My boots are icky

[Oregon]

I know there are some folks with specialized knowledge on this forum, so I was wondering if anyone had an idea on what I should do about my boots. They got icky tonight. I was doing a recovery from an airplane accident, and ended up standing in water just slightly higher than my boot tops that was coated in leaking airplane fuel.
I wear old school black combat boots that my husband lovingly spit shines with Kiwi polish for me. (I've been wearing this particular pair of boots for the past 20 years, having them resoled every year or so.)
Now they are soaking wet, and smell of fuel. They are also dull, and no trace of the hard shine is left.
My question is, is there something special I should do to clean them up?
Soap and water? Saddle soap? Should I just strip them down and dry them for a couple of days before polishing them again?
You see, I'm from Oregon where we are not allowed to pump our own gas, so I've never dealt with such a thing before, and I really want my boots to last me another 20 years.
Any help would be appreciated...they look terrible right now. It took the polish right off:sad:

 

[Sapphyre]

The fuel/water mixture already stripped them down. I'd clean with saddle soap, condition and allow to dry, before reapplying the spit shine. That assumes, of course, that the fuel/water did not saturate the insole. BTW, what kind of woman are you to allow your husband to spit shine your boots, it doesn't take that long!!!!

 

[reaper]

I hate to say it, but you will never get the fuel out of the leather. It is soaked in the whole boot. You can try cleaning it with soap and water and let it dry. It may hold a new shine or it may not. Depends on how much the fuel leaches out. It will most likely always have a fuel smell.

If it has too much fuel in the leather. It will leach out when the boot gets hot. This can cause you major skin irritation. I would say it is time for a new pair of boots. That would be your safest option!

 

[Oregon]

BTW, what kind of woman are you to allow your husband to spit shine your boots, it doesn't take that long!!!!

Quick answer: A spoiled one^_^

Longer answer: You see, my husband was in the Navy, and had nothing better to do when he was in than sit on a ship and learn to polish boots up pretty. I on the other hand was in the Marine Corps, and I was actually busy doing important stuff like...well, it was classified

Thank you for the advice! I love my boots, and needed to know how to get them un-icky.

 

[Oregon]

I hate to say it, but you will never get the fuel out of the leather. It is soaked in the whole boot. You can try cleaning it with soap and water and let it dry. It may hold a new shine or it may not. Depends on how much the fuel leaches out. It will most likely always have a fuel smell.

If it has too much fuel in the leather. It will leach out when the boot gets hot. This can cause you major skin irritation. I would say it is time for a new pair of boots. That would be your safest option!

Oh.
Crud.
Well, I'll give the pair a good soaping/scrubbing, lather/rinse/repeat.

 

[Grady_emt]

Powder Laundry Detergent!!!

My boots had a run-in with 200 gallons of diesel in the rain. Tractor trailer was involved in an MVC at 3am on the darkest-arse part of I-285 there is. Didnt realize for a minute that the saddle tank had ruptured on the underside. My boots got a good soaking of diesel (it's not Jet-A I know) and rain run-off. Luckily none got inside, but it had been a minute since they had been polished and it soaked up a fair amount of diesel.

When I got to hospital, I sprinkled powder detergent on the boots and let it soak up as much of the fuel as possible for about 12 hours. Then I washed it off, made a paste out of some more detergent and vigerously brushed it into the leather with a scrub brush. Let that sit for a few hours again, and then repeated the paste scrub washed them off and let them completely dry. It eliminated the fuel smell, and got all the diesel out of the leather. Only had to start the polish cycle over again.