Unconventional Socks

Worn primarily at work where there’s a combination of office work, fabrication shop work, some amount of light construction, and a whole lotta walking around the museum. Had a little bit of outdoor time on a couple hiking trails, and saw some pretty serious snow and rain. Also spent a little time at Boot Camp.

It was a suuuuper soft hand feel and very supple from the bet go. Really the lining was breaking in more than the DHF. I probably should have given them a quick condition as soon as I finished making them, but I didn’t for some reason and then waited till about midway through the dome to give them a good cleaning and some Bick 4. They took it pretty well without changing appearance much and the surface stayed pretty much the same. Towards the end of the dome when a lot of the top coat of the leather was getting worn off and some nap was coming up I did brush them well after getting a lot of water in a rainstorm and it really laid down the nap and burnished it. So while it’s not a veg tan, it certainly can act a bit like it.

I gotta be real. It’s an Alibaba copy of the CN-wide last. I’ve never tried on a pair of Clinch’s, but from how I’ve heard the last described and how these felt, I feel like they might be pretty comparable. There’s just enough room across the forefoot and depth in the toe to not feel constrained, but also don’t feel like I’m shifting around up there. There’s a slight arch, but it’s not necessarily pronounced. There’s heel being completely unstructured is the only thing that was a little too tight above the counter, but once that broke in it all kind of just wrapped around snug and comfortable. Also, it’s a lace to toe, so it’s really going to conform much easier than most patterns. The next pair will likely be a better test.

😅 I’m not a fine craftsman. I make them as nice as I feel like I need to. I’m also making them for myself so I feel ok with experimenting a bit with each pair. These definitely had some design issues and by the end I had snapped most of the clinch nails along the arch and opened up a good amount of space between the midsole and insole. The stitching behind my Achilles was bad and ended up getting torn to shreds from wear. There are things I’d do differently. But these also ended up being the most comfortable pair of boots I now own, and did surprisingly well through some serious weather, handling some pretty massive snow and rain storms and remaining shockingly water tight even with the areas that I thought would be an issue.

They’re great, I’ve always liked them and will continue to use them when I can. The grip and wear are both nice. I think in general I prefer the full sole, but the half sole is a pretty cool look.

The heel gets more wear than I’d expect, but they are definitely a bit grippier than other options. I’ll still likely continuing to use them.

I pretty much made these because I was already working on the jacket and needed both a dome pair and a pair to test the new last. Was very pleasantly surprised with what I got. The unstructured heel is definitely weird, but it made the boots so pliable and easy to work in that I’m a little worried about going back to normal boots. Plus the collapse of the heal has really grown on me, with how slumps and upturned the vamp got by the end it really doesn’t feel out of place or unusual. Also a much bigger fan of this leather for shoes than I thought I’d be, it’s gorgeous new, yes, but the way it wears into a sort of dusty texture and color just beneath the finished surface is really nice. It build character rather than looking worn out. Really dig it.