What an experience!

I wore these Drew’s Boots for work as a fruit farmer, carpenter, and mechanic, and for a couple of roof replacements in the past six months. As a farmer you get into far more that just ag operations, if there is a building we need, your doing it, need equipment fixed? your on the hook! Fruit needs sorted and packed? You got it. And anything in between! They have been covered in mud, soaked in water, showered in welding sparks, and had their fair share of oil splashed in their vicinity. All weather conditions have been experienced last six months here in Ohio, downpours of rain, one of the coldest and snow filled winter in a few years and of course ice.. and a few sunny beautiful days sprinkled in..

The brown rough out work leather from Siedel has stood up to everything I’ve thrown at it. The patina is interesting, dark in the vamp and lighting up the further back and up the upper you look. The break in was not bad, I have probably 12 other pairs of pnws so break in is not new to me, after week two they didn’t bother me anywhere and they just continued to get softer and more comfortable thru the end. As for care routine, I gave them several coats of Venetian leather balm before the dome started as it was going into fall/winter and in Ohio it is wet in these seasons. I reapplied balm on one other occasion in month 2. I brushed them once every two to three days and brushed them as well as I could for the dome pictures every month. I am going to clean these boots for the first time before I put them away for awhile!

This last is nearly built for my duck feet. I have 9.5e heels and they go to a 9.5f at the ball. These boots are a 9.5d but if I was to compare them, the are similar to a 9-9.5ee in the normal 55 last. My toes splay out under weight so the toe box being big fits me perfectly. I usually wear nicks Thurman lasts and this is similar in toe box room. The arch support is less than I like but that has to do with the lower heel on the contractor series, Drew’s loggers have better arch than nicks 55. Overall very comfortable for a wide range of tasks, standing kneeling and seated. I wore buffalo wool insoles while it was cold.

Fit and finish are as good as the top PNW boots, I have them all and in many ways these are built better/ more consistently. After 6 months all the hardware is still in place and not worn out, I did use generation laces which I’ve found to be easier on hardware than some other options. The stitching when new was near perfect and nothing has come loose, a few ends have started to fray but not a big deal. The left upper wasn’t clicked out of the best part of the hide, it’s soft but that’s what you get at 2/3 the cost and I’ve never experienced this with Drew’s before (4th pair)

Ahhh the 430…. Terrible mistake for winter in Ohio, not great in snow, not great on ice and marginal on smooth wet surfaces. The unlugged heel cap did NOT help. In fact I took a grinder with cutoff wheel to the heel cap and created lines about 1/16” deep for some bit of traction. The 430 is also harder than vbar and Montagna soles. That said I’ve used these 5 days a week for 6 months and they are close but not completely worn out.

Heel is tough but not very much traction. They don’t drag mud around either though..

Thunderdome was fun and taught me a few things, I won’t be running Vibram 430’s in the next dome and I will probably not choose roughout again because the patina is harder to appreciate. I choose Drew’s because I love my nicks, franks and whites, but everyone knows them and Drew’s really doesn’t get enough love in this community. If you want a more anatomical last, same high quality leather and construction at seriously cut rate and don’t mode simple work leather options, Drew’s should be considered.