Custom White's Boots ... Thoughts?

[Rymanocerous]

We shall see! Meeting of the minds in Oct with Sambam. I get many requests to say the least ....

Love the screen name Kyle. Go Ducks! (my wife made me)

 

[hoppy_IPA]

After ordering my HH SD's I was a little sad to see that they may be offered in a BH make-up. Initially thats exactly what I wanted. With further consideration, the Semi-Dress build makes the most sense for this beautiful leather. I won't be wearing them in a situation where I need a taller boot with a fully gusseted tongue & heel counter. In that case, i'd much rather have something like Waxed Flesh or a heavier work leather.

FWIW - I applaud Bakers for taking the initiative to fulfill customer requests. It means a lot to Outliers like us to have unique details realized. After being shot down by White's over multiple attempts(Christine is a real sport for humoring me though), I am hoping to get my "grail" boot possibly built finally. White's would be my first choice for the build, but after speaking with Bakers I am quite satisfied with where the boots are getting made.

Good lord, that's pretty. Though at this point a HH SD is higher on my list than a HH BH.

agreed.

While we are the subject, Sam Bam, I wish you guys would use that heel cap (I think it's Bilt Rite). It is much thicker than the Quabags. I have serious heel strike and I destroy those Quabags. Baker's did a resole for me with that heel cap and I would much prefer it.

I have the same issue. When I need a resole I will look into the Bilt Rite brand.

(or a Burgundy Horsehide SD... just sayin'...)

Get your credit out and call. White's will build a SD out of damn near anything. Toe caps & heel counters seem to the dividing issue.

 

[brownies]

@sambam , do you have any plans to post pics of or promote the Main Street boots? Thanks.

 

[brownies]

This is relevant to our interests. I can't wait to hear what you guys come up with.

Most recent Bakers IG.........now with Horsehide.

By the way, anyone know how much they were asking for this? And can someone elaborate on the difference between clampdown and the hand sewn technique White’s employs? Can’t find much on google other than some photos from sambam 100 or so pages back, and I didn’t understand what the photos are trying to show.

 

[fasthall]

@sambam , do you have any plans to post pics of or promote the Main Street boots? Thanks.

I took the screenshot from White's website. It's still not on the product page yet though. Can't wait to order mine! I hope it's open to custom order from the beginning.

 

[b1lf]

So I posted awhile back here a kit spec’ing out a pair of White’s boots. To recap:


- I’m a project engineer for a construction company. I work in an office, on site, and have been there over a month now so I can shed more light on what I’m doing & what type of use they’ll see.

- I THOUGHT steel toe was an OSHA & company requirement... but it’s not. I basically can wear whatever - but after over a month of use on the pair of Danner 6” Bull Run Moc Toe Steel Toes - I’m considering keeping a steel toe anyways in case the next job requires it.

- I want 6” height, black leather, and I have wide forefoot with high arches.




The choice I’ve decided to get is the White’s Bounty Hunter....... but I’m torn with what leather to get, and more importantly (more difficultly), WHAT SOLE?

- After experience on this job; I walk the site anywhere from 2-10 times per day. The roads aren’t paved, they’re digging footings for a few buildings (there are 7 buildings on this project); so lots of rough terrain / dirt roads.

- I see a LOT of dust (it’s SoCal) and the ground is often wet to prevent it from getting too dusty, so also mud. It’s fairly rocky in areas as well. I’ll NEVER see snow; and it’ll rarely rain (2” total per year probably).


My Danner’s are usually covered in dust by the end of the day. Should I get:

- Vibram 430
or
- Vibram 100 (or whatever the full lugged one is)





I’m also second guessing the Medallion toe cap I wanted, since it may be hard to keep clean with the dust.

What leather? Black or black dress? I was leaning towards black dress before but I may want the added ruggedness of the Black standard.

Should I get the steel toe to future proof these in case it’s a later requirement? How much of a difference is it when you wear it, if it’s an otherwise identical shoe?




Other considerations with my info shared????



Thank you.

 

[Legal Eagles]

Other considerations with my info shared????
Thank you.

My opinion only:

Black Dress is plenty durable for what you need, and dressier with more character and patina potential than black oil tan.

If you don't need the steel toe, don't get it... it changes the fit of the shoe, can rub your toes, and leaches heat, getting cold in the winter. It has literally no advantages over soft toe or celastic unless required for your work.

430 sole will be your best choice between the two... plenty of traction, and you will not track in mud and dirt like the 100 will... just as with the steel toe, the Vibram 100 has its specific uses, but if you don't need that specific utility there are better choices.

Medallion Cap Toe cleans up fine, a Q-Tip can be used for fine detailing if it gets really dirty... don't let your concerns about it getting dirty dissuade you if you like the look and the functionality.

