Whatever the coldest temps are that we get, down to around -20*, wind chills were around -40* today & yesterday.
10F and below, I wear LaCrosse Iceman steel toes. My nephew got them for me years back when he was stationed at Minot AFB. Bulky, but my feet stay warm. Otherwise my Irish Setter lace ups and heavy wool socks.
For winter I use a pair of all leather Red Wings. These are ten years old and have 1000 grams of insulation. I buy my winter boots one size bigger and wear heavy wool socks. My feet don’t sweat or get cold ever. These are so old I don’t even know if they make this model anymore. GoreTex too.
I’ve worn the same pair of Red Wings boots at work for 12 years. The city will buy us new boots every year if we want them. But my old Red Wings are so comfortable and durable - I just can’t retire them.
Who do you think bought these! Our union contract with the city stipulated one pair of boots per year. I always bought Danners for summer and Red Wings for winter. Thank you City of Evansville!
Better hang on to them, every pair of Red Wings I had that I liked got discontinued. I was lucky to get 2 years out of mine when I worked in the machine shop.
Danner Fort Lewis are another good pair of winter boots. All leather, 12” tall, and 600 grams Thinsulate. I gave a pair to my son in law a few years ago that set me back over $300 but he loves them. When the SHTF these are what you want on your feet but they are heavy. I wore a pair of these on two motorcycle trips to Alaska and were outstanding best piece of motorcycle gear I own,,,
Redwing steel toes is all I wore when required. After trying the first pair that is. The USA made versions. I have a new pair here for yard work / saws.
Mickey Mouse (black) and bunny (white) boots are supposed to get your feet wet. They are a “vapor barrier” boot and work on the principle of sweat helping you stay warm. Yeah, it’s odd. the difference between the two is like 10*F colder for the white and they have a valve in the upper to let you open them IF you are brave enough to jump from a perfectly good airplane. coles surplus is the best resource for the bunny boots. light weight wool socks seem to be best with them. I prefer these or else wellco surplus mukluks.
I’ve got redwing uppers that are now on their third soles. Redwing will resole for free if you take them to a factory store and have them send them in.
Good to know! The soles have held up really well. They are very slip resistant too. But they are old, and getting worn out. There is a Red Wings store in the city that I work for. The city has an account with them. So I’ll take them in and see what they say. Thanks for the heads up!
I've had a couple pair of Muck boots and neither have impressed me. One was artic sport and I used them as work boots just around the house and they barely lasted a couple years before the sole separated. The other is a woody max hunting boot that always leaves my feet cold and have cracks everywhere. My daughter has some lightly worn chore boots that lasted less than a year. Muck is dead to me. Last week I bought a pair of Lacrosse alphaburly pro 800s. Kind of an impulse buy but they were on clearance for $80. Haven't worn them yet and half tempted to return them because I didn't do a lot of research before buying.
Army surplus mukluks. wool pac style liners. I bought three pair when I got these. About 18” tall. Like walking in moon boots.
The military black Beta boots (Mickey Mouse) are for -30 and the white military Beta boots (Bunny boots) are for -60. They need to be worn with gaiter or snow will come over the top. With proper wool socks you can easily exceed the temp ratings. When you buy your winter boots you need to accommodate the size sock you will wear. For instance my boot size down to 0* is 2 sizes larger than summer boots. My below 0* to -30* are 3-4 sizes bigger. And my -30* and colder are 5 sizes bigger. These Bogs are -72* and I have worn them in that temp with toasty warm feet. They arw Bog boots Warner is the model. Warner I wear 11 in summer boots. So my Bogs are size 14. Now let talk socks, I only wear merino wool. Different thickness for different temps to include layering socks. For below zero I wear JB Fields Icelandic socks. JB Fields has different them ratings of socks. For instance I wear a thin liner wool sock, medium brand doesn’t matter (Darn tough has life time warranty) and a -50* fields in my Bogs Warners. A long hunting/wood cutting day of being in >-30* for 16 hours is a none issue for my feet, they do t get cold. The Bog Warners are tall enough not to need gathers.
