Should water vapor permeate through Sno-seal?

[sampaguita]

I've been Sno-sealing my skates about 2-3 days after each skate, otherwise, they get dark spots right after skating. I skate in a very humid rink (e.g., fog every time, drops of water falling from the ceiling of the restroom). The dark spots disappear when I let my skates dry. I wonder if the sno-seal "disappears" when I leave my skates to dry (inside my room, but exposed), or is water vapor supposed to permeate Sno-seal?

[Skittl1321]

I only snow seal my skates once a year...  Is it possible the spots are due to wax build up?    If the spots disappear after they dry, I don't think they are an issue.

[taka]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean about the water vapour, sorry.

I only really get dark water spots after skating when I've been doing lots of drags or haven't snowsealed them for a while and they need some attention.

My boot soles absorbed a lot of snowseal when I 1st did them but now it just takes a few of rounds of gentle heating, rubbing in and repeating until it wouldn't absorb anymore and they are ready to go. I think the guidelines that came with my Riedells recommended doing them once a month or so but don't do them quite that often unless I've been doing lots of drags and/or notice a dark patch!

How have you been snowsealing them?

[sampaguita]

Is it possible the spots are due to wax build up?

Definitely not wax build-up. I checked my skates today -- put a drop of water on the heel, wiped it, and saw a dark spot on where the water was. It dried out after 7-10 minutes.

How have you been snowsealing them?

Using the low setting on a hair dryer, I warm the leather, then I apply a thin layer of Sno-seal. I use the hairdryer again to make the Sno-seal melt faster. I usually repeat this process 2-3 times, then I let the skates air-dry. By the next day, there's a layer of wax on the heel, and I buff the skates with a brush. At this point, the leather is still a bit sticky.

After a few more days though, the leather stops being sticky and sort of dries. I wonder if that means the wax got more absorbed, or if I did something wrong...

[Skittl1321]

That doesn't sound right...

Maybe your hair dryer isn't getting hot enough to absorb the wax?  (Or once again, the wax is building up so it can't absorb- that would explain the stickyness).

I use a heat gun (I don't own a hair dryer) and I heat the leather, apply the snow seal, heat a bit more, and it disappears into the leather.  There is no wax layer to buff, and it isn't sticky at all. 

But no, the water drop shouldn't be absorbing into the leather.  On mine, water just balls up and I can brush it off.

[taka]

I get no dark marks at all on the sole with water/ice unless my skates need snowsealing again. It doesn't soak in... just sits on top.

I use a hairdyer to warm the soles a bit, rub on a thinnish layer of wax with a cloth and heat the sole to melt the wax in (for long enough to allow all the wax it to be entirely soaked in). I try and move the hairdryer around a bit so no bit of my boot gets too hot though! I repeat this as many times as I need to until the wax I rub on won't be absorbed any further by the sole after heating, despite the snowseal melting properly. I then just rub off any excess that wasn't absorbed with a clean bit of cloth. There are no obvious traces of wax left then or later and it isn't sticky... The only indication I have done them is the soles are a little darker and they repell water again! I don't brush them at all.

[AgnesNitt]

Gee, I feel left out. I've never sno-sealed my skates (Jacksons) and never experienced any problems. I dry them, leave them in an open bag and they're fine.

I wonder if leather manufacturing has improved over the last few decades to where it's not necessary any more?

[sampaguita]

Gee, I feel left out. I've never sno-sealed my skates (Jacksons) and never experienced any problems. I dry them, leave them in an open bag and they're fine.

I wonder if leather manufacturing has improved over the last few decades to where it's not necessary any more?

My Jackson Freestyles are brand new -- you may just be fortunate to skate in a rink with dry air.

Just wondering about the sno-sealing method: I once put a thick layer of Sno-seal, heated it with a hair dryer (low heat). This melted some of the wax touching the leather, and the wax soaked right in, leaving a very dark spot. Is that how it's supposed to be? When I apply a thin layer of Sno-seal, I could see the wax melt, but it doesn't soak into the leather - kind of just stays on top, so I thought that fits the description of "apply as much sno-seal as the leather would absorb". Which is the right way to do it?

[Skittl1321]

Sno seal will darken the leather when applied. It should soak in. When the leather stops absorbing it, you're done.

[sampaguita]

Skittl, you skate on Jacksons right? How dark should dark be? Currently, the leather is slightly darker than before. If I put the hair dryer on one spot long enough and apply a thick layer of Sno-seal and wait for it to melt, it gets really dark.

EDIT: How do you know if you've burnt the leather? I'm a bit worried about those really dark spots...I was putting the dryer close to the leather to melt the wax faster. Though I'm pretty sure that the dark spot matched the shape of the wax, I'm afraid I might have burnt it. The color is very dark brown.

