Lee Loader

Today I was continuing my yearly maintenance on all things shooting/hunting when it came time to look after some rifle slings. I have a spray product made for leather seats that I have used in the past but today for some reason I went back to a product that used to be my standby for my leather boots, heavy belts and slings. As soon as I opened the can I was taken back to hunting cabins, leather boots dried and warmed by the wood stove and a glass of neat Canadian whiskey. I used to smoke a pipe then and I could almost catch the sweet smell of Amphora tobacco with the hint of the apple slice used to keep it moist in the package. The product was Dubbin, in this case made by the Kiwi shoe polish people in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. The unmistakable smell of mink oil was instantly remembered. A bit of a burnt aroma but not unpleasant. I haven't used it in probably 15 years. Can has to be close to 30 years old. Used my fingers to rub it in and they have that slightly lubricated feel even after washing my hands several times. These days it seems that most everything is chemical sprays that generally warn about "Well vented" use. Somethings may work easier or even better but they don't have character. As I get older that seems important and imparts more enjoyment to tasks that otherwise might feel more mundane.

Going to finish that glass of whiskey now

I am the same I get sentimental scents from certain old school gun oils and solvents. I also get that way with minwax stains and the like.

I remember using Mink oil on boots many, many years ago and I don't remember it smelling very good at all...There should be a p.u. smiley for that... ...but I do still use pure neatsfoot oil on my saddles once a year. And who in the world doesn't like the smell of Hoppes #9, should be an after shave. The smell of a good pipe tobacco is a fine memory for me also, as is a fine Bourbon blend. My choice these days is called Bulleit Bourbon, very smooth, I think it's better than Crown Supreme and that's sayin' something. Yeah, yeah, I hear howls from the gallery of Jack drinkers, I use that stuff to clean car parts if I can't find a good bottle of Scotch first.... I will say my favorite "old" aroma is the sawdust smell of fresh cut lumber. My Dad was a sawyer in a lumber mill and I can still remember when he came home from work with a warm sawdust aroma about him...he passed when I was 12 and he was 41.....I'm now 71.... Amazing how our memories work ain't it.

Love the comments guys! No doubt so many odors related to guns and the outdoors take me back as well. I use the simple Kiwi Saddle Soap and their Leather Conditioner for all my leather products. I'm not sure if it smells good or not, but it does smell as if a part of my outdoors as much as anything else.

Funny, I was going to do to sets of boots today, decided to mess with the dogs instead. Funny, how good they have become at talking me out of doing anything!

lol! Eez-Ox, Mink Oil, Watkins Petro Carbo salve, Kiwi polish, Fiebings leather die, 90W gear oil, GAA 90, cosmoline, musty Army canvas anything!, wet wool, wet dog/horse/cow, kerosene/diesel fuel, Overton's Wonder Wax, Ed's Red, Hoppe's #9, horse linament, DMSO!!!, wet gig pit saw dust, fresh unpasteurized milk!!, burning brakes... and burning flesh...

Ranch Dog wrote:Love the comments guys! No doubt so many odors related to guns and the outdoors take me back as well. I use the simple Kiwi Saddle Soap and their Leather Conditioner for all my leather products. I'm not sure if it smells good or not, but it does smell as if a part of my outdoors as much as anything else.

Funny, I was going to do to sets of boots today, decided to mess with the dogs instead. Funny, how good they have become at talking me out of doing anything!

Ahhh, saddle soap. Used to use it as well RD but I'm afraid I've succumbed to "modern" day marvels. The best leather cleaner I've found to clean saddles (you know that thick grungy combination of horse sweat, dirt and who knows what) that you find on (for instance) the underside of your back cinch, well this stuff cleans it off with a squirt and a wipe with a rag. It's an automotive product called 441 leather shampoo made by Duragloss. Best,and easiest to use stuff I've found. So two more things that I love (I am always reluctant to use that word in this manner) the aroma of. Clean leather (especially new) and the smell of a warm horse. There is another species in that condition I love more (I'll use that word here with great enthusiasm) but we're on a family forum...... My dogs stink, they're outside dogs mostly and they both hate baths.....

For old leather I use a newer product, based on bees wax. Also very pleasant smell.

I also love the scent of Ballistol... my girlfriend not so much. But what always makes me a bit sentimental is the smell of old gun furniture... the oily wood has some real history evaporating from it, and that's something I'm always excited about when opening my gun safes. I ot two safes, and two guns that have this historic smell, so I put one of them in each safe

Horseman wrote:

Ranch Dog wrote:Love the comments guys! No doubt so many odors related to guns and the outdoors take me back as well. I use the simple Kiwi Saddle Soap and their Leather Conditioner for all my leather products. I'm not sure if it smells good or not, but it does smell as if a part of my outdoors as much as anything else.

Funny, I was going to do to sets of boots today, decided to mess with the dogs instead. Funny, how good they have become at talking me out of doing anything!

My dogs stink, they're outside dogs mostly and they both hate baths.....

Thanks for the tip on the leather cleaner. I've given the new dogs one bath and it will probably be their last as they are outside dogs. Immediately after their bath, they both went for a swim in the lake despite the low temperature and then found a hog wallow where they packed on a couple of layers of mud to maintain their body heat and then ran home. The only thing that smells worse than a wet dog is a wet dog covered with wet hog!

Fyodor wrote:For old leather I use a newer product, based on bees wax. Also very pleasant smell.

I also love the scent of Ballistol... my girlfriend not so much. But what always makes me a bit sentimental is the smell of old gun furniture... the oily wood has some real history evaporating from it, and that's something I'm always excited about when opening my gun safes. I ot two safes, and two guns that have this historic smell, so I put one of them in each safe

You are right about the smell of those rifles. My safes have the GoldenRod Dehumidifiers in them so the air within is warmer than in the room and when they open, boy does it smell good. When my grandson lived here, he would always take a big sniff as the door cracked open.

Freshly cut St. Augustine and exhaust from an oil-burning Briggs.

Mesquite campfires during hunting season. I don't really need one going here on the ranch during hunting season, but hunting isn't hunting without it especially if I have guests.

When I moved to Spring in the late '70s, that's on the north side of Houston, I gave the piney woods of NE Texas ago for four or five years. It just didn't meet my expectations of hunting season after hunting South Texas. That mesquite fire smell was very much a part of it.