Engineer Boots, Harness Boots...

[saddlebags]

Not perfect but just finished these. Had some issues with the sewing machine so stitching has some errors but overall, quite happy with how these turned out.

Buddy - if you're an amateur, amazing job - if you're a pro - maybe time to give up the day job eh? Outstanding work!

 

[Oil Tanned]

You're wondering...

If I buy a brand spanking new pair of Wesco engineer or harness boots what will the break in experience be like?

I'm roughly a week in on a brand new pair of 14" Wesco harness boots and this is what you might or might not encounter:

- Calves cramping when you go to remove the boot in the evening. It's a thick heel stack and works your leg a little differently than some of the other shoes you may be used to.

- The break-in is better (for me) once I remove the insole. It's a 7oz leather w/ a liner and that doesn't have a lot of give right out of the box.

- Condition the boots w/ bee oil once you get them. Use the entire tube that comes w/ the boots (it's roughly the same length and circumference as your thumb). Slather that on and in a hour or so the boots will have sucked it up.

- Wear them every day for the first 30 days. If you've got some kind of evil foot ***** action going on you may want to reconsider but your feet don't benefit from a protracted break in, nor do your boots.

- If you bought your boots w/ the Vibram # 100 sole note that driving will be a little different for a while, particularly if you are driving a manual trans car or truck.

- That big boot w/ a Vibram 100 may also make you rethink ingress and egress from the vehicle.

Interesting and accurate for certain. There are other aspects a new buyer would notice during and after break-in that you don't mention.

You refer to a 7oz leather which would be their oil tanned hide. If the buyer is used to a shiny boot or even a pretty boot, this may not be the solution.

The benefit is that you never need to polish the 7oz oil tanned boots.

The downside is that they'll never look polished; they'll look utilitarian and capable.

Every morning when you put them on you'll hit them with a horsehair brush because they'll look like they need it. A couple times during the day you'll think it would be handy to have access to that brush again. The best way to explain it is that they'll seem to attract dust at a quicker rate than a normal polished boot. I'm not sure if that has something to do with the bee oil application or that the leather isn't quite as dry as a polished boot but the oil tanned version appears to need attention more often. Nothing dramatic, just a few swipes with a brush should do it.

After you've owned them for a few months you'll come to a different impression. It will be that you really haven't changed the boots much at all with all of that swiping and horsehair fueled anxiety and that as long as you don't get them seriously dirty they won't need attention at all for weeks and weeks on end. On that day you'll begin to fully appreciate your footwear investment.



unle

 

[Edward]

Interesting and accurate for certain. There are other aspects a new buyer would notice during and after break-in that you don't mention.

You refer to a 7oz leather which would be their oil tanned hide. If the buyer is used to a shiny boot or even a pretty boot, this may not be the solution.

The benefit is that you never need to polish the 7oz oil tanned boots.

The downside is that they'll never look polished; they'll look utilitarian and capable.

Every morning when you put them on you'll hit them with a horsehair brush because they'll look like they need it. A couple times during the day you'll think it would be handy to have access to that brush again. The best way to explain it is that they'll seem to attract dust at a quicker rate than a normal polished boot. I'm not sure if that has something to do with the bee oil application or that the leather isn't quite as dry as a polished boot but the oil tanned version appears to need attention more often. Nothing dramatic, just a few swipes with a brush should do it.

After you've owned them for a few months you'll come to a different impression. It will be that you really haven't changed the boots much at all with all of that swiping and horsehair fueled anxiety and that as long as you don't get them seriously dirty they won't need attention at all for weeks and weeks on end. On that day you'll begin to fully appreciate your footwear investment.



unle

Yes, there's a lot to be said for that sort of finish. It'll never work for a 'dressy' look, but for day to day licking about in something that you don't need to worry about polishing, something more utilitarian, it can be great.