Wolverine 1000 Mile Boot Review

Awesome looking shoes. And sheepskin insoles? Never seen those before! How cool and weird?

I decided to go outside with my camera and take some pictures of these boots. Hope you like them. I gotta do something about the rub/wear on the tongue... pisses me off.

anybody have a pair in Rust that they darkened with Montana Pitch Blend or oils?

trying to decide between the Rust and the Brown

how does the Rust color age?

Anyone get the Wolverine 1000 Mile Care Kit with their boots? I did and it came with conditioner and creme. My question is, which should be applied first? Should it always be one then the other, or should I apply the creme weekly and condition after every wear?

I got the kit, but don't now the answer to your question. I don't necessarily think they need to be used together, thought. When new, I think the conditioner will work well by itself.

Cross posted from my 721LTD review thread.....

Here's how you waterproof boots with snoseal or a similar wax oil product.

Get your unlaced boots, some rags, your snoseal, a brush, and a hair dryer.


CIMG0929 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr

Wipe off any mud or crud with a damp rag, brush them thoroughly and start applying the snoseal with your finger liberally. The first pic shows the nice thick bead being applied to the where the welt and the upper meet. This is the area where time well spent will reward you in dry feet even if you stand ankle deep in water.


CIMG0930 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr

Keep applying it liberally in every nook, cranny, along edges...


CIMG0931 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr


CIMG0932 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr


CIMG0933 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr

Once you have the boot completely covered it's time for the hairdryer. What you basically do is heat up an area of the boot until the wax melts. Keep heating it while keeping the hairdryer moving in small circles. DO NOT just blast a spot! It is possible to cook the leather but you would know way ahead of time from the smoke that you F'ed it up but good. LOL. Anyway once the leather warms up enough the pores will open up and the shiny hot wax will just get sucked into the leather. Move over a bit and keep doing this to the entire boot. The big secret to really waterproofing leather is to get the wax deep into the leather. Heat is the only way this will happen.


CIMG0934 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr


CIMG0936 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr

Boot on the left is done. While the boot is still warm take a rag and wipe it down and polish it a bit.


CIMG0937 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr

Another shot of the snosealed boot (left). You can see the wax on the surface. Don't sweat it, this is normal and it does buff up with a little elbow grease.


CIMG0938 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr

The other boot getting it's very liberal dose of snoseal.....


CIMG0939 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr

Once you are done do it all over again. Yeah, that's right do it again. The wax will penetrate deeper into the leather and the addition of another coat of wax/heat will evenly distribute the treatment throughout the boot's leather. That additional coat along the welt area alone is worth the additional work. Once it's all said and done get ready to brush and buff your ass off. If you feel like it you can add a bit of color to the toe cap, vamp and quarters if you wish. If you do you'll get to be shoe shine guy for a bit longer.


CIMG0940 by DYSong Photography, on Flickr

Just for the fun of it here's some more food for thought.

How many times have you read on this board a horror story about water or salt stains on a brand new pair of boots or shoes? How about that great deal on vintage shell cordovan shoes and after one wear they cracked and self destructed? Same goes for leather jackets. How many times?

Here's a few facts about leather that's not well known or talked about.

You have no idea how old the new leather is that your item is made out of. You have no idea how long or in what environment your new leather item has sat around in. All you know is it's supposed to be new. New DOES NOT mean the original tanning oils or waterproofing is intact. Time and environment determine how long it takes for these critical components to dry out, deteriorate or otherwise be compromised. IF YOU DO NOT WANT NASTY SURPRISES WITH NEW LEATHER GOODS then take the time to condition them with the appropriate product BEFORE you use it. If you are going to expose leather to any type of water then waterproof it appropriately BEFORE you get it wet. This truly is a case of where an ounce of prevention is worth it. I wear leather coats in pouring rain, no issues or problems. I obviously put shoes and boots through the ringer. Again no problems.

There is one thing that should be noted. The color will darken. With light oils not as much and over time it does lighten back up a bit. Snoseal or other wax/oil compounds it's a different story. The leather will darken and tend to stay that way. It's a simple choice in my book. I want my boots, shoes, coats, saddles, wallets and whatever else to last as long as possible. That means I will maintain them properly with no regard to the color shift. The other choice in my book is neglect and well you'll pay for it in the long run and possibly much sooner.

