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Shoes that look better with age...


kiya

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I have bought a pair of Red Wing 2963 Copper Yuma Leather (http://www.revolveclothing.com/mobile/DisplayProduct.jsp?code=REDW-MZ38

)

I don´t know how to care them because this model doesn´t appear on the red wing care website, Could anyoune help me?

 

Can I use leather cleaner + mustang paste?

 

 

 

Thanks!!!

 

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Brazil is absolutely beautiful, did you just stick to Rio, and north west (since you said you went to the amazon). Went there about 8 years back, and was able to hit San Paulo, Natal, Bel Horzinte (sp), and Rio. Every stop was just breath taking, from the corcavado look out, to the sand dunes and equally amazing beaches in Rio. I also love how they embrace graffiti down there and look at is as art, seen some absolutely amazing pieces down there.

 

Would love to go back there.

 

@superfuzz, thanks that sets me at ease a bit

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I had my Allen Edmond Dalton Boots "fixed" recently.  I say "fixed" because there was nothing wrong with them.  I just found the leather sole was not practical for what I need them for.  I work in an office environment but am frequently on the road looking at who knows what.  So the leather sole was impractical.  I also am from Southern Alberta so leather soles in -25 with snow and ice do not work.

Anyways, I had my shoe guru attach a second leather sole along with a Vibram.

 

DSCN4990_zps03c392df.jpg

 

DSCN4994_zpsc431969d.jpg

 

The double leather & vibram soles

 

DSCN4993_zps06e3d87c.jpg

 

Close up of the vibram lug pattern and to show the cobblers nails he used.

 

DSCN4991_zpsbd63ff0e.jpg

 

 

Last photo of the sole.

 

What do you think?  I couldn't be happier myself.  The heftier sole makes the boot look more robust and as  I mentioned earlier it is a whole lot more practical.

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I would love to go to Salvador, I have heard their carnivals there are absolutely beautiful. Somebody I know, was born there so I heard about it all the time from her.

 

Wish I could track down my pictures, but on a hdd sitting in my room.

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^^^ great stories double 0.

 

in other news i'm expecting a pair of hoggs rannoch boots to arrive any day now. Having to have a jolly good word with myself so as not to order a pair of Pennines and Mallorys as well. The change of seasons from summer to autumn plays havoc with my wallet.

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Cat's Paw isn't really that desirable for its actual functionality, but rather the aesthetics. The name, the dots and the cat might be the reason. A set of Vibrams will last longer than any old set of soles and heels.

 

I think that Cat's Paw is highly praised not only for the aesthetic reason, but also a business reason. More than a decade ago, some Japanese brands started to equip Cat's Paw heels and soles on their shoes and boots line and called them the "NOS dream soles" to attract consumers. The strategy seemed to work pretty well because consumers were actually buying it; every boot equipped with Cat's Paw heels are considered to be a rare and high-end product.

Undeniably, Cat's Paw soles and heels, no matter if they are NOS or reproductions, are truly beautiful products in aesthetic viewpoint, especially in today's footwear market. I showed my Cat's Paw collection (about 20 pairs of heels and 4 pairs of half soles) to my father-in-law, who owns a sole factory in Southern China. He and his production team were very surprised by the delicacy of the patterns and the black cat on the heels and soles. They said that most of patterns can only be done by hand-casting on the mold, which requires craftmanship and is very time-consuming to produce the mold. It is really astonishing to realize how they could produce those beautiful heels and soles back to several decades ago.       

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Since the first pair of RW #875 purchased in 2000, they've been breeding so fast for the past 13 years...

And, there is no way to stop them from growing...I think most of the people reading this topic got the same situation in your shoe cabinet... B)  

 

I… Er… Wow. I've got 3 pairs of boots, and whenever I have more than 3, I sell pairs until I'm back to 3. Otherwise they'd never get any wear!

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I… Er… Wow. I've got 3 pairs of boots, and whenever I have more than 3, I sell pairs until I'm back to 3. Otherwise they'd never get any wear!

I totally concur. About a year ago, I realized my shoe collection was getting out of hand, and then I also realized that I had no life since I spent all of my dough on denim and boots. Now I've sold most of my stuff except for some gems, and I'm down to 10 boots. 3 seems too drastic for me. :D

 

It was like an out of control drug habit, but I'm making progress.

