Show us your boots
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Not a bad guess, but they're from Dave Wheeler, an extraordinary bootmaker who just happens to be a 15 minute drive from my house.
There are some additional pics over in the Cowboy Boots thread.
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Thanks much, these are actually Engineer boots, version 1 of this http://www.misterfreedom.com/road-champs.html that have been resoled to a triple leather sole by this guy: http://hukurokuju.com/blog/ The resole changed the shape of the toe a bit.
Would you post some better pics of highlighting the Hukurokuju resole?
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Gladly, Takeshi is a genius and I am proud to show his work. You'd think a triple sole wouldn't flex but these are insanely comfy. They were originally 10D and I'm a 9.5D, but the resole makes them glove like in their fit. Custom boots wouldn't have anything on these, I'm quite fortunate.
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Really nice, I'd also go for a triple when I resole - if I stick with leather. And I see they went from single to double stitched. Did you wear them awhile before the resole, or jump right on it?
Mine are breaking in nicely, but I worry the original soles are going to deteriorate prematurely. I think these boots are just amazing.
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John over at VEB told me that he was the first person to take RCs to Takeshi and ask for a triple sole. He said he had to talk him into it, he was worried about his machinery being able to accomplish the feat without breakage. Once the proof of concept happened, a few others occurred, and that's where mine came from.
http://vintageengineerboots.blogspot.jp/2011/11/mister-freedom-american-sportswear-part.html
Hopefully you can tell from the pics that Takeshi-san added a whole extra layer of leather to the entire sole on mine. He didn't add a leather half-sole to the existing double sole (which is epic on its own).
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Really nice, I'd also go for a triple when I resole - if I stick with leather. And I see they went from single to double stitched. Did you wear them awhile before the resole, or jump right on it?
Mine are breaking in nicely, but I worry the original soles are going to deteriorate prematurely. I think these boots are just amazing.
Thanks. Wow, yours are looking fine my man. Such great boots, these are tough to beat.
I actually picked these up on the secondary market for a very fair price, so they were already well-broken in. I'm not sure if I'm the second owner or further down the line, but Nerkg sold them to me.
You're right that he went to a double stitched sole. The exterior stitch goes through all three soles (!?) and the interior does not.
Here's what I think he did:
1: I think he re-lasted the uppers to make more room on the sole (see how there's plenty of room for the two rows of stitching, and how this 10D fits me perfectly as a 9.5D).
2: Then I think he took the sole apart and pulled out the stitching, removed the heel
3: Then I think he added the third layer of leather
4: He must have done whatever cobblers do to make the three layers as one
5: Then, I think he re-stitched all the way through all 3 soles once the third sole was glued on (you can see the outer stitching all the way through to the outsole). I believe he would have to have used the same holes on the top two soles to do this, which seems difficult.
6: Finally, I think he added the inner stitching when he welted the re-lasted upper back on. Tacked the heel back on. Probably ground and polished the thing and otherwise finished it. The stitching parts of 5 and 6 may have happened at the same time.I would love it if one of the talented bootmakers or someone who just knows a lot about boots could sanity check my theory on what Takeshi did. He may have just built the outsole from scratch and ditched the original sole.
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Great story. VEB has pursued some innovative modifications. I'd also be curious how he (Takeshi) did it - but what you described sounds like it is pretty close.
In any case folks should follow that link for Hukurokuju's blog if they haven't already - his work is amazing (and some cool cars and choppers too). I wonder if he's a one man show, or has other folks working with him?
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What's the other badass Japanese cobbler that you see a lot of in our community? It's killing me, can't recall their name. Y'all know who I'm talking about?
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Thanks!!! http://www.brass-tokyo.com/
Aside from no stitching on the rubber outsole, holy sploosh:
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I love them. No more and no less that my Vibergs. They are both outstandingly built.
These are slightly too big for me, so they sit by the back door. They can be slipped on and off with great ease. I effectively use them as wellington boots, so they see a lot of shit…..
Some thicker insoles might make the fit a little better for you. Want me to make some custom leather insoles for you?
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Thanks!!! http://www.brass-tokyo.com/
Aside from no stitching on the rubber outsole, holy sploosh:
Not sure that needs to be stitched. My wife has those glued on her Moto boots. She's worn them for a couple of years now and no problem.
