Rediscovering my love for these boots

I wore these boots to the office, to do yard work, garage work, chopping wood, and drumming at my church. I felt the microstud sole held them back from “true” boot activities, as at times they felt more like dress shoes. But nevertheless they never let me down

The dune/natural chromexcel is wonderful, and was my first boot of leather from a known and reputable tannery. It didn’t disappoint, and has aged every bit as I expected it to. It picks up scuffs quickly, but can be easily buffed to a shine. It’s truly a do it all leather. Care routine was mostly brushing with a light treatment of Venetian shoe cream nearing the finish line of the Dome.

The width is 1 size too narrow for me, which is why I didn’t wear it a ton before this Thunderdome. However with a bit of boot stretching by the pinky toe area, paired with wearing thin socks, I was able to wear it without problems. I now know I need a 9EEE in Grant Stone Diesels

The construction is excellent, as is to be expected from a Grant Stone product. As always I would 100% recommend Grant Stone

The only 2 boot soles I’ve experienced are the Grant Stone’s micro stud and commando soles. Compares to GS’s commando sole I found this to be less comfortable (noticeably firmer underfoot), makes louder thuds when walking (I prefer a silent step), and provides less wet weather grip (snow and rain). All in all it was acceptable, but when I resole it I will be going for a commando sole option.

These boots were wonderful companions over the past several months. They kept my feet warm through yet another midwestern winter. I absolutely love these and how they look, and how they still sometimes smell like new leather boots. A small fit issue prevented me from wearing these daily, but most weeks these were worn 2-3x per week. They didn’t really get worn in January as I purchased another pair of Grant Stone boots and had a bit of a honeymoon phase with those ones. All in all it was a great experience doing the Thunderdome with these, and I would love to do it again next year! One quick gripe is how difficult it is to photograph these darned shiny boots. I brush them up to look spiffy for the monthly photos and then I’m greeted with a huge glare on them where I can’t capture the cool details and patina on the leather. It’s obviously my fault and not the boots, but all these months of taking pictures and I could never sort it out