Resting or Rotating Boots

[Feliksas]

Good evening, All,

I'm new in town, so before I get to my question, here's a quick introduction: I'm a former infanteer from Candada now living in Eastern Europe and teaching English. Since the military, I've had a thing for boots that are made to last, and I found this site while looking for more info about William Lennon boots. My general interests are the so-called Western Canon, films, and the outdoors.

So my questions for you are - how many of you rest or rotate your shoes? Do you use shoe trees?

My Mark III Canadian combat boots were worn every day for years and held up fine, which is why I'm surprised by the advice over on the Goodyear Welt subreddit that all shoes should be rotated and shoe trees used.

Pleasure to be here!

 

[tropicalbob]

Good evening, All,

I'm new in town, so before I get to my question, here's a quick introduction: I'm a former infanteer from Candada now living in Eastern Europe and teaching English. Since the military, I've had a thing for boots that are made to last, and I found this site while looking for more info about William Lennon boots. My general interests are the so-called Western Canon, films, and the outdoors.

So my questions for you are - how many of you rest or rotate your shoes? Do you use shoe trees?

My Mark III Canadian combat boots were worn every day for years and held up fine, which is why I'm surprised by the advice over on the Goodyear Welt subreddit that all shoes should be rotated and shoe trees used.

Pleasure to be here!

Hi, Feliksas, and welcome to the Lounge. I use shoe trees for my dress shoes and try to rotate them as best I can. When I read your post, though, it dawned on me that I've never considered giving my workboots the same treatment. The point of shoe-trees is to keep the leather from shrinking and the toes from curling, and rotating the shoes is to allow the shoes to dry out from the sweat and any moisture that may have been absorbed. I suppose that I expect my boots to be put through uses that the dress shoes aren't put through, and I'm not so concerned about their appearance. I've seen a number of folks here that treat their boots like dress shoes, but I don't. Curiously, I have boots that I've owned and worn for over twenty years that are holding out just fine: for instance, I still wear my Frye Jackson Engineers on an almost daily basis and, though they're pretty beat up, well, they're engineers. I don't know what kind of rubber they used twenty years ago for the little half-soles and heels, but they show hardly any depreciation at all. Anyway, best of luck to you and, once again, welcome.

 

[belfastboy]

Good evening, All,

I'm new in town, so before I get to my question, here's a quick introduction: I'm a former infanteer from Candada now living in Eastern Europe and teaching English. Since the military, I've had a thing for boots that are made to last, and I found this site while looking for more info about William Lennon boots. My general interests are the so-called Western Canon, films, and the outdoors.

So my questions for you are - how many of you rest or rotate your shoes? Do you use shoe trees?

My Mark III Canadian combat boots were worn every day for years and held up fine, which is why I'm surprised by the advice over on the Goodyear Welt subreddit that all shoes should be rotated and shoe trees used.

Pleasure to be here!

I don't rotate my boots in any organized method but because I have so damn many they end up getting rotated. I have a few favourites that do get worn for days at a time but I always use good cedar shoe trees. I have shoes and boots still in great condition that are 30 years old but are cleaned, conditioned and shined regularly. I have lots of cedar shoe trees picked up many of them from China off Ebay. They work well for less than 1/2 the price of US made.

 

[Feliksas]

Curiously, I have boots that I've owned and worn for over twenty years that are holding out just fine: for instance, I still wear my Frye Jackson Engineers on an almost daily basis and, though they're pretty beat up, well, they're engineers. I don't know what kind of rubber they used twenty years ago for the little half-soles and heels, but they show hardly any depreciation at all. Anyway, best of luck to you and, once again, welcome.

Thanks for the reply, and this is heartening to hear--I'd hope that my William Lennon's hold up as well as your boots have, as I do try and care and condition even my combat boots on a regular basis.

This is the post over on reddit that inspired this post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/malefashio...my_iron_rangers_are_dead_irreparable_after_2/

The gentleman in question wore his Redwing Iron Rangers for 2 years before they fell apart; apparently, the cork filling disintegrated, and Redwing said that they would not offer their resoling services to him. This is a shame, because it suggests that caring for the leather isn't enough--that we must also worry about the midsole.

Anyhow, glad to be here, I'll be certain to post pictures of my custom William Lennon build when they come in!

