Dayton Boots was started by Charlie Wohlford in the back of the Loggerman’s Social Club at 64 East Hastings in Vancouver in 1946. We’ve been making OK Oil longer than we’ve been making boots. Charlie’s logger friends would often come into the bar with their dried, cracked leather logging boots complaining about the quality of their boots. . Charlie would cobble them back to often better than new. He developed OK Oil as one of the key components in this process. It would bring the leather back to life as well as protect the leather, and logger’s feet from the harsh, damp British Columbia forests.
Since in reality there is no such thing as "waterproof leather," (In order to maintain both comfort and appearance, leather products must breathe), Charlie worked to find just the right blend of natural ingredients to help preserve and extend the benefits of premium quality leather. Charlie experimented, testing a variety formulas to help protect the leather as well as resist the effects of moisture. After much trial and error the final Dayton OK Oil formula was perfected. The original formula has complimented the Dayton Boot product line for over 70 years.
Today, Mike (he’s been here almost as long as OK Oil!) carefully mixes our top secret original formula in small quantities by hand in a special part of the basement of the Hastings St. factory.
Use OK Oil regularly and your boots will thank you. Its also great on almost all leathers, too. Try it on jackets, furniture, bags, etc. Test on a non-visible spot first to see the results. A little bit goes a long way. It is possible to use too much but if you stick to wiping off excess and using it when the leather starts to look like it could use it, that should be great. In the short term, OK Oil will keep your leather boots supple, comfortable and help keep buckets of the Pacific Northwest’s weather out. In the long term, well…. it will help you get a long term.
