I was looking at some of the older posts but I found the thread on sealing the bottom of boots doesn't apply well to men's boots. Every pair of boots I've had has a very thick layer of black wax or paint or whatever.

Snow Seal doesn't penetrate it but water will!

Urethane - forget it, it'll melt the black stuff and then won't dry hard and stays wet and sticky forever.

Silicone sealer dissolves the black stuff but eventually dries. However, I can already see some water damage (6 months old). This is the best I've found.

I take very good (OK I'm actually incredibly compulsive) care of my equipment. Any ideas?

Lyle

Just use black shoe wax.

And when you get new skates someday, I recommend not having the soles painted (http://kc.sk8rland.com/pictures/?s=S...+JW+Gold+Seals).

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
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I had the same issue with my Jackson Elites. I would use Snow Seal, but the black varnish didn't allow it to soak into the leather.

This is starting my second full year on these boots, and now the varnish is now peeling off. I don't really care about the shiney varnish look (the uppers are black suede), so here's what I do: Use a permanent ink black Sharpie I color in all the un-black wear areas. Now I can apply Snow Seal and heat it in with a hot air gun.

Maybe there is a solvent you could use to carefully remove the varnish. Look up a shoe repair and ask them what to use.

Or the black shoe wax is fine for now

A month ago I removed my blades and waterproofed the sole area before remounting. I added a lot of Snow Seal into the unused holes of a previous blade mounting.

I skate constantly, and as a male skater, I find silicone to work best.
Even though it does wear and tear down in about 6-8 months,
Its not that much of a hassle to just redo the silicone job when you have to.

-Kuddles