The Official New Boots Thread

CurSedVoyce said:
For when I have to prune and then also gaff in the same day .... Altama MIL Spec Rock. Desert #4156 with shank.... Hunnert and change and last about a year in harsh conditions.
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I'm wearing something slightly similar.

Before I left home in December to hit the road, my corpsman friend said that if I needed a pair of boots, I could grab his barely worn pair from his time at Club Gitmo. Since my Redwings loggers were beyond repair (Hey, I had them for 10 years... they more than served me well), and were beyond comfortable, I said fine. I figured they would be some standard issue Bates or whatever the flavor of the week was at the time of purchase. I ended up with a pair of Oakley MK-II 8" rise boots.
http://www.oakley.com/products/mk-ii-assault-boot-8-inch-hot-weather/11093-889C


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A free pair of boots that fit like a dream, and made in America...thank you Uncle Sam, and thanks to my friend Doc! Even though they are designed for warm... ok HOT environments, they have still been decently warm even on days here in Iowa with windchills in the -20's. They dry out nicely, and have excellent snow and oil/grease traction, which is fine by me as I have been doing a decent amount of walking every day.
 
Those are the after shots Jay, I was beyond scrawny before I started rock-climbing. I actually look buff now compared to then...

Here is a shot from my first rock climbing trip:

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I weighed around 150 lbs in that picture!
 
3A (AAA);
2A (AA);
A;
B (N-Narrow, узкий);
C (N-Narrow, узкий);
D (M- Medium, средний);
E (W- Wide, широкий);
2E (EE, 2W, 3W);
3E (EEE);
4E (EEEE)
 
...there is no true standard though, from brand to brand no standardization ... my experience is Wescos run a little larger than Redwings in "same" size
 
I have 2 pairs of size 12 Redwings one insulated with safety toe, one un insulated without.

The WesCo Highliners are also size 12 and appear longer. They are definitely tighter in the center of the foot. Overall I feel like the WesCos are a tighter fit for me. That being said I like they way they fit much better.

Left to Right WesCo > Redwing

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Remember the old days at the shoe store with the metal foot measuring device?

They had an X ray machine in a Niagara Falls shoe store you could see your foot through the shoes. I never had the pleasure but I know people who did.
 
Am getting close to ordering another pair of Wesco boots and so read through this thread. I’ll look at the Whites again and the Vibergs for fun. Have had mostly custom fitted/built Wescos through the years and always loved them. I’ve sweated through taking the measurements and drawing around my feet on the factory custom paperwork. Wanted to make sure I was getting it right. Then about six years ago the local cobbler I go to for Vibram resoling told me I could get the fitting done by him and put in a custom order for the same price as dealing with the factory. Oh! That would be simple. He sells a lot of Wesco and Whites and etc. to fire depts..
 
I've worn out 2 pairs of Wescos (including a rebuild apiece) and 1 pair of Whites (rebuilt once and still lots of life in that pair) with Vibram soles...and 2 pairs of Wesco lightweight caulks (1 rebuilt, the second pair could use a rebuild now but I really don't need to, being retired). That's 8 pairs all together, which is as good a measure as any of what 32 years of working life is like for a reforestation specialist on the west side of the Cascade mountains of NW Oregon :).

I found both to be really stout boots, and both worth the high price. I went up to Scappoose, WA to the Wesco factory to be measured there for custom built, back in the early '80's; they keep my measurement on file for ever, I guess. For a while, there was a Whites boot shop in Gresham, OR; had my foot measured there for custom built, too. Same deal on Whites keeping a record of that in their files, though the outlet is gone now.

I think Wescos were a bit better than Whites at keeping my feet dry, given proper treatments, but not by much. You cannot go wrong with either, but don't kid yourself, it takes a couple of MONTHS of daily wear to break either brand in to be really comfortable, and the mothers are effing heavy. Given that, nothing is better than either brand, that I have worn, for a boot that has to stand up to truly hard service..
 
It's both a strength and a weakness. Having clubs on your feet allows you to take and give a lot of punishment from and to the environment, but it is energy consumptive to the boot wearer.
 
But you feel so wonderfully light footed when at the end of the day, you take them off:D
 
I dont notice the weight at all... When I worked towers I bought the heaviest boots I could find on purpose, figured on getting the most exercise out of each ladder wrung.

At one point I thought about wearing ankle weights.
 
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