Saddled up and ready to ride

I walk to work every day, and these have been constant companions through three years now.

The leather begins almost yellow, and then it develops into a rich orange tan with wear and brushing. Each winter I’ve given it a dose of Sno Seal to protect the veg tan from excessive salt and water damage, but this year for the re-dome, I decided to go without the sno seal to prevent the wax from giving the boots an overly darkened patina. The veg tan leather handled the snow and muck well. Nothing but some Bick 4 when looking dry, and lots of brushing when needed for care. However, the toes darkened up quite a bit this year with the additional wear. This leather is in the pantheon of my book.

The Leo Last at 10D is perfect for me (10.75 D Brannock, pretty flat, low-volume foot). The unstructured toes developed some lovely rolls that helped conform to my toes. The low arch in the Leo last is just right to support my low arch without forcing my arches into being too high.

I think the Diesel boot is a near perfect service boot design. Simple, unfussy. The one-off sample of this boot with an unstructured toe is my favorite expression of this style. The clicking on these is a little uneven in the toe box. The right foot is so smooth and rolly it’s almost like a thick, matte shell, whereas the left toe box has more of the creases typical to Grant Stone’s Badalassi Saddle Tan. This leather has only gotten better with age, and the midsoles have held up well to the snow and salt with only a little stripping of the finishing.

The proprietary Grant Stone studded rubber soles are grippier than Dainite, especially on ice and snow, but they still have a few slips, even in rain.

These boots were a one-off sample that I had the chance to buy a few years ago, and I felt at the time that this makeup with the unstructured toe and studded rubber would be the perfection of the Diesel boot. After three years, I’m convinced that I’m right about the unstructured toe. It’s just a thing of beauty, but I would stick with the stock leather sole if I had it to do over again. I have another pair of GS Saddle Tan Diesels in the stock configuration that I wore when I defended my dissertation, but I pull these unstructured toe ones out 9 times out of 10. I would love to re-sole these with a sturdy leather sole.