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climbinglife

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If anyone is wondering on lead times, I was quoted 7-8 months back in October and I was almost 7 months exactly.

From a QC POV, these are really done well. Also, they are up for sale in the market place as my interests have moved away from White's besides the two pair I already have.
 

Lem87

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Speaking of the sale, does anyone know what the difference in fit between va single and double celastic is? Does a double change the shape of the toe? How firm is horsehide on a 55 last (bounty hunter/semidress)? Has wearing an already stiff leather + a lining ever affected width choice for anyone? Currently waiting on an mp55 cap toe 9.5EE in tan latigo to finish and ship to me from November's sale. Feedback determines if I wait a year before my next whites purchase because I am betting the mp55s won't arrive till late June/ early july.
 
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Lem87

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If anyone is wondering on lead times, I was quoted 7-8 months back in October and I was almost 7 months exactly.

From a QC POV, these are really done well. Also, they are up for sale in the market place as my interests have moved away from White's besides the two pair I already have.
LOL! Seems they are now estimating 7-10. It's why I sound so impatient in my previous post. Not so sure I'll hold interest either if lead times don't start shrinking rather than growing. I am thinking the horsehide will be my 3rd and final white's boot
 

theofficialhung

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Even with all the QC issues I'm still tempted to order one last pair for the Father's Day Sale I've been wanting for a long time now - a super basic pair of semi dress in brown dress leather on a single leather sole like Varnu's legendary pair.

But the drawbacks are the horrendous QC stories, every pair seems to comes with a squeak and the wait time is in the 9-10 month range and will likely creep up to a year with the way things are going. Not sure if it's worth it at this point.

Screenshot_20230611-212016.png
 

Lem87

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To be honest, I have been reading a lot of the same reviews you have and generally, it seems that most of the boots with a squeek or pop are leather soled, topy layered, or half sole styles. I am personally a fan of half sole style outsoles, with 13 of them in my possession from various brands and counting. That is not exclusively a whites boots issue. It's an "I like leather soled and their partially if not mostly exposed variants of full leather outsole boots and I don't take care not to saturate them" kind of issue. Keep in mind, whites is an all leather layered mid and often outsole component bootmaker. That includes a leather shank and insole as well. If the mid and or outsole has a breach that water can get into, that's another issue entirely. Leather soles just don't take moisture as well.

If we are going to talk about quality control, how about we include the handling of our boots. My plain toe mp55 was banged up fresh out of the box. Whatever happened to bagging our boots to prevent that from happening before we even put the boots on?
 
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klugtrane

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Question for folks: I just got quoted $110 for a crepe/wedge sole replacement (like for like, not changing sole types). Anyone else had a similar recent recent resole and willing to share what they paid?
 

chicagoan2016

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Question for folks: I just got quoted $110 for a crepe/wedge sole replacement (like for like, not changing sole types). Anyone else had a similar recent recent resole and willing to share what they paid?
Someone on Facebook had mentioned it should be $50 -60 job.
I wouldn’t send them to PNW because of shipping cost but inquire how much they charge to give you a rough idea.
 

Phalanx

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Haven't visited this thread in a little while. I've been loving the look of White's Moc toe boots but they still won't offer customisation on them which is a shame.

I'm toying with the idea of getting a pair of Burgundy CXL MP boots with a brogue toe-cap; something a bit smarter. Main thing i'm a bit uncertain about (other than reading about all the QC issues) is opting for a 13 E instead of a 13 E/D (E in toes, D in heel). Just because I think it'd simplify things.

Otherwise, I'd love something a bit lighter. Perhaps getting a Steven boot, or a Swing last semi-dress.

Decisions, decisions.
 

CasuallyWorked

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Otherwise, I'd love something a bit lighter. Perhaps getting a Steven boot, or a Swing last semi-dress.

Decisions, decisions.
i am thinking about getting something similar. Going to order this boot but with a half lug sole and speed hooks. The mp last is narrow at the ball so I am getting an E width, I didn’t know you could do a E/D
CF832B73-5B3C-407C-8B41-68713CFCCD55.jpeg
 

ABMTL

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For what it's worth, I'll share my experience with my current/first/only pair of White's.

I didn't wear them much after receiving them, but then took them with me on a monthlong trip this Dec-Jan.

About two days into the trip, both boots developed a terrible, mortifying squeak. My family (who already had a sort of snarky disregard for my "big, expensive boots") made note of the squeak constantly. And it echoed off all the cobbled streets and alleys everywhere we walked. I started trying to change my gait to minimize it when passing locals. I spent hours imagining how I was going to send them back and ask for a rebuild once I returned to North America.

And then, in the last week of the trip, after miles and miles and miles of squeaking...they just stopped. Now they're silent and supple. I love them.

All to say, I would try to just wear the absolute crap out of them to see if it resolves organically before actually sending them back.

Update: the ball-of-the-foot squeak has returned with a vengeance. So take everything I said above with a grain of salt.

The sound is half duck toy half flatulence. In both boots. Quite loud. Makes walking in public mortifying.

So I'm trying to decide how to proceed.

I'm out of warranty period, so I could send it to either Baker's or White's for a resole.

Baker's said that they're able to add some sort of insulating layer between the offending layers of leather and that they have about a 90% success rate in getting rid of the squeaks.

I've also been mentally toying with Woodtroll's injected glue approach (https://www.styleforum.net/threads/custom-whites-boots-thoughts.219173/post-11188256).

But Brandon at Baker's said there's a chance that the presence of a dollop of glue down there could complicate future rebuilds/resoles.

So, questions for the group:
1.) Are Baker's and White's equally good candidates for the resole?
2.) Has anyone else recently tried Woodtroll's glue-shooting fix--and if so, how did it hold up? And has anyone then subsequently done a proper resole/rebuild without the glue being a problem?
3.) I see that some ppl online advocate basically pouring leather oils/conditioner down into those layers--either by literally pouring oils into the boot and/or by "angling" it in through the seams on the welt. What do you think about a more surgical approach: using Woodtroll's method but instead of injecting glue, injecting some sort of leather oil? Would that be likely better or worse in terms of avoiding/creating future potential resole/rebuild issues?

Many many thanks in advance for yr collective wisdom.
 
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mlwdp

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Just a throwback to a smokejumper I did that I sold a while back when first introduced to PNW boot makers. These were painful to wear and I sold them to someone in China. Black Bullhide, all black, Cleastic toe, half sole too. They were cool to look at but impractical.

If you’re not about that “triple sole life” aka the double midsole, I don’t recommend having them made this way in the traditional smokejumper last.

If I could do it all over again, would’ve had them made in a different last (bounty hunter) without a triple sole (double).

Anyhoo….
6F8A58A2-00DD-4031-A9F3-12E85A5AEBEE.jpeg
BEEFD98D-F081-4BDF-BAD5-AC55978516AE.jpeg
 
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