Shoes that look better with age...

[mlwdp 3,777]

At Coverchord

 

[tod 546]

Three generations of Chippewa “engineer” boots. Left to right: worn 8-10 years before transitioning to yard work / current main boots, worn about 6 years / “new” ones (via EBay) waiting in the wings to replace the current boots.

[MJF9 10,938]

With replacement laces that Jamie from East West gave me when I bought them... I sense he knew the limitations of those JL laces

[Broark 16,878]

Lofgren standard laces are downright horrible, laces on my pair broke within a couple of months of ownership.
Olive leather on those Combat boots is looking nice!

[MJF9 10,938]

I remember you saying that bout the laces - mine followed recently - shame as  the colour is quite nice

And cheers - the olive colour definitely develops nicely over time, much better than when new. Nourished and gently waxed these a few weeks ago but looking a bit dusty here

Edited June 26, 2022 by MJF9

[julian-wolf 7,963]

Last March, I put in an order for a pair of ISN boots from Renav Goods Co., a workshop based in Bandung, Indonesia. There was around 4 month lead time, so I've now been wearing them for right around a year.

They're made from Double Horse Front leather from Horween. I don't know what that means, but it's very supple & it breathes well. It scuffs fast, and doesn't have much of any pull up. Even right after conditioning, it looks dry in high-wear areas, but I think that it's really just getting a bit of a nap forming—half way between leather and nubuck? I don't get the impression that it's particularly durable, but it's done fine for day-to-day wear. Time will tell. There's also a full deerskin lining, which helps with the overall luxurious feel. 

They're solidly good boots. They're well-constructed, and they've worn nicely. Something about them just doesn't feel honest. I think they'd appeal strongly to the same crowd that's interested in brands like Viberg: work boots made "fancy". In the same way as I would feel silly buying any more shoes from Yukuten after having spent time wearing Russell Mocs, I'd feel silly buying another pair of these over something from one of the standard PNW makers. Live and learn. I'm still relatively new to fancy footwear, and there were bound to be some mistakes. I've already got them, and I'm not going to let them go to waste. Thus, a year of wear & tear:

 

[redragon 3,579]

Sorry for the somewhat noob question:

Should I start thinking about resoling or am I just being paranoid?

[smoothsailor 2,925]

Is that a rubber sole? If yes I would say plenty of miles left.

its glued to the leather to

[Duke Mantee 14,747]

Are they Rolling Dubs? If that’s the case then there’s a LOT of mileage left in the sole unit - your first check point should be the heel

[redragon 3,579]

7 minutes ago, Duke Mantee said:

Are they Rolling Dubs? If that’s the case then there’s a LOT of mileage left in the sole unit - your first check point should be the heel

Yep it's the coupen.

Thank you for the reply, heels is wearing away but don't think it's that bad yet.

I do feel like the heels will need replacement first before the sole unit gets to a point where it need resoling.

 

42 minutes ago, smoothsailor said:

Is that a rubber sole? If yes I would say plenty of miles left.

its glued to the leather to

Feels like rubber.

Thank you for the reply, will wear it more.

[Duke Mantee 14,747]

13 hours ago, redragon said:

Yep it's the coupen.

Thank you for the reply, heels is wearing away but don't think it's that bad yet.

I do feel like the heels will need replacement first before the sole unit gets to a point where it need resoling.

 

Feels like rubber.

Thank you for the reply, will wear it more.

Thought so

The sole unit is nitrile and very hard wearing, the leather toe tip could be prone to wear (you’ve no toe-taps on there I see) and the heel is a cats paw which is fairly soft and will wear quickest albeit it’s still fairly durable 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Duke Mantee

[hurhur 76,846]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:38 AM, julian-wolf said:

Last March, I put in an order for a pair of ISN boots from Renav Goods Co., a workshop based in Bandung, Indonesia. There was around 4 month lead time, so I've now been wearing them for right around a year.

They're made from Double Horse Front leather from Horween. I don't know what that means, but it's very supple & it breathes well. It scuffs fast, and doesn't have much of any pull up. Even right after conditioning, it looks dry in high-wear areas, but I think that it's really just getting a bit of a nap forming—half way between leather and nubuck? I don't get the impression that it's particularly durable, but it's done fine for day-to-day wear. Time will tell. There's also a full deerskin lining, which helps with the overall luxurious feel. 