[taka]

I skate in Riedells so don't know the colour of Jackson soles but snowsealing especially the 1st time definitely makes the soles noticably darker.

The colour it goes through snowsealing is NOT important. You just want to reach a point (after multiple rounds of applying and heating) when the snowseal will not absorb in further no matter how long you move the hairdryer around it. Whether doing lots of applications of thinish layers or fewer thicker ones shouldn't make any difference to the final outcome (just might take differing amounts of time to do).

My soles drank up far more snowseal than I expected initially and are evenly coloured but definitely several shades darker than when I got them new.

When I next skate on newly snowsealed boots the soles don't show any dark waterspots at all even if they got covered in spray from the ice.

Might redo mine tonight. I've not done them for a while!

[FigureSpins]

I've mentioned this before: almost all new skates have a polyurethane or lacquer finish that has to either be sanded / worn off before the leather can absorb the sno-seal.  If you put the sno seal on top, it'll only absorb in areas where the finish wasn't applied well or has started to wear off. 

If you really can't wait to waterproof the skates, use steel-wool or a fine-grade sandpaper to remove the finish so you can sno-seal.

If you're using a hair dryer, don't use the "low" setting; use the "high" setting.  To prevent "burning," keep the air flow moving and don't concentrate on any one spot. 

Sno-Seal does make the leather darker as it is absorbed, moreso on the Jacksons than my Klingbeils.  If you feel a sticky residue, just wipe it off if the leather can't absorb any more of the wax.

Since you say that the sno seal is coming to the surface, it sounds like you're just waxing the poly finish; it's not soaking into the leather deeply enough.

I've never had to sno-seal skates often. I also don't take the skates out of my bag to air out, although I do leave the zipper open to allow air to circulate.  No problems with odor or rust.

If there's that much humidity in the air, you'd better get a stick of WD-40 or beeswax and start coating the blades between uses or you'll be asking about rust next.

[sampaguita]

I think whatever finish was on the heels had worn off, because one day I just saw dark spots all over my heels after skating. I find that Sno-seal works well for 1 session, but not for 2 sessions. I think it must be the hair dryer.  I just sno-sealed my skates before reading your post, but I'll try doing the high setting if I need to sno-seal my skates again. Thanks!

[Query]

::s

I think about equipment too, but there comes a time when it makes sense to stop worrying about the equipment and just go out and skate.

[sarahspins]

My experience is that sno seal really needs to be heated up a LOT to truly soak into the leather.. if it's not hot enough (to the point where it's completely liquid) it just doesn't get in there. Heating up the leather helps it draw in more of the sno seal as well.  I usually apply 2-3 coats when I do mine, alternating boots as I go, wiping off the excess inbetween coats, them repeating the applying/heating process.  One coat just never seems like enough.

I happen to have 3 pairs of Jackson boots with "the same" soles... the one on the bottom is my oldest pair and the ones I currently skate in, they're 2+ years old and have been sno sealed probably 5 times now.  The top left (no blades) have been sno sealed just once and haven't been skated in much.  The top right have not been sealed at all yet.. however when they arrived I did note that the soles were darker (more orange?) than the other two had been when new.  I will sno seal them when I get around to ordering and mounting blades for them



I usually sno seal mine when I start to see larger water spots.. a few smaller ones don't bother me.

[sampaguita]

My experience is that sno seal really needs to be heated up a LOT to truly soak into the leather.. if it's not hot enough (to the point where it's completely liquid) it just doesn't get in there. Heating up the leather helps it draw in more of the sno seal as well.  I usually apply 2-3 coats when I do mine, alternating boots as I go, wiping off the excess inbetween coats, them repeating the applying/heating process.  One coat just never seems like enough.

I happen to have 3 pairs of Jackson boots with "the same" soles... the one on the bottom is my oldest pair and the ones I currently skate in, they're 2+ years old and have been sno sealed probably 5 times now.  The top left (no blades) have been sno sealed just once and haven't been skated in much.  The top right have not been sealed at all yet.. however when they arrived I did note that the soles were darker (more orange?) than the other two had been when new.  I will sno seal them when I get around to ordering and mounting blades for them



I usually sno seal mine when I start to see larger water spots.. a few smaller ones don't bother me.

Thank you sarahspins! My soles are not as dark as the sno-sealed ones, so I think that my 1st sno-sealing wasn't that great, and I've been surviving on wax buildup. Now I know.

I also noticed that my current skates ARE waterproof--if you put a drop of water on the sole, the drop doesn't get absorbed, but with the humidity of my rink, it seems that Sno-seal doesn't really work that well, unless you air dry your skates after every use. Maybe that's why the coaches here don't use Sno-seal and have their own methods.