I have an older pair of speed skating boots that after dyeing and a few other steps, will not take any finishing, (i.e. shoe creme and wax) and remains sticky to the touch.

Here are my restoration steps:
1 Stripped boots with acetone and removed old finish.
2 Dyed boots black
3 conditioned leather with mink oil paste, that I found out later contained silicone
4 coated boots with polyurethane after reading suggestions on a leather website
5 attempted to strip both
6 stripped poly with acetone
7 try to strip silicon with ammonia
8 after stripping attempts, conditioned leather
9 attempted finish with some improvement, but leather still doesn't seem to be absorbing shoe creme 100 percent and the surface remains sticky.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks!