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.

 

[kenucklehead]

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

Thanks man. Total amateur but using quality materials and construction. Made these at home. Hand cut patterns, hand lasted, hand welted, Japanese buckles, waxed flesh horween cowhide, Dr. Sole soles and heels, hand handed/finished.

 

[Bfd70]

https://mildblend.com/collections/y...ather-eco-horse-tea-core-engineer-boots-eb-01

For all my low volume foot brothers who want to wear engineers these are the ticket. The fact that the eco horse feels and looks great too.

 

[AeroFan_07]

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.

Absolutely stunning! Crafting a pair of Engineer boots is not exactly a "first step" into footware building, excellent. I do hope they fit and work for you.

 

[kenucklehead]

Absolutely stunning! Crafting a pair of Engineer boots is not exactly a "first step" into footware building, excellent. I do hope they fit and work for you.

Haha. Thanks. I'm crazy that way. These weren't my first though. Tweaked design. But my first were Engineer boots too. And yes, they fit and are pretty comfortable.

 

[Adman256]

The 'Made in' debate crops up eventually in every thread here, at some stage.

If you want to avoid stuff made in China, I guess you'd have to not buy pretty much every piece of electrical equipment on the market, which will have some component made or assembled there...

As for clothing, how many of the products known and loved as 'Made in the USA' are produced in China? Probably more than people would like to hear about, including boots, jeans, coats, etc.

Is there a 'China' test for quality? Nope. The truth is that good, bad and indifferent products are made all over the world, including in China.

For example, chocolate products made in the USA are renowned in the UK and Europe for being tasteless, over-sweetened bars of gloop, bearing little relation to actual chocolate.

Consumption is a matter of personal choice, of course, and there are many reasons — including politics and ideology and previous experience with relative quality of products — why people might choose not to buy from particular vendors/sites/places... and many reasons for people buying positively, too.

Apologies for the off-topic rant. I'm getting booooooorrrrreeeedddd with all the dark hints and warnings about Chinese products.

Let’s stick to Stratoliners and open roads! LOL

 

[GreX]

https://mildblend.com/collections/y...ather-eco-horse-tea-core-engineer-boots-eb-01

For all my low volume foot brothers who want to wear engineers these are the ticket. The fact that the eco horse feels and looks great too.

There's nearly no information or images of these on their site, do you have any better details? How's the sizing, what Vibram sole do they have (just says Vibram sole), what kind of support/warranty to they have, and how's the return work, if they don't fit? These seem similar to the Bright Shoemaker boots that I ended up keeping, where its hard to find information about the boot, and only sold at different retailers with little information..

 

[Bfd70]

There's nearly no information or images of these on their site, do you have any better details? How's the sizing, what Vibram sole do they have (just says Vibram sole), what kind of support/warranty to they have, and how's the return work, if they don't fit? These seem similar to the Bright Shoemaker boots that I ended up keeping, where its hard to find information about the boot, and only sold at different retailers with little information..

I don’t have any details. I just happened to briefly pop into a stockist that had a pair on display. They were a 1/2 size down From my brannock so i popped them on. They felt like an actual D width. Tight on my very low instep. They are described as “eco horse” which seemed thick and spongy. Construction qc seemed on par or slightly better than pnc brands.

 

[Bfd70]

https://y-2leather.com/en/products/...f5-vVmgcsoprU54vjHCCzik99HC2xeluOjKV8wM3zfmZm

 

[Oil Tanned]

On the topic of soles there's another aspect that I never see discussed but is definitely of interest to the potential buyer.

The Vibram 100 series makes for quieter footfalls.

The Vibram 430 series makes for louder footfalls and seems like a harder compound sole.

It could be a harder compound or it could be that the longer lugs on the 100 make for a more flexible lug and therefore a little more compliant. Either way, there's a big difference to the wearer and others around. One woman I know refers to 430 soles as my "authority boots" as they sound like something is walking with intention. My boots with 100's are nearly silent. Aside from sole and color both boots are identical 14" Wesco harness boots.

 

[Texas_denim88]

I recently bought a second pair of Real McCoy's Buco Engineer Boots in Horsehide* (used but like new) because it is the most comfortable boot ever for my high instep
* Shinki Tannery teacore dyed horse buttock

Old vs. New
View attachment 264940

what are those detail on the strap called? coming from a house of all riders and asian... when we come together, there would be like 9-10 pairs of engineer boots by the door lol. it would be nice to have something to easily tell yours apart lol

 

[lucss10]

Rolling Dub Trio Griffin Engineer II US 7.5 - Brannock 8.5D

Finally got my hands on these after eyeing them out last October. The Griffin lasts works so well in the engineer form factor. Looking forward on how it patinas overtime.

 

[Oil Tanned]

what are those detail on the strap called? coming from a house of all riders and asian... when we come together, there would be like 9-10 pairs of engineer boots by the door lol. it would be nice to have something to easily tell yours apart lol

If you look up "pin back ornament" on Amazon you'll see a ton of similar product. You'll need to wade through several pages to find what you're looking for but there's a bonus in broad selection options.

 

[Herrvallmo]

Rolling Dub Trio Griffin Engineer II US 7.5 - Brannock 8.5D

Finally got my hands on these after eyeing them out last October. The Griffin lasts works so well in the engineer form factor. Looking forward on how it patinas overtime.

View attachment 803431 View attachment 803432

The Griffin last is such a killer, engineers/jodhpurs/you name it, just amazing looking boots every time

Cheers!

 

[Edward]

If anyone is interested, there is a video out there on Schott work boots in which a Schott says the leather for their boots is double tanned. One might make the assumption he is referring to a process of chrome and veg tanning in some ways similar to how Chromexcel is produced.

The leather does have what I consider a distinctive break, similar to what one sees on the net for Chromexcel. On the other hand, I does not much resemble the break on the only Chromexcel boots I personally own.

Got another compliment on the boots today, from a 91 year old woman.

No big deal except no one has ever even noticed what kind of shoes I might be wearing, no matter how cool I thought they were, so we might infer engineer boots stand out and attract attention.

They look nice. We've theorised before on who makes them for Schott (as memory serves, we all reckon Chippewa). I'm good for engineers currently, but if Schott did those harness boots they also have in a nice brown colour, I'd be looking down the back of the sofa for enough stray pennies...