-F

 

[Feliksas]

I don't rotate my boots in any organized method but because I have so damn many they end up getting rotated. I have a few favourites that do get worn for days at a time but I always use good cedar shoe trees. I have shoes and boots still in great condition that are 30 years old but are cleaned, conditioned and shined regularly. I have lots of cedar shoe trees picked up many of them from China off Ebay. They work well for less than 1/2 the price of US made.

I picked up a cheap pair of cedar shoe trees after the Iron Ranger horror story that I read linked to in the post above. Any tips for shoe trees? Or just insert and that's it?

-F

 

[belfastboy]

I picked up a cheap pair of cedar shoe trees after the Iron Ranger horror story that I read linked to in the post above. Any tips for shoe trees? Or just insert and that's it?

-F

Yes, just insert. I have a bunch of them so tend to just leave them in the boot/shoe. If you have just the one leave it in overnight to allow the tree to absorb the moisture and you are good to go.

 

[belfastboy]

I picked up a cheap pair of cedar shoe trees after the Iron Ranger horror story that I read linked to in the post above. Any tips for shoe trees? Or just insert and that's it?

-F

I just read the link and I support the wearer of the boots. Yes, he could have received longer life had he treated them better but the Achilles heal is the fact they have components that are not repairable. I am a Danner fan and they post pics of the rebuilds they have done and do on their boots. If they built them they damn well should be able to repair them. Perhaps the issue is semantics...repairable versus rebuild. Danners are fully rebuildable.

 

[bluesmandan]

Early this year i added up what i was spending on “cheap” throwaway shoes and decided i would be better served with some higher quality goodyear welted shoes or boots so i bought a pair of alden indys and ae higgin mills. With such a monetary investment and the intent of making them last as long as possible, you’re darn right i put shoe trees in them and rotate them, as well as regularly condition them. I’m about 9 months in on them and they both look great. Here’s the indys... after 9 months of wearing them 3x per week. A lot to be said for trees, rest, and conditioning.

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[El Marro]

I am a big fan of the electric boot dryer made by Peet:

http://www.peetdryer.com/store/p40/Original_Dryer.html

I put my work boots on the boot dryer every afternoon when I get home and they are warm and dry in a matter of hours. My boots last much longer this way and they don't stink either. I also like cedar shoe trees for my nicer boots and shoes.

 

[Feliksas]

I just read the link and I support the wearer of the boots. Yes, he could have received longer life had he treated them better but the Achilles heal is the fact they have components that are not repairable. I am a Danner fan and they post pics of the rebuilds they have done and do on their boots. If they built them they damn well should be able to repair them. Perhaps the issue is semantics...repairable versus rebuild. Danners are fully rebuildable.

I could see this being a problem if you took the boots *somewhere else* where they don't have an Iron Ranger last for the rebuild...but for Redwing themselves to refuse a paid repair puts the wearer in an unfortunate situation, since *nobody* else can do this job (easily) other than Redwing. I was going to buy Redwing, but now I'm going to stay away; for my custom William Lennon build, I even bought my own lasts, for added security.

 

[Feliksas]

as well as regularly condition them. I’m about 9 months in on them and they both look great. Here’s the indys... after 9 months of wearing them 3x per week. A lot to be said for trees, rest, and conditioning.

Since this thread is kind of about maintenance, what's your conditioning regime? I'm a Saphir from Kiwi convert, and I do the "presidential shine" as recommended on the Hanger Project: dubbin once or twice per year, then renovateur maybe once per month, pommadier on a weekly basis, and the hard polish for day to day touching up of the aesthetics. No shoe trees for now.

-F

 

[Feliksas]

http://www.peetdryer.com/store/p40/Original_Dryer.html

I put my work boots on the boot dryer every afternoon when I get home and they are warm and dry in a matter of hours. My boots last much longer this way and they don't stink either. I also like cedar shoe trees for my nicer boots and shoes.

I'm not ready to buy a dryer *yet*, but we'll see how my on-order William Lennon's hold up, and maybe for the next round! After leaving the Canadian army, I briefly joined the Lithuanian reserve, and they had "drying closets" for shoes, that were made a little bit warm, for your combat boots to dry in over night...

