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Red Wing Iron Ranger Boots - what's the dilly yo?

apolloali

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By far my 8113's are the most comfortable of the Iron Rangers. They were the quickest to break in and fit my feet like a glove. I like the colorways of the 9013, 9023 and 9011 but the featherstone leather is so stiff. I don't like adding any creams or oils to my shoes and prefer to break them in naturally(?) View attachment 973425 View attachment 973426
yo i like these laces. where can i get em
 

s1rrah

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Cameron Diaz - 1994 ... wearing the Red Wing Lineman's ... I had this exact pair (mens of course) at the very same time; Red Wing confirmed the boot was indeed 218 Linemans ...cool.

...

1195702
 

EmptyWallet

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I don’t know if this thread will come back to life, but I’m having a hard time deciding between Iron Ranger 8035s in 10D and 10.5D. I wear a 10EE in Strands and an 11D in Nike Free 4.0s. I have tried on IRs in 10EE and it was definitely way too wide.

The 10D is always a bit tight at first, and then loosens up when I lace them up, feels fine after a few seconds. They are not broken in yet and have only been worn by me once or twice.

The 10.5D fits great, but I get slight creasing in then caps and it feels a liiiittle too long. I’m worried they’ll stretch out and be huge once they break in.

How much do the IR stretch/break in after a bit of wear?
 

SSingh1975

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These will "break in" about 1/2 size down ...for me, this process took about a whole month.

I had a size 9 (same as my other boots). Felt good and didn't have too much issues with inital wear. However, about a month later, I could have easily gone down to 8.5 .

I sold my IR quite a long time ago and just bought another pair today in 8.5. (1/2 size smaller than my last pair).

I don’t know if this thread will come back to life, but I’m having a hard time deciding between Iron Ranger 8035s in 10D and 10.5D. I wear a 10EE in Strands and an 11D in Nike Free 4.0s. I have tried on IRs in 10EE and it was definitely way too wide.

The 10D is always a bit tight at first, and then loosens up when I lace them up, feels fine after a few seconds. They are not broken in yet and have only been worn by me once or twice.

The 10.5D fits great, but I get slight creasing in then caps and it feels a liiiittle too long. I’m worried they’ll stretch out and be huge once they break in.

How much do the IR stretch/break in after a bit of wear?
 

EmptyWallet

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These will "break in" about 1/2 size down ...for me, this process took about a whole month.

I had a size 9 (same as my other boots). Felt good and didn't have too much issues with inital wear. However, about a month later, I could have easily gone down to 8.5 .

I sold my IR quite a long time ago and just bought another pair today in 8.5. (1/2 size smaller than my last pair).


Gotcha. Where the 10D is tight is on the pinky toe. It calms down after a minute or so in them. This is wearing middle weight socks. If I wear dress socks in them, it’s obviously roomier but I don’t think they’re designed for that. I’ve had maybe...3 real wears in them? Only two for a full day? Maybe I need to give them more time.

The 10.5D fits obviously larger, but I notice creasing in the cap when I had them on in the store (which may not be a problem since I’ve seen pics of tons of cap creased IRs on here and reddit). I’m worried if they fit roomy right off the bat - they’ll be sloppy moving forward.
 

Phalanx

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Anyone had experience with getting the toebox stretched on Iron Rangers? A 13D fits me absolutely perfectly except the toebox is a little narrow. I don't really want to have to go through months of having uncomfortable toes to stretch it out; is a 13E in the toebox obtainable through a cobbler?
 

jstrath406

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Hey guys, thought I’d post this here in case anyone is interested. Selling a pair of the J. Crew x Red Wing Iron Rangers from a while back. It took me a while to get ahold of these, but once I did I only wore them a couple times. Beautiful boots but just don’t suit my style anymore. Tagged size 7.5US, but fit big as Red Wings do. Will let them go for $125 plus ship, send me a message if interested.
372217CB-58CA-4AF8-B837-4243F7CDB535.jpeg 618433A2-5904-412B-A21B-25684A1E63D5.jpeg C9B27C44-2CFF-4D14-AF04-DE7C627BB187.jpeg CD1315A5-AD7C-430A-9A2D-51878E98AD18.jpeg
 

s1rrah

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Thread revival was required because of it's legendary status, so ... just today took a shot of my now almost *exactly* six year old pair of Brooks Brothers SE Iron Rangers and as luck would have it, I found a photo of the same boots here in this same thread from back in 2016 when they were all shiney and new. Thought some might find it interesting to note how this particular variety of leather has aged...

Redwing calls (or called) the leather used in these 1st Edition Brooks Bro's IR's "Cactus" leather and I've always found it very similar to the leather used in their more commonly available Copper Rough and Tough IR's. It is an "oiled leather," meaning of course that the leather is already very well saturated with oils as part of the production process and therefore conditioning of any sort is generally not recommended for some time and until the leather might actually need it. The oiled leather is quite apparent in the photo below and when the boots were just out of the box.

Over the years, I've typically only worn these on certain occasions and they have not been daily use boots. Weekends, casual outings, etc. I've given them fairly vigorous saddle soap washings about once a year over the past six years, followed by application of horse oil (Mustang Paste brand) and no other oils or conditioners of any kinds. Mustang Paste is by far the best in regards to retaining the original boots color even though after the initial application, the boots will indeed darken considerably. But as the image below will show, the leather eventually always returns to it's natural color after a few months of wear and exposure. In fact, the most recent image at bottom below is about two weeks after the latest saddle soap washing and I have not yet re applied any Mustang Paste as I'm digging the slightly lighter color and contrast as is.

I have and or have had three to four different pairs of Iron Rangers and these have been my favorite simply because with each wash/condition over the years, the take on a slightly different look while still having the basic hues/contrast I love so much about the Cactus oiled leather ...

...

brooks3.png


brooks3.png

...

See you next year for zombie thread revival...

~s1rrah
 

OldTown

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Sadly, Red Wing has started introducing garbage synthetic fabrics into their heritage line so we may as well write them off now.
 

s1rrah

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Sadly, Red Wing has started introducing garbage synthetic fabrics into their heritage line so we may as well write them off now.

Ahhh, 'tis sad news indeed. I will have to do some research.

That said? I would not hesitate to go the Ebay route with some careful investigation of sellers and their offerings. I found my much loved pair of Redwing 8059 Oxfords on Ebay some years ago ... these are next to impossible to find. I also would not hesitate to buy a used/semi used pair like this and at $150, I'm tempted buy those lol. One can still find 1st ed. Brooks Bros IRs on Ebay but they are more and more listed as "super rare" and are selling for nearly $600 and aren't available in many sizes.

Ah well. Nothing good ever lasts.

Glad I got all mine when I did and that they last forever.

~s1rrah
 

tlebow

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For now they only do it for certain models like Iron Ranger Traction Tread.
Iron Rangers with mini lug are still exactly the same inside, veg tan leather insole etc.
 

s1rrah

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These boots age like fine wine!

I agree! Every year and with every saddle soap wash, they change in remarkable ways ... mostly just the variants like the Brooks Bros (see a few posts above) and other brown styles.

I'm also still loving the oldschool "oxford" release I was lucky enough to score on Ebay. Very hard to find this particular style nowadays ...

Also, just discovered waxed cotton laces ... the brown nicely offsets the black boots/shoes ...

cBfJDjG.png
 

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