Viberg

[Giles]

How are you finding that sole in the snow?  Next IH/Viberg is likely going to be a short shift…..

[Jii]

To be honest….

...they are (were) slippery as hell (sideways). I haven't had any problems with my Red Wings so I thought people were exaggerating when talking about the problems with the Vibrams. Luckily (or unluckily according to my wife usually  ;D)  I'm a bit of a DIY-kind of guy so after nearly killing myself outside I grabbed a ruler and a carpet knife and made 6 vertical 4 mm wide grooves per sole. Theyre not visible from anywhere but from the underside but the outcome is that there are zero traction problems. So I'm happy. Really happy.

[Giles]

Cool

[PETEROCK1]

[hectic]

Superblack and I'm there.

[zhivago]

Jii - would you mind throwing up a shot or two of the  "diy" work on your Viberg sole.  I live in a very rainy environment and have been unhappy with only one aspect of my Viberg boots, the slip factor.  Any suggestions on the matter would be more than appreciated.

[Katsushin]

Zhivago…
Our local Humboldt shoe guy just scored a bunch of lines in my redwings with great success.
Hit me up and I'll show you...

[Jii]

@zhivago:

Jii - would you mind throwing up a shot or two of the  "diy" work on your Viberg sole.  I live in a very rainy environment and have been unhappy with only one aspect of my Viberg boots, the slip factor.  Any suggestions on the matter would be more than appreciated.

Sure, here you go:

I'm aware it's not the most beautiful of works, but it fixed the problem. I suppose the sole is solid rubber and was fully prepared that my experiment might have ended up in a resole but it looks like this worked out just fine.

[Geo]

if it solves the problem then it looks good enough - found mine not to be too grippy either.

[Seul]

One of my main gripes with my boots: not enough grip… I find myself wearing sneakers in the snow... Hopefully the collab will do better...

[jimmy]

reading all the grip problem reminded me of Cat's Paw Soles, i cant seem to find much on them. are they still around?

[Beatle]

I was looking for a service boot paired with Viberg quality…doesn´t get any better

[SepticSef]

holy shit - did you find that in the secret warehouse from indiana jones next to the ark of covenant?
i like the saddle shoe aesthetic combined with the service shoe look.

[jacoavlu]

^^ those are the 4Horsemen x Viberg service boots

[jacoavlu]

Here's another Viberg collab some may like

[jimmy]

thats what i am talking about beats! it's perfect. so they are still around. maybe an option for the IH collab?

@Beatle:

I was looking for a service boot paired with Viberg quality…doesn´t get any better

[jimmy]

for all viberg owners. are they completly waterproof? as in gore-tex waterproof [30min in ankle deep water with out seeping though]

[Geo]

nope

no leather is completely waterproof

good leather, well treated and well looked after can protect your feet from getting soaked up to a point

also joints, stitching etc will all leak to some extent

[jimmy]

30min with out seeping in shoes is considered waterproof. for leather is a double lasing process done by hand which makes like a water proof synthetic sock layer between outer and inner leathers.

just wondering if Viberg does it.

@Geo:

nope

no leather is completely waterproof

good leather, well treated and well looked after can protect your feet from getting soaked up to a point

also joints, stitching etc will all leak to some extent

[Geo]

ah - see what you're driving at . . . my mistake

thought you meant the material itself (when you quoted Gore-Tex) where waterproof is measured via IUP/7, ASTM D2099, ISO 14268 etc . . . not a construction technique and/or multiple layers to prevent water ingress

in that case - not sure if they do/can - my Vibergs are not built that way