 

[bluesmandan]

Since this thread is kind of about maintenance, what's your conditioning regime? I'm a Saphir from Kiwi convert, and I do the "presidential shine" as recommended on the Hanger Project: dubbin once or twice per year, then renovateur maybe once per month, pommadier on a weekly basis, and the hard polish for day to day touching up of the aesthetics. No shoe trees for now.

-F

I use venetian leather balm for prewear shine, huberds shoe grease for postwear spot conditioning, and huberds shoe grease or oil for monthly deep conditioning (the oil for deepest penetration). Once every 3 months i use an eye dropper to put a bead of huberds shoe oil into the welt.

Both of these boots are cxl, which you’re not supposed to use wax on. I think huberds shoe grease has some wax in it but not very much; I haven’t noticed any uneven coloration from it (such as I’ve read you’ll see with a heavy wax mixture) and I’ve not read of any problems with its use by others either.

With other leathers in the past I’ve used kiwi, saphir, neatsfoot, lexol, and more. I like lexol spray for cowboy boots because it’s thin and the spray helps with so much square footage.

Since finding venetian and huberds I don’t use waxes any more, even for dress shoes. Venetian gives a better and easier shine and doesn’t leave swirl marks or attract dust like too much wax will.


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[Feliksas]

I use venetian leather balm for prewear shine, huberds shoe grease for postwear spot conditioning, and huberds shoe grease or oil for monthly deep conditioning (the oil for deepest penetration). Once every 3 months i use an eye dropper to put a bead of huberds shoe oil into the welt.

I'm very curious to try Huberd's from what I read. What made you switch from the other polishes? And why no wax? My my my, this is a dilemma, I hate it when another possibly amazing product is suggest to me, as I'm quite set in my old-fashioned polishing ways...

-F

 

[Feliksas]

I use venetian leather balm for prewear shine, huberds shoe grease for postwear spot conditioning, and huberds shoe grease or oil for monthly deep conditioning (the oil for deepest penetration). Once every 3 months i use an eye dropper to put a bead of huberds shoe oil into the welt.

As I go deeper down the rabbit hole, what about Montana Pitch blend? It seems like a possible Hubert's contender. Alas, neither is available in Europe, and often the shipping costs as much as the product itself...

-F

 

[bluesmandan]

As I go deeper down the rabbit hole, what about Montana Pitch blend? It seems like a possible Hubert's contender. Alas, neither is available in Europe, and often the shipping costs as much as the product itself...

-F

Never used it, but yes their stuff looks pretty similar to huberds offerings. I don’t see a version of the “grease” though, just a wax. I wouldn’t mind giving their line a try though.


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[Bfd70]

Last a lifetime is hyperbole. If anyone thinks its a statement of fact for boots worn in every condition everyday....well, thats just silly.
Also, while $300 is far from chump change, it’s not a bad deal for 2 years worth of shoe.

 

[bluesmandan]

I'm very curious to try Huberd's from what I read. What made you switch from the other polishes? And why no wax? My my my, this is a dilemma, I hate it when another possibly amazing product is suggest to me, as I'm quite set in my old-fashioned polishing ways...

-F

Sorry I missed your post earlier; i only saw the second one. I switched away from products that were wax based, animal based, or had urea in them and started using huberds and venetian because of the frequency with which i saw them mentioned by others in leather care discussions especially regarding chromexcel.

Chromexcel is an oil stuffed pullup leather. Supposedly using wax on such a leather will cause an uneven looking finish (the wax will accumulate in certain areas due to the way the leather flexes and stretches). Urea and animal based products will supposedly cause early breakdown of the leather. Urea will certainly soften the leather (which is why it is used in tanning) but at the price of the leathers longevity.

Lexol claims its conditioner is only made of oils, but it is very liquidy and can tend to oversaturate the leather making it wet and soft, which i wanted to avoid.


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[belfastboy]

Since this thread is kind of about maintenance, what's your conditioning regime? I'm a Saphir from Kiwi convert, and I do the "presidential shine" as recommended on the Hanger Project: dubbin once or twice per year, then renovateur maybe once per month, pommadier on a weekly basis, and the hard polish for day to day touching up of the aesthetics. No shoe trees for now.

-F

I have long been a Lincoln shoe wax user. Have dress shoes for 25 years that are still as new. Use a small amount of Lexol or Bickmore to clean and condition once in a while but mostly just regular polishing with the Lincoln wax. I also have Saphir and Meltonian creams but prefer the Lincoln.