots. 

But for work boots, it doesn’t matter so much, and performance and weather resistance are the top priorities. That’s where Huberd’s really steps up. 

My Hands-On Review

Leather Darkening

You can see that Huberd’s Shoe Grease darkens the leather about five or six shades. Compared to other products, Huberd’s was one of the worst offenders for changing the color of the leather. 

The only products that matched it were Obenauf’s LP and Sof Sole Mink Oil. 

But both of those other products are also designed more for waterproofing leather rather than conditioning the leather. 

So really, if you want to add a layer of weatherproofing to your boots, no effective product is going to keep the leather the same color. 

You can try to use one of those silicone sprays, but those are bad for the leather and will choke off the pores so you can’t really condition them again—I’d avoid the silicone waterproofing sprays altogether. 

Honestly, most people don’t need waterproofing on their boots—leather will be fine if you get caught in a rain-storm. Just let your boots dry out and they’ll still be fine. 

The only reason you should go all in and add something like Huberd’s to waterproof is if you’re in the mud and rain multiple times a week. 

Waterproofing Power

So how does Huberd’s do with water? Well, it was tied with Obenauf’s LP for weather resistance. 

There may be small differences, but I couldn’t tell by just looking. Huberd’s and Obenauf’s both were much better than all other leather care products I tested at waterproofing. 

Mink oil darkened leather as much as Huberd’s, but didn’t offer as much weather resistance, so in my opinion, mink oil is out. 

As I mentioned earlier, I vastly prefer the natural waterproofing you get from a beeswax formula like Huberd’s and Obenauf’s compared to a silicone spray. It’s much better for your leather and it’s much better for the environment (in general, fewer chemicals is better). 

How Long Does it Last?

Huberd’s recommends two layers of grease, and they say you should re-up your leather every 8 weeks or so, but I think that’s a bit too often.

If you’re wearing rugged work boots and you’re walking in the mud every day, then once every three or four months should be fine. 

I work at a desk, so I’m not trudging through tough conditions—but I conditioned my work boots with Huberd’s for when they do get wet, and I’ll probably stick to re-conditioning once a year.

To sum it up: once every three months for heavy wear up to once per year for lighter wear should be all you need to keep a solid coat of Huberd’s on your boots.  

What Do Other Reviewers Say?

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A lot of people swear by Huberd’s, particularly in the logging industry where good water protection is a necessity. 

Many reviewers mention how easy it is to apply, and I even read one account of a guy who’d condition his boots every few weeks just because he liked the smell, which I thought was pretty weird, but I get where he’s coming from. 

Huberd’s Shoe Grease Alternatives

Venetian Leather Balm

Venetian Leather Balm is my go to for conditioning leather. That said, my boots are more for casual style purposes. So I prefer a conditioner that will nourish the leather, has a low wax content, will add a bit of shine, and won’t darken the leather permanently. 

If that’s what you’re looking for, then Venetian Leather Balm is the way to go. 

While Venetian does have some wax in it and will add weather resistance to a small degree, I definitely don’t consider it a weatherproofer like I do with Huberd’s. 

Obenauf’s LP

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Obenauf’s LP darkened the leather as much, and made the leather as water resistant as Huberd’s did. 

These formulas had much of the same effect. 

However, Obenauf’s is much more wax-heavy, where Huberd’s has the pine tar. 

For that reason, Huberd’s will soften the leather more than Obenauf’s, which makes Huberd’s a better product if you’re breaking in a new pair of work boots. Obenauf’s might be better though if you don’t want your boots to smell like bacon. 

My Thoughts Overall On Huberd’s Shoe Grease

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