Red Wing Iron Ranger Boots - what's the dilly yo? - Page 38

just preaching to the choir real quick:

a couple weeks ago we had a major flood here (chicagoland), and i had about a 8 inches of water surrounding my house.  as i went to work, i walked through the water, and when i got to work, i took my boots off and noticed the socks were completely dry. i looked in the boots, no water marks.  the boots were 100% sealed, whether it's from the lp that i put on about a month earlier or the design of the boot itself.  only then did i realize why the boots are priced at a "premium".

@DesmondD

How much wear/how long have you worn your Iron Rangers? I noticed that the toebox looked pretty flat compared to the bulbous look when new. 

Looks great, though I think they're too dark. The second pic looked perfect.

Good eye, scooby.

I'll most likely get somewhat flamed (singed, maybe) for saying this: 

I didn't really like the bulbous look of the toebox too much, so I put one boot on and stomped on the other until they flattened out a bit - kind of like using diamond to cut diamond...it's some seriously tough leather up the front of the shoe there.

Worked pretty well although I now have some slight dimples in the leather that didn't quite pop back out - you might be able to see them in the pics. Maybe they'll work their way out as the leather softens up a bit more over the next few months.

Doesn't affect comfort at all and helped to make them look a little more worn in (IMHO).

An interesting experiment in any case...

And also, yes, I agree that they turned out a bit dark. Will post my findings on whether they lighten up or not.

that is interesting. i assumed they just softened and fell into the current shape. i wonder if using mabye a block of wood and then stepping on the toebox would prevent the dimples but still provide the flattened toebox?

Hahaha you stomped the shape out of your own boots? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard.

Yeah maybe a thin(ish) piece of wood would work. Basically the doubled leather in the toecap made them naturally pop back into shape but after 40-50 stomps, the middle of the toebox started to crease a little and stopped popping back up as much as the other parts and the rest flattened out.