 

[b1lf]

My opinion only:

Black Dress is plenty durable for what you need, and dressier with more character and patina potential than black oil tan.

If you don't need the steel toe, don't get it... it changes the fit of the shoe, can rub your toes, and leaches heat, getting cold in the winter. It has literally no advantages over soft toe or celastic unless required for your work.

430 sole will be your best choice between the two... plenty of traction, and you will not track in mud and dirt like the 100 will... just as with the steel toe, the Vibram 100 has its specific uses, but if you don't need that specific utility there are better choices.

Medallion Cap Toe cleans up fine, a Q-Tip can be used for fine detailing if it gets really dirty... don't let your concerns about it getting dirty dissuade you if you like the look and the functionality.

OK, thanks for the input. I’m cool going with the 430 sole as I heard the 100 tracks dirt like crazy.

I’m also cool (and looking forward to!) the black dress.

I guess the one I’m not easy making a decision on, would be the steel toe, or lack thereof. My brother is a project engineer for a different company here in SoCal and he’s 100% required to wear them. It’s pretty weird mine doesn’t to me, but I guess OSHA & CalOSHA doesn’t formally require them.

I’m not worried about cold in winter. It’s SoCal, it doesn’t get below 40. During the day it rarely gets below 65.



Again I appreciate the input. Perhaps I’ll get a celastic toe to give it some rigidity (for general abuse, not from a safety perspective)? And worse case, I’ll slap my Danner’s back on if a steel toe is required?

I wear em daily for 11-13 hours per day, so either way I end up it’s 100% worth the price.







Side note: Darn Tough socks are f***ing amazing. Anyone with nice (or crappy) boots on this forum should give them a try.

 

[hoppy_IPA]

If you’re required to wear steel toe boots, odds are they will need to be ASTM certified. This limits options.
I just ordered another pair of ASTM certified Steel Toe boots in Distressed Smooth with toe cap. For both pairs I went with the 700 sole to minimize tracking in the elements. I would suggest going 1 size up & possibly 1 size wider than your normal “dress” size for White’s. I wear 11.5D in all my White’s except my steel toes. I had a fit issue and White’s put me in a 12E. I’m happy with them. My current pair is in their Brown Oiled work leather from Seidel who I think does all their work leathers.

 

[iamntbatman]

I have some loggers with soles similar to the 100 and can confirm that I'd label these as "outdoor or indoor only boots" (though I'm not sure why you'd want something like this to wear indoors only). Even walking on vaguely damp grass will get lots of clumps of dirt and grass and stuff in the lugs and get everywhere. Actually when I wear these things to the office I intentionally take a different walking route to work that avoids walking on an unpaved area through a park because the first time I did that, I tracked some chunks of dirt into work.

I also really love the TPU commando sole; it feels really grippy but the lugs aren't deep enough to track much dirt, either. However, if you're walking through straight mud all the time I'd probably choose the 430 over the commando sole, since repeated mud immersion would probably be tough on the exposed leather portion of the commando sole.

 

[b1lf]

430 it is guys

Just need to sleep on the steel toe issue.

 

[Crit_Obs]

Just need to sleep on the steel toe issue.

This might help (or add some difficulty to the process of) deciding:

I got a little more useful information from Kyle at Bakers today. Unfortunately Whites will only build their safety toe boots (steel or composite) with the "work leathers", Red Dog, Distressed, Black, etc., none of the fancier things like CXL, bison, etc. Apparently the reason is the ASTM testing required to certify the safety toe. That makes sense - usually they have to test every combination they intend to sell, which is a slow and expensive process - you wouldn't want to retest every time a new leather came out.

So while I would wholeheartedly recommend the black dress, it seems you'll need to choose between that or the safety toe.

 

[b1lf]

This might help (or add some difficulty to the process of) deciding:



So while I would wholeheartedly recommend the black dress, it seems you'll need to choose between that or the safety toe.

I believe it was Kyle who I talked to on the phone when I initially was going to buy a pair about a month or two ago.

I think we spec’d out a Bounty Hunter with black dress.... but it could have been black. Doesn’t hurt to ask.

 

[Crit_Obs]

Just threw that out there… As I remembered the issue of possibilities for a safety toe build being discussed before.

Another thing to pay (the) close(st) attention to is the last; wide forefoot screams "Swing" to me but ymmv and Kyle will have you sorted.

 

[b1lf]

Just threw that out there… As I remembered the issue of possibilities for a safety toe build being discussed before.

Another thing to pay (the) close(st) attention to is the last; wide forefoot screams "Swing" to me but ymmv and Kyle will have you sorted.

Swing? What’s that?