Edited by coleslawyum
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 He and his production team were very surprised by the delicacy of the patterns and the black cat on the heels and soles. They said that most of patterns can only be done by hand-casting on the mold, which requires craftmanship and is very time-consuming to produce the mold. It is really astonishing to realize how they could produce those beautiful heels and soles back to several decades ago.       

 

Easy way to tell... When something is cast by hand it needs an opening in the die/mould to cast through this is generally called a head or ingate (the gate through which the material flows) and it feeds the casting, Most castables generate heat in the curing process therefor expand. When they cure they cool down and contract so you need material in the head to feed the contracting material with more material so you dont get a short run (incomplete heel) when you look at the heel you will see the remains of the gate on the outside of the heel it will look like a half inch round circle of webbing this is called flash. There will also be another imperfection on the heel for the vent which lets the air out of the die when the liquid rubber comes in so you dont get air bubbles or imperfections. The other flashing will be a faint line around the heel (usually the half way point) where the joint line of the two halves of mould lie.

 

If there are 2 very small 1/16 diameters of flash at each end of the heel they are the injection holes caused by injection moulding  and not cast by hand there will also be marks from the ejector pins used to remove the heel from the mould.

 

The other way is to "open pour" the rubber into an open top die the best quality rubber sinks to the bottom where the detail is and the part of the heel that meets the boot is where the imperfections float up... air bubbles dust and any inclusion. This is either very shiny or more commonly very rough because the excess rubber above the top of the mould will have been sanded flat to give a good contact with the boot. I very much doubt they are produced this way because of the wastage in time and materials.

 

Even in the 50,s you could use a die sinker which is an old fashioned cnc you would carve a perfect wooden pattern of the cats paw heel then you would put the heel in a frame and cast liquid resin around it when this has set remove the heel leaving a mould then you set the mould up on the die sinker and you have a stylus only a couple of mm in diameter that traces every contour of the mould at the side of this you have a piece of metal and a cutter the exact same diameter as the stylus so every contour that the stylus follows the cutter does the same slowly cutting the cats paw heel shape into the metal this becomes your die/mould.

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True indeed, a hand welted show would just take too long on any assembly line. To my knowledge only St. Cripsins hand welts their shoes on a larger scale.

 

When I send my boots over to my man in Japan, he does replace the insole and welt by hand, which greatly improves the durability of the boots.

 

Any thoughts on the Viberg, Wesco stitch-down construction?

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I totally concur. About a year ago, I realized my shoe collection was getting out of hand, and then I also realized that I had no life since I spent all of my dough on denim and boots. Now I've sold most of my stuff except for some gems, and I'm down to 10 boots. 3 seems too drastic for me. :D

 

It was like an out of control drug habit, but I'm making progress.

 

After a recent small clear-out I think I'm down to 45 pairs of boots, shoes and trainers included. My excuse justification is that I need good shoes for work and trainers for the gym, and I'm sticking to my guns on this one!

 

Having said that, I had a look at my stuff the other day and I could probably shift a few more pairs that look mighty fine but don't actually get worn too much...

 

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Easy way to tell... When something is cast by hand it needs an opening in the die/mould to cast through this is generally called a head or ingate (the gate through which the material flows) and it feeds the casting, Most castables generate heat in the curing process therefor expand. When they cure they cool down and contract so you need material in the head to feed the contracting material with more material so you dont get a short run (incomplete heel) when you look at the heel you will see the remains of the gate on the outside of the heel it will look like a half inch round circle of webbing this is called flash. There will also be another imperfection on the heel for the vent which lets the air out of the die when the liquid rubber comes in so you dont get air bubbles or imperfections. The other flashing will be a faint line around the heel (usually the half way point) where the joint line of the two halves of mould lie.

 

If there are 2 very small 1/16 diameters of flash at each end of the heel they are the injection holes caused by injection moulding  and not cast by hand there will also be marks from the ejector pins used to remove the heel from the mould.

 

The other way is to "open pour" the rubber into an open top die the best quality rubber sinks to the bottom where the detail is and the part of the heel that meets the boot is where the imperfections float up... air bubbles dust and any inclusion. This is either very shiny or more commonly very rough because the excess rubber above the top of the mould will have been sanded flat to give a good contact with the boot. I very much doubt they are produced this way because of the wastage in time and materials.

