I genuinely worn them nearly every day. I work in an office and out and about but not in any real rugged environment, more a city dweller. 8 - 10 hours a day. They’ve also been worn on weekends to watch the football and nights out on the beer! Amazingly without trying they’ve never really seen rough weather which is ironic as that’s mostly why I went with waxed vs regular roughout!
I can’t believe how well the leather has held the wax considering the amount of wear. Literally in the past 2 months I’ve started to notice areas of heavy wear / movement is starting to show the browns and nap of the the roughout. I can’t wait for the next 2 months to be honest! As I’ve not got them particularly dirty I’ve not had to brush regularly or use any products so maybe that’s why they’ve held up so well. I do really like the way the leather has folded and moulded to my feet including the way the toe has collapsed slightly.
The fit from the start was spot on. Simple. I would say that once the toe collapsed I started to notice the way the leather rested on the top of my toes which does take some getting used to! The width and the length was and is perfect.
The quality of the build and the pattern / last was as good as I’d hoped. I knew the boondocker was a specialty of Sagara and it was another reason I chose them over other builders patterns. Small details like the lining, the insole, and the curves are all very cool. There is some slight separation of one of the heels from the sole but nothing that’s ever bothered me and I tore through 2 pairs of laces until the inside of one of the lace holes smoothed through properly. The rest of the stitching etc is perfect to my novice eye.
I guess there are 3 aspects to the sole. 1 - the look stunning, end of. I love the raw cord look and the colour. 2 - the grip very well, much better than the 2 pairs of RW I have. 3 - the wore down much faster than I was expecting if I’m honest. I have worn them daily so maybe that’s to be expected but I was expecting something more similar to the vibram on my iron rangers. These are much softer than those tbf and much more grippy so it’s not a complaint, just not what I was expecting. All in all I’d probably choose look and grip above longevity anyway!
All in all I’m happy with the choices I made. The builder was very good, the price was very good, the pattern was very good, and the price was very good! If you were to push me to change anything I don’t think I would. As an all round boot these are up there, I’d love an engineer or a Chelsea but they just wouldn’t have that do it all feel for me.