They're solidly good boots. They're well-constructed, and they've worn nicely. Something about them just doesn't feel honest. I think they'd appeal strongly to the same crowd that's interested in brands like Viberg: work boots made "fancy". In the same way as I would feel silly buying any more shoes from Yukuten after having spent time wearing Russell Mocs, I'd feel silly buying another pair of these over something from one of the standard PNW makers. Live and learn. I'm still relatively new to fancy footwear, and there were bound to be some mistakes. I've already got them, and I'm not going to let them go to waste. Thus, a year of wear & tear:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post a pic of them conditioned!

[julian-wolf 7,963]

@hurhur Will do next time I treat them

In my memory, they really didn’t look much different at all last time

[Duke Mantee 14,747]

On 7/3/2022 at 4:38 AM, julian-wolf said:

They're made from Double Horse Front leather from Horween. I don't know what that means.

 

 

Horse front is the area north of the strip, which in itself is north of the shells (where the desirable cordovan is obtained). The front is is most often used for clothing (jackets etc) as it’s often too thin for footwear - but not always, nor is the whole region anywhere near consistent in thickness.

The strip is about the only part you can get decent thickness for belts, and the shells are what everyone thinks they are.

Edited July 12, 2022 by Duke Mantee

[mlwdp 3,777]

Speaking of resole.  Wesco did a phenomenal job on a Dr Sole resole for my Boss.  They even fixed the right heel.

Edited July 10, 2022 by mlwdp

[julian-wolf 7,963]

@Duke Mantee That’s good info, thanks. So, when people market leather as “horse butt”, is that generally from the rump (incl. shell), or from the actual butt (which I guess would be part of the front, assuming horses are described in similar terms to other stock)?

[sensy 496]

3 hours ago, julian-wolf said:

@Duke Mantee That’s good info, thanks. So, when people market leather as “horse butt”, is that generally from the rump (incl. shell), or from the actual butt (which I guess would be part of the front, assuming horses are described in similar terms to other stock)?

I don't know if this helps, but here's a photo of two of my horsebutt leathers I'm messing around with. The black one is sold as having shell in it (but the shells are too small to extract or whatever you'd say), but the brown one is thinner and as far as I can tell there's no shell inside, but it's pretty clearly from the same area. 

Edited July 11, 2022 by sensy

[julian-wolf 7,963]

That does help, thanks. Seems like it’s the full rump—which is what I’d assumed, I guess, but seems like sort of confusing terminology…

[Duke Mantee 14,747]

4 hours ago, julian-wolf said:

@Duke Mantee That’s good info, thanks. So, when people market leather as “horse butt”, is that generally from the rump (incl. shell), or from the actual butt (which I guess would be part of the front, assuming horses are described in similar terms to other stock)?

The butt is what you’d immediately think it is - so really anything south from (and including) the strip. Remember the diagrams are only indicative, those areas can be bigger, smaller or even (within reason) in a different position … just depends in the beast from which the hide was obtained.

I think terminology can be confusing because we don’t fully understand the industry and processes, and worse the corner of the internet we inhabit often has a dreadful tendency to cherry-pick or misuse information (‘raw denim’ - which to a thread probably isn’t; ‘great leather’ - because there’s a strong grain or texture which was probably machine made ; and so on).

Edited July 11, 2022 by Duke Mantee

[julian-wolf 7,963]

40 minutes ago, Duke Mantee said:

The butt is what you’d immediately think it is - so really anything south from (and including) the strip.

This is not what I’d immediately think—I think of pork butt as being just above the shoulder, and beef butt as being from the loin, neither of which are really in that section, and I guess I’d assumed that horse would follow a similar trend—but that might be more regional than I’d realized, or just more context-dependent

When I think of the back end of livestock, “rump” is the first term that comes to mind

Edited July 11, 2022 by julian-wolf

[chicote 4,763]

Thanks for this discussion up here guys ^^ this is all really enlightening to understand the differences in terminology between different animal-product processing industries.