 

Even in the 50,s you could use a die sinker which is an old fashioned cnc you would carve a perfect wooden pattern of the cats paw heel then you would put the heel in a frame and cast liquid resin around it when this has set remove the heel leaving a mould then you set the mould up on the die sinker and you have a stylus only a couple of mm in diameter that traces every contour of the mould at the side of this you have a piece of metal and a cutter the exact same diameter as the stylus so every contour that the stylus follows the cutter does the same slowly cutting the cats paw heel shape into the metal this becomes your die/mould.

Wow, thanks for the insight, Double O. Are you in the related business? 

I am currently working in the footwear and shoe-material industry. Although I just got here before long, I do learn a lot from many of you. Really glad to be here  :)

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Wow, thanks for the insight, Double O. Are you in the related business? 

I am currently working in the footwear and shoe-material industry. Although I just got here before long, I do learn a lot from many of you. Really glad to be here  :)

 

I have an engineering background and did a 6 year apprenticeship as a master pattern maker, I have since diversified and i develop engineering products for the off shore petrochemical industry, Through the summer months i am a wood carver for hire.

If you can post detailed pics of heels or soles (importantly the imperfections) that have not been attached to a shoe i should be able to tell you exactly how they were manufactured.

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True indeed, a hand welted show would just take too long on any assembly line. To my knowledge only St. Cripsins hand welts their shoes on a larger scale.

 

When I send my boots over to my man in Japan, he does replace the insole and welt by hand, which greatly improves the durability of the boots.

 

Any thoughts on the Viberg, Wesco stitch-down construction?

For me, the "real" stitch-down construction is something like Danner or Clarks Desert boots. The uppers are stitched to soles or mid-soles all around. The Wesco and Viberg stitch-down construction is actually more like a hybrid of stitch-down and nail-down construction. As we can see from the Vibergs and Wescos, only the front half of the vamp are stitched to the leather mid-sole; the leather lining of the toe vamp are glued or nailed to the leather insoles (the orange area in the graph below). Check the graph below.

StchDown.gif

 

The back part of uppers around the heels are nailed between the leather mid-sole and the leather insole.

free-man-viberg-factory-details-1.jpg?w=

The front half area is stitched and heel part is nailed

 

This explains why Wesco and Viberg's stitich-down construction are usually heavier than Goodyear Welted construction; the thick leather insoles and mid-soles are necessary in Wesco and Viberg's stitch down construction. 

 

Compared to Goodyear welted construction, the most apparent advantage of Wesco/Viberg stitch-down construction is probably the performance in waterproof. On the other side, the drawback is that they can be resoled for a very limited times because the stitches that go through the vamp and the soles will eventually tear the vamp, unless the stitch job is done by hand-sewn process. But not many cobblers are willing/able to do this.

Though both Wesco/Viberg boots are claimed to be re-buildable, resole and rebuild are different ideas. As far as I know, if  the condition of your boots is really bad and cannot endure any extra punch of stitch-hole, they will just replace the beat-up vamp with a new one. The video shows how Wesco rebuild customers' boots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvr1pqqAjgw

Truly amazing job by them, but seeing how they tear down the sole from the upper is like watching a homicide scene...

Edited by thinker0217
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The evolution of my Viberg Engineer

 

Before:

1185125_10201971197540561_1158933623_n.j

 

After: 

1235977_10202087322243606_1388974229_n.j

995189_10202087322363609_530717918_n.jpg

1236383_10202087322323608_36485150_n.jpg

547044_10202087322923623_131479541_n.jpg

1260890_10202087323163629_1043087431_n.j

988273_10202087323523638_1509799194_n.jp

1238048_10202087355884447_1573704019_n.j

1231378_10202087324763669_1412004023_n.j

 

The half sole and heels are developed by me, inspired by the Cat's Paw and Biltrite collection of my own B)

The soles and heels are made of Nitrile rubber, which has excellent performance in oil-resisting and durability. The half soles equipped with "icy-grip pad," made of a compound of Nitrile rubber and fiberglass, to ensure the grip while walking on icy/slippery surface. Any thoughts on them?  

Edited by thinker0217
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  • sufu1 changed the title to Shoes that look better with age...

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