Wolverine 1000 Mile Boot Review - Page 190

My cobbler had no trouble at all.

He is supposed to give me a call if he decide not to do the job otherwise they will be ready on next Tuesday.
BTW, I decided not to go with the iron. I thought it would not look nice on those kind of shoes.

My cobbler said the same thing -- he ended up stitching it to the sole as well in order to insure it will hold

When I took in my 721 LTDs for a half sole my cobbler told me it would cost a little extra as the oil in the leather meant additional treating of the sole prior to putting on the glue.  He said he was going to have to rough the leather up so that the glue would hold properly, may have mentioned adding some type of treatment beforehand as well but can't remember exactly.  Cost me an additional $10 due to the leather.  He didn't want to put them down either, mentioned something along the lines "Best boot he's ever seen."

Just noticed this crack today, are these soles toast?  They have about 6 months wear, maybe 2-3x a week, always allowed to dry if I wore them in the rain.  Anything I can do to make this last a little longer?

 

 

 

This is really interesting. Would you mind show us a picture of your cobbler work? Maybe I could show it to mine. Thank you.

What size do you normally wear, and what size did you order?

Water brush?

They look great.

To water brush all you do is sprinkle a little water on the boot and then take a clean shoe brush and go at it like a mad demon. It can really do wonders.

It is the start of the end as the crack will only get larger. Water will ingress below the sole and things will go downhill from there.

Take them to a cobbler to get resoled. Talk them them about the options that thy are comfortable doing to the boots. It may be possible to use a double leather sole or you can go the route of a rubber covering - a Topy, Vibram or similar sole. I have Topys on my boots, but will likely go the Raptor route, that Crane posted here, when I need to resole.

How does a sole end up cracking like that, not enough conditioning? How would you keep the sole conditioned with a half sole glued onto it?

I have oiled the soles, but I guess that wasn't enough.... I'm pretty surprised they failed so quickly.  I wore them a lot when I first got them, but they have been worn about every 3 days for most of their life.  They have never seen two rainy days in a row and after they get wet, I air them out propped up so that the bottom of the soles can get air.  Oh well, I guess.

Crane, would it not be best advised to do what works best for you in the long run? You may not be following conventional wisdom when you purchase a shoe/boot that is somewhat too tight in certain places, but if those places stretches after a short period of time and then afterwards the shoe as a whole fits you perfectly... How can you beat that?

I have a pair of chromexcel boots that I really wanted but when I tried them on in the store every size didn't fit quite right. Heel (and toe box) had too much wiggle room in a 9, and the instep was too tight in an 8.5 with thicker socks. The salesman recommended that I get the 8.5 and told me that it would stretch where it was too tight until it fit me just right. I've worn them a few times now with my thicker wool socks, and they do seem to be getting more and more comfortable in the instep.

Not trying to discredit you, as I truly do want to hear more about your school of thought regarding the matter. Boot sales are part of your profession, after all! Can you expound on your point of view?

Hi everyone,

 

I'm expecting a pair of 1000 mile boots in the mail sometime this week and wonder what I should do with them first.

 

The general consensus I've read is to LP them right out of the box to waterproof and condition them.... However, I live in dry California so I don't know if that will be necessary. From what I've read the boots seemed to be well oiled out of the box and as such, should I really condition them with something? I'm looking into buying some Venetian Shoe Cream, which I have read is great for CXL, but it does seem hard to find a good price on them. Are there any other leather care items that you guys recommend besides LP?

 

As for adding a topy, I will not be going hiking out with this things or anything of that sort. Most walking will be done on flat cement side walks with the occasional pebble road, would you guys suggest to add a topy regardless to extend the life of the leather soles? Also, can topys be easily removed to add a new one once the original gets worn out?

 

Thanks!

 

This has me worried. I have about the same frequency and duration of wear, but mine look fine, for now at least. It's always wet/rainy here and 90% of my shoes have leather soles. I have overshoes, but they would get destroyed riding my motorcycle. Wonder how soon I'll need some resoles.