Here are a couple photos of my flat head engineers which use a tea core chromexcel.

I’ve had them six months and have worn them somewhat regularly in that time. Conditioned once after a couple weeks and then left pretty well alone since then per the advice of you all here.

I like how the leather is aging, there’s a lot of wear on my inner left boot from my motorcycle and some wrinkling forming on the inner shafts of both boots, maybe from engine heat? Not sure. But they’re coming along nicely.

For those of you more familiar with chromexcel, at what point does this leather start to really dry out / need conditioning? I don’t want to baby these boots really but also want the leather to last, and know keeping some oil in the leather is important for that.

 

 

[tod 546]

4 hours ago, chicote said:

Thanks for this discussion up here guys ^^ this is all really enlightening to understand the differences in terminology between different animal-product processing industries.

Here are a couple photos of my flat head engineers which use a tea core chromexcel.

 

I’ve had them six months and have worn them somewhat regularly in that time. Conditioned once after a couple weeks and then left pretty well alone since then per the advice of you all here.

 

I like how the leather is aging, there’s a lot of wear on my inner left boot from my motorcycle and some wrinkling forming on the inner shafts of both boots, maybe from engine heat? Not sure. But they’re coming along nicely.

For those of you more familiar with chromexcel, at what point does this leather start to really dry out / need conditioning? I don’t want to baby these boots really but also want the leather to last, and know keeping some oil in the leather is important for that.

 

 

My experience with CXL is not so much that it dries out but gets scraped up as your boots are getting, which look great btw! I trust the leather experts who say that most of us condition our boots far more than they need to be. I would say to treat them if you want to rub away some of the scuffing, but otherwise there’s probably no need to.

Edited July 12, 2022 by tod

[mlwdp 3,777]

I personally think I baby mine by using Saphir just once on them.  Got rid of the scrapes etc on them by using it.

Edited July 12, 2022 by mlwdp

[HGS 735]

@chicote chromexcel (like shell) is a pretty low maintenance leather.  also like shell even just a vigorous brushing can do a lot to restore it.  I would put cream on my chromexcel boots just a few times a year.

[Duke Mantee 14,747]

10 hours ago, julian-wolf said:

This is not what I’d immediately think—I think of pork butt as being just above the shoulder, and beef butt as being from the loin, neither of which are really in that section, and I guess I’d assumed that horse would follow a similar trend—but that might be more regional than I’d realized, or just more context-dependent

When I think of the back end of livestock, “rump” is the first term that comes to mind

Ah - so your confusion is rooted in the American misuse of ‘butt’ - which comes from the butt (or barrel) used to store meat  

Edited July 12, 2022 by Duke Mantee

[Duke Mantee 14,747]

10 hours ago, chicote said:

For those of you more familiar with chromexcel, at what point does this leather start to really dry out / need conditioning? I don’t want to baby these boots really but also want the leather to last, and know keeping some oil in the leather is important for that.

CXL is stuffed with oils and waxes to a much higher degree than a veg tanned leather so arguably it’ll take longer to dry out, but I’d still put a bit of conditioner on those boots. It’s not going to change how great they look - a little bit more sheen for a while until the conditioner soaks in, but shouldn’t really affect the colour.

I think @mlwdp mentioned Saphir (which is very good) but most leather conditioners/dressing that are made natural materials (tallows, beeswax etc) from will be more than adequate … I use Sedgwick leather feed because I can get it easily and it’s great stuff

[Jared_Lee 3,546]

I agree with @Duke Mantee. Give em a quick wipe down with a wet rag, a brushing and add just a little conditioner. It'll spruce em up, feed the leather, but not overdo it. They look great, @chicote!

[sensy 496]

Tender Sidings Boot

Definitely my favorite summer time boot. 

 

 

[indigoeagle 960]

Is anybody eyeing these?
Two Monkey boots- a project by the Jelado founder and I think a previous Red Wings Japan MD.
Hmm, US 10 seems to be the biggest size.

https://jelado.com/products/two-monkeys-sportifblack-tm72924

[mlwdp 3,777]

They look like those boots offered by White’s boots Japan.