Now the vintage stuff is a different animal. It's most likely going to be dry or worse dry rotted. If it's just dry that can be taken care of. It's a process that takes a lot of time and patience but it's doable. Again you go through the restoration process BEFORE you use it NOT AFTER!! Dry rot on the other hand is something that's not fixable. Good luck determining if a leather item is dry or dry rotted.

I digress.

Anyway there you have it. How I waterproof boots and shoes and why I do what I do.

The 1000 mile boot is awesome. Unfortunately I think I bought the wrong size. My left boot fits my left foot great and my right boot the heel area seems tighter and a little tighter in toe area. I hope with wear and the leather breaks in they will feel better. If not Im screwed and just wasted money haha

Crane's- Thank you so much for that write up. You probably saved my boots. I just sno-sealed my boots. Worked great, but I didn't have a hair dryer, so I used the toaster oven, worked great!

Crane, definitely appreciate the write up. I think it's made my decision to pick up the WOLVERINE 721LTD 1000 MILE HORWEEN SHELL CORDOVAN from UNIONMADE GOODS a bit easier. Been contemplating since there's only 1000 pairs produced. Thanks again!

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Man, Unionmade Goods always makes everything look so sexxy on their website.

Is there anyone else who thinks these shoes are poorly named? 1000 Mile Boot? If you walked a mile and a half each way to the Appreciation store or coffeeshop, you would wear these out in less than a year.

I've had sandals that probably lasted 1000 miles, just sayin'.

Originally Posted by JonathanHemlock

Click to expand...

I've had sandals that probably lasted 1000 miles, just sayin'.


Jerusalem Cruisers?

Just bought a pair of black Montgomery boots. I usually wear size 11 so i went with a 10.5. There is a little more movement in the heel and i'm wondering if i should have sized down to a 10. Does anyone have any experience with how much these boots stretch? I'm also wanting to buy a pair of 1000 miles and def feel like i need to size down one full size. Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Monslova

Click to expand...

Just bought a pair of black Montgomery boots. I usually wear size 11 so i went with a 10.5. There is a little more movement in the heel and i'm wondering if i should have sized down to a 10. Does anyone have any experience with how much these boots stretch? I'm also wanting to buy a pair of 1000 miles and def feel like i need to size down one full size. Thoughts?

On these boots yes. They fit TTS to half size large. This is a quote from a previous post I made about boot sizing. You need to know your size based on being measured versus comparatively speaking.

http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.p...&postcount=576

Leather boots like the Wolverine line do breathe. These are not goretex lined or rubber impregnated.

The sizing advice found on hiking boot sites is accurate. You should have slight heel slippage and plenty of room in the toe box. This will prevent a wonderful thing called toe jamming. If you don't hike you really wouldn't know about this.

The most accurate way to find your size for these boots, short of custom shoe measuring, is to wear a pair of socks that you'll wear the most often with these and go for a mid day long walk. After that have your foot measured and order that size.

Work boots and hiking boots are completely different animals compared to a shoe. They feel "funny" to a shoe wearer when sized correctly. If they feel like a shoe on your foot they are most likely too small. They may feel ok but they won't after a few miles of walking around.

I am a measured 8.5 D and that's the size I am wearing.

Anyway I've added a few more hard miles to my boots since my last post. I've hiked and tromped through a few more rocky trails and cattle pastures. The boots are holding up just fine. Some people have pm'ed me about cleaning them up and posting pics. I'll get around to it maybe this weekend.

I'm very impressed so far. I thought these boots would not survive my kind of abuse. Well I was wrong. I'm going to order up a pair of the tan Addisons and perhaps I'll be a bit nicer to them. Nah. I'll beat the **** out of them too.

Hmmm, I was going to get some RW GTs for a second pair of winter boots, but my 1000 miles+topy'd sole seem to work fine in the snow (especially in the city). So...black or brown to act a second pair to my rust ones to give me a 'rotation' of winter boots...decisions decisions.

Also, does anyone use boot trees in their 1000 Miles and if so, where did you get them?

^I use cedar shoe trees that I get from Target. Should be like $8 or so.