Red Wing Gentleman's Traveler - Page 108

Did you just buy all of them at the same time? They all look so NEW... start wearing them!

My black cherry GTs arrived today, along with my green superfeet inserts.  As I said before, I'm generally stuck between 9 and 9.5 in most shoes (9 in AE strands, 9.5 in Wolverine 1000 mile 744 LTD made in shell cordovan), and my width is between D and E.  Because the GTs supposedly run a bit narrow, I decided to go with the 9s and the footbed insert to hope it would be the perfect in-between.  I'm happy to report, it seems I'm right.

 

The break-in period will still certainly be there, but I think the footbeds may actually help with that.  My footbeds supposedly work from 7.5-9 (7.5s would need to be cut down in order to fit a smaller boot), and the 9s fit perfectly both lenth-wise and width-wise.  The fact that the insert lifts the front of my feet up by 1/4" or so helps, as they position my feet in the wider part of the boot (above where the boot connects with the sole, so I think that'll hasten the boots stretching to a proper width for me.  On the flip side, the top of my feet are touching the top of the boot, but not to a bad extent.  I have average arches, and the insoles are meant for medium-high arches, so as long as you don't have super high arches, I think this might be the ticket.

 

Fit aside, I must admit that I was rather shocked at the utter lack of support/footbed that came in the GTs.  Maybe they break in to create some arch support, but when I spend money on a decent pair of boots, I would expect a bit more support...especially given red wing makes "work boots" which would necessitate support for long work days.  Either way, I think these boots plus the green superfeet insoles really are the ticket.  I'm very happy with my purchase, and love the black cherry finish (especially now that I replaced the original laces with rawhide).

Photos of black cherry GTs with rawhide laces.  I love how the laces make the boot look a bit more rugged, as well as the laces matching with the edges of the soles.  Much more interesting than the black waxed laces.

 

My apologies for the ankle-squish...I tied them extra tight for the break-in period.

 

 

 

C'mon man. European-straight lace. Get after it.

Honestly, I've been waiting for someone to point me in the right direction.

 

Thank you sir.

 

Edit:  Can you recommend some sort of a this-shoe-needs-this-type-of-lacing guide?  I'm relatively new to the land of nice shoes, so I need all the help I can get.  I also own the Wolverine 744 LTDs in shell cordovan...should I do european straight lace for those boots too? I just picked up a pair of AE Strands (walnut) and am likely ordering the AE Neumoks (olive) later this week, so should I be lacing those differently as well?  Please excuse my ignorance.

Great looking pictures.

 

 

Those laces really do make a difference. Very nice.

Edited by dddrees - 10/6/12 at 5:43am

Don't listen to that dude.  Lace the damn things anyway you like.  I personally think straight lacing looks lame.

Admittedly, after I looked up european straight bar lacing I actually thought it looks kinda sloppy.

 

That said, I lace all of my shoes the same way...should I be lacing my Strands/Neumoks differently?

All you need is Ian's shoelace site, by far the best shoelace resource. The man takes shoelaces very seriously!

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/lacingmethods.htm

IMO, straight lacing is not the best choice for a workboot, dress shoe, sure. But it's just a preference thing. If you like straight/bar lacing...have at it. They are your boots.

I'm with you on the leather laces. I put them on my Wolverine 1K's as well as the Beckman. I also noticed how well they match the edge finishing.

For reference, I bought a 50' spool of Latigo Lace from Tandy. Even after giving away a half dozen pair to folks here at sf and sufu, I have enough leather lace to last a good while. I found that the spools are available in a slightly thicker size than most commercially sold laces. The color is a bit light but I apply a coat of obenauf and they darken perfectly.

Here are the laces on the Beckman with a quick/light coat of Obenauf. I keep thinking I need to add another coat to darken more but after a few weeks, they darken significantly.





Lace on the 1K's after some wear. These have been on the boots for a couple of years.




Edited by patrick_b - 10/6/12 at 2:37pm

As good as that looks, i really love the waxed laces in the beckmans

You really know how to hurt a guy... (I kid, I kid).

 

That's the nice thing about these boots, they are very versatile. When I got that spool of leather lace, I went a bit hog-wild with it. I put leather laces in my Alden suede chukkas and Clarks Desert boots. I quickly realized they didn't look right and reinstalled the OEM cotton laces. However, the leather stayed in the workboots, that's one application that I liked.

 

I really like the look of White's Boots leather laces. They have kind of a two tone thing going for them. They look sharp.

 

Whites SD:

 

I really need a pair of black cherries. Who knows the cheapest possible price? Im guessing e b a y ? 

I got mine from revolveclothing.com

 

Let them know it's your first order (after you've ordered), and they'll take 30% off.

Interesting.  I may have to buy a spool as well of latigo lace as well.  I hadn't thought to put Obenauf on the laces, but I guess that makes sense.

 

Just went cross-eyed looking at that lace site.  Holy hell.

 

Is there a standard for dress shoes (Neumoks/Strands) that I should use?  I don't feel the need to weave a spiderweb or pentagram with my laces.

Hot damn...those are good looking.  Are those boots black, or navy blue?