Red Wing Shoes
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All the following boots are custom conversions.
8111
I am considering maybe doing the half lug when my 8111s need a resole in years to come. Dunno though…I am really loving the stock sole, even though they suck in snow.
backing this. those look absolutely perfect.
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@riffblaster:
Halfway through my second winter with them I have to give my Ice Cutters a glowing thumbs up review. This winter has been insanely harsh and I've been up on my roof almost every day for the past two weeks shoveling, breaking ice dams, and fixing leaks. I just finished clearing about 20" of snow and these boots kept my feet warm and dry. The sole is grippy and great on ice on the pitch of the roof. It's a softer rubber. I think TC4 is the name. I've been choosing these over my actual snow boots. Anyways, moreso than any pair of redwing boots I've owned these are hands down the best and most useful and comfortable pair I've had. Fully recommended.
do you know how these fit compared to iron rangers ?
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do you know how these fit compared to iron rangers ?
Iron Rangers are built on a more narrow last. People with wide feet often need to size up or go with an E width (available US only) when buying IR. So possibly size down in the Ice Cutters if you have narrow feet (and enough space in the toe area in the IR) or stick to the same size as your IR if you had to break them in a bit and you're happy with the length.
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@riffblaster:
Halfway through my second winter with them I have to give my Ice Cutters a glowing thumbs up review. This winter has been insanely harsh and I've been up on my roof almost every day for the past two weeks shoveling, breaking ice dams, and fixing leaks. I just finished clearing about 20" of snow and these boots kept my feet warm and dry. The sole is grippy and great on ice on the pitch of the roof. It's a softer rubber. I think TC4 is the name. I've been choosing these over my actual snow boots. Anyways, moreso than any pair of redwing boots I've owned these are hands down the best and most useful and comfortable pair I've had. Fully recommended.
do you know how these fit compared to iron rangers ?
i'm a 9.5 D in the iron ranger and i'm a 9.5 D in these.
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Hey All.
Rookie Iron Ranger owner here and looking for some advice. I nabbed a pair of the 8113 Hawthorne Muleskinners and wondering how to approach care/conditioning and all that. Things I've read thus far:
-Do nothing at all, just wear them.
-Put on some Red Wing Leather Protector and call it a day.
-As per Red Wing's suggestion, Red Wing Mink Oil for conditioning and Leather Protector.
-Obenauf's LP
-other various Mink Oils
-AquaSealI'm new to the whole process of treating footwear, so as much detail as possible is appreciated, maybe even some pics to give me an idea of what the boots will look like over time using certain tactics. When I search for 'worn' 8113's on google, the boots usually look worn for sure and most seem to hold onto the beige hue that they started with, which I'm hoping to achieve. I've seen some that darken up universally into a browner more solid suede type look, which is less desirable. My usage of them will likely be for nothing hardcore at all, just general wear, upstate NY conditions. I'd probably leash them up for most of the super snowy months. At this point, I've done nothing to treat and only wore them around my house or sitting down. Current status:
There ya go, hopefully you guys have some solid info and I get these suckers on the road
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@tmg:
Best thing is just wear them and beat them to hell, and condition them if they start to look like they need it
What would you think is a good conditioner to go with for the Muleskinners? I also wonder if they need conditioning right away. Production tag in the tongue says 2012, so they've been in the world a while, granted they're brand new to an owner. Red Wing said it shouldn't matter when they were produced as far as their quality now, having just sat in a shoebox for a few years and not been exposed to the elements of the world…
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Best way to treat them if you want to preserve the roughout look/ texture of the leather is to apply RW's Leather Protector. Since it's a spray, it won't flatten and grease up the flesh side of the leather like mink oil would. With daily wear, every 3-6 months should be good enough. I would probably give them a quick treatment now if they've been in the box that long.
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I like the minimalist approach, as it sounds like something a novice like myself could handle easily, but I got a little worried when another person showed me a pic of his 8113's that he'd done the exact same thing with (RW Leather Protector and nothing else) and they appeared to take on a solid brown type of color, like your basic brown suede, straight up (may have been lighting, who knows). They didn't look bad necessarily but I've seen many pics just by google searching something like 'worn muleskinner iron rangers' that appeared to more so take on the look I'd be into. I just have no idea what those fellas did to theirs, because they're usually just random pintrest pics with no explanation. They still maintain some of the lighter beige in there amongst all of the abuse, aka not a solid dark/brown tone. They do also, for the most part, maintain the roughout texture. Sometimes the toe area seem flatter or worn down a bit more. It's a tricky mistress. At some point, I might just have to dive right in an see what happens.
I ordered the Red Wing Suede cleaner kit and the Red Wing Leather Protector, so I'll at least have some tools soon. I'm just hoping I can get it right, and I have myself a nice favorite pair of non-sneaker footwear for some time..
Appreciate all of the help and opinions! Keep em coming. I understand there's not an end all be all correct way to handle it, just need to find what best works for what I'm aiming for.
Something like this, for example doesn't read solid brown suede to me.. Granted, super worn, but you get the idea; a marbley effect. Could depend on what kind of wear and tear I provide them how solid the color appears. I'm just trying to hash it all out. Apologize for the rambling. Thanks again for the input.
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I've used Obenauf's leather oil on my Red Wings with success . Wear them for a decent spell of time and then condition them . If your worried , just do a little spot on the back of them to see the colour change .
Enjoy
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Irrelevant.
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I would just nip that errant piece of leather off with a scissors.
The rough out Muleskinner leather is a lot different than most other shoe leather, as far as conditioning goes there are fewer options. I certainly would not use mink oil on them. I don't own a pair of the rough outs and I don't think I would, but if it were me I would probably use the Red Wing suede brush to spot fix and clean. And a regular shoe brush for general duty and daily cleaning and inspection. I would also consider a light spray of some sort of leather protector/water proofing, Kiwi, Red Wing or otherwise. Very light spritzing, definitely would not soak it in.
But the best advice would be to wear the heck out of them. I think the Muleskinners are supposed to look pretty rough, as part of the appeal.
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my 3140. 3+ years old. treated with chelsea leather food, then coated over with red wing leather protector after it's been absorbed, whenever they are looking a little dry and/or need some scuff cleanup. i use them as work boots, on my feet in them 8 hours a day on concrete floors in the produce department of an organic grocery store. they get a lot of scuffs from pulling metal and plastic stocking carts around, accidentally kicking display tables etc and often have to stand in 1/4-1/2" of standing water when cleaning in the cooler. looking to make them my backups and ordering some 6" nicks soon.
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Just took delivery of these beautiful RW Harvester #2943 boots in Amber Harness. They were hard to track down but they're here now.
A couple notes:
•The Amber Harness leather is a nice burgundy color, of medium thickness, and quite stiff/rigid
•Purchased from ShoeParlor who had a 10% off coupon when I purchased
•For sizing they seem to run about a half size large but I wear thick wool socks with my boots, so I take them TTS
•I've never seen this particular Vibram black rubber sole with lug pattern used before, but it's a nice tradeoff between looks (I like how you can't see the lug from above) and function (good luck in the ice with the Iron Rangers
•Red Wing QA is top notch, as usual. Unlike Alden and Wolverine, I've never had to send a pair of RW's back and I own quite a few different pairs. Stitching and construction is uniformly excellent.
•Eyelets and speed hooks are a nice antiqued brass which fits the retro 1930's style, which is when the original Harvester was released
•Never have cared for the laces that come with most RW's as they look like a generic hiking lace. I prefer waxed cotton laces, so I swapped them out. Note that this 8" boot needs about 63" laces.Pics:
