3 Years with the Red Wing Iron Ranger

after over 3 years with the Redwing Iron Ranger it's a completely different boot than when I bought it new if you're spending over $300 on a pair of boots you want to make sure it's actually going to last and that it's actually comfortable in this review you're going to hear about the eight most common issues I hear about the Redwing Iron Ranger I've had the Redwing Iron Ranger for over 3 years now and in that time I've reviewed over a 100 different boots from all kinds of Brands I feel like I can finally tell you the truth about the Iron Ranger but I'm not just sharing my experience I also visited a cobbler a friend of mine who's broken down repaired and customized hundreds of iron Rangers so I'm not sharing just my experience but also what he sees as the common issues with the Redwing Iron Ranger what he loves and then the problems that he sees come up over and over again first question is who should get these boots are they work boots casual boots before we can answer that though you need to know how they look what they're made of and if there are any better alternatives for your needs out there the Redwing Iron Ranger is one of the most iconic American boots they have a unique design that's beloved by guys from all different walks of life from bikers to Brooklyn hipsters Redwing builds the Iron Ranger on a number eight last and alas is basically a plastic form that shoemakers use to stretch the leather around that's what gives each boot its unique shape now remember this point cuz it's going to make a significant difference when it comes time to get the right size for your iron Rangers now because of this last this is not the one but it's this is a last but not the one it has this unique bump toe now if I compare the Redwing Iron Ranger to a dressier boot like the Thursday Captain you can already see the height difference in the toe given this difference this makes the Iron Ranger much more casual now compared to more of a work boot the Thor good MTO you can see that there's a lot more shape and Contour in the style of the Iron Ranger because of this I think the Iron Ranger is an excellent balance if you want a casual boot that's not so slim and narrow but Slimmer boots like the Thursday Captain they're going to work well with slim fit jeans but if you wear straight cut or even relaxed fit jeans having a bit more bulk and heft to me I think it looks more balanced overall that's an area where the Redwing Iron Ranger really shines Redwing Iron Ranger as it is today was released around 2007 but the inspiration for the design and the build date back to the 1930s so it is a true Heritage Food the most obvious design feature you're going to see is the captail now now this is a true Cap Toe meaning that the toe is actually two layers of leather so you have the vamp and then another layer of leather stitched on top some boots just kind of sky and sew a separate toe on for the look but the Iron Ranger really has that double layer there this is the 8111 which is Amber harness this is from SP foot tanning company which is a Redwing owned leather Tannery they do some of the most interesting Leathers on boots today the insole is a thick 7 to 8 mm piece of vegetable tan leather that's basically stitched directly to the out soole with a little layer of cork and a steel shank in the section interestingly there's no true midsole on the Iron Ranger to show you what I mean I have another boot here and this boot is called the gr Stone diesel as you can see on the grandstone diesel there is a welt that goes around the entire exterior of the boot and that welt is attached to a leather midsole and then you have the outsole so a positive aspect of ditching the midsole like you get on the Iron Ranger is that it makes it actually a half pound lighter per pair of boots so that also means you can break in the underfoot a little bit faster than you would if there were two fat pieces of leather stacked on on top of each other now on the negative side it's there's less durable leather underfoot and that cork in here can compress to the point where the insole feels almost like a little deflated and starts to crack so that's something we're going to see firsthand when we go visit cobbler Tobias later in this video a lot of people wonder if they should get the Iron Ranger or the blacksmith I have both right here in my hands and honestly it's hard to recommend one over the other besides the differences in the leather options the clearest difference is that the blacksmith is a plain toe boot it's built on the same number eight last so you can really see has a very similar shape but you can also tell how much bulk is added when you have that captoe on the Iron Ranger the other differences are fairly minor in all cosmetic they only really affect the look of the boot and even then I don't think you notice those things at like a quick glance but when we look closer you could there there's some definite differences the construction however is basically exactly the same it's the same insole same wel same out sole so the question really is do you like the Capt style or not now back to the main question we're trying to answer does the style of the Iron Ranger work for you I think if you want it for purely sty style purposes then you're already armed with the info you need to make that decision but if you want it for work I really do think the lack of the leather midsole that's going to cause some longevity issues especially if you're working and sweating in that boot a lot however most guys get this for a mix of style and work so to me the lack of the leather midsole it's not a death sentence for this boot and it actually can be a positive because it allows for a lighter boot you're going to see what happens to the Iron Ranger when the insole is overworked in just a second but first I want to tell you about camel City Mill socks so these are premium American-made socks these a material called Ironside Marina wool and they help keep your feet from sweating even under the toughest working conditions now this is my own sock brand and our bestseller the lightweight is the only sock I ever wear with my iron Rangers and when I recently broke in these blacksmiths right here I didn't get any blisters like I did with my iron Ranger 3 years ago I really wish I had the lightweight back then now on the top of the foot there's a no sweat vent where you release the most heat and moisture from your foot plus there are channels at the bottom of the sock that add padding where it's needed but still allow for maximum breathability ility we also use nylon fortification at the heel and the toe and that's what makes these socks so durable that we can back all of our socks with a 10-year durability guarantee so if you're interested in highquality americanmade Footwear like the Iron Ranger why stop at the boots pick up a pair of camel City Mills best-selling lightweight sock right now using the first link in the description below to find out the most common breaking point of the Iron Ranger I visited my friend cobbler Tobias who co-own Wyatt and Dad Wyatt and dad they're a premier cobbler in North Carolina and I'd wager that they repaired the most iron Rangers outside of red own shoe repair service so I went and visit him and here's what he had to say so Tobias you're with Wyatt and Dad cobbler company and correct me if I'm wrong I think besides Redwing you guys probably resold the most iron Rangers maybe in the country it's been definitely our best selling boot uh we get more iron Rangers than any other boot yeah so if you guys ever want to mail in your iron Rangers why and Dad these guys are the experts at cobbling and general I have another video where I resold a Thursday Boot and you guys show me the ropes it was incredible but yeah so if you're eventually you get a pair in Iron Rangers you can send them in new there are a couple new pairs here this is a place to go for iron Rangers so I wanted to come talk to you Tobias because you have an inside you know I got my opinion I've worn iron Rangers I'm wearing them right now I've worn them for a couple years but you've seen the inside of hundreds of pairs so well first of all yeah what's your overall opinion on the Iron Ranger like what do you think about it it's probably one of my favorite boots um not just because it's a good look boot but because it's made to be crafted um that's one of the things that we get across a lot of Brands is you know there there's a lot of great Brands out there that are quality boots but they make them in a way that's just a little bit more difficult for us to reso them it's a little bit harder to take them apart where the Iron Ranger you know Redwing has their own recraft program and so they they just make it easy to be rebuilt and and customized which is really what's awesome about it you know I can I can knock out a bunch of these boots a lot faster than I can a lot of these other brands so what kind of resour do you do do you mainly do like kind of factory reset like just kind of bring it back to normal do you have a mix of people doing lots of customization options here lately it's been a lot more custom work we do get a lot that people just want it back to the factory they bought the boot because they liked the boot how it was and there's you know some people find that there's some shortcomings in the way that the factory builds the boots a lot of people don't like the lower heel so they want to add like a leather heel stack to it or the so uh a lot of them come with the vium 430 and some people don't find that it grips enough and for their certain uh conditions and so they want to try different things and it's really cool nice so when you see all kinds of iron Rangers come in they're worn out what's the part that kind of wears out fastest usually the heel most people wear out your heel before you wear out your soulle cuz you strike it when you're walking so the heel wears out quickly but for me it's the insole so Redwing uses a nice veg tan inso it's real thick but over time especially if they're getting them wet and actually working in them and stuff that insole will dry out it'll crack it'll curl up it'll be really uncomfortable is there any way to avoid that or is that just a natural process with boots you could avoid it by taking care of your boots a little bit more when you take them off after they gotten wet and make sure that you dry them out properly putting Sho trees in them helps but overall I mean it's just going to happen eventually what do you think is the oldest pair of boots you've ever seen across any any boot I have some actually here in I think they're World War II boots they're not reenactment boots they're they're the actual legit ones the leather is super brittle on them I think every time I see it I'm like how can I do this cuz I I I know the guy eventually I'm going to get him rebuilt and so he can wear he wants to wear them so so of the different Leathers you pretty much have at least all the main ones which one do you prefer as far as personal opinion and looks uh if I were to purchase another pair it would be the copper rough and tough copper rough and it's just a gorgeous leather I'm a Amber harness man all the way through ride or die Amber harness all the way so if people want to send in their boots what do they do how do they get their boots to you the master Tobias to get their resell for their iron Rangers it's pretty straightforward you can come VIs visit us at one of our locations we have a location in Charlotte and in Winston Salem North Carolina or you can mail them directly to us uh you can visit our website Wyatt and dead.com uh we have a pretty straightforward mailin process uh once they come in uh our CEO Tony Wyatt himself we'll call you go over everything all the details Stitch color sole however you want it done and uh then it comes to me gets torn down and rebuilt and sent back out thank you so much for for having me and and showing me the iron Rangers and giving me your opinions absolutely it's been a Co man cheers thank you to cobbler Tobias and also Wyatt and dad now if you want to customize or repair your iron Rangers you can send them in from anywhere in the country I have more information about how to find them down in the description below so cobbler Tobias mentioned that the insole was the most common breaking point for the Iron Ranger and I'm going to show you how you can get around that in a second but first I want to talk about one of the most common problems people have with new iron Rangers a lot of people talk about how tough the breaking is it's one of the most common DMs I get first of all camel City M socks they will help I actually think the Iron Ranger gets a bad reputation for this when it's not truly deserved so what's the most common misconception about these boots so many people gripe and complain about the break-in period of the Iron Ranger and I'll admit I also complained about it too when I first made a review video of these boots 3 years ago breaking these in will test your spirit it will test your soul because it is not a comfortable boot right away and I wanted to address this because I think it still turns a lot of people off of this boot for something that is not truly red wi's fault but instead it's the fault of the shoe industry in general what I mean well the Iron Ranger is the first good quality Heritage boot that a lot of people get there are thousands of people every year who go from wearing super cushy sneakers all of a sudden they're just standing on a little piece of leather and a piece of hard rubber and that's it and this makes your foot feel sore because For the first time in your life you don't have a ton of synthetic foam under your foot to cushion your heel and the ball of your foot so for a Heritage boot the Iron Ranger is actually pretty flexible because the Iron Ranger has such a broad reputation of people switching from foam foot beds to leather you can just read all over Reddit that the Iron Ranger is a super uncomfortable boot when the truth is these people's feet they just haven't adjusted to the lack of shock absorption that you get with Heritage boots I thought this too because the Iron Ranger was the second boot I ever got that was a good the first was the Thursday Captain which still has that foam footed in it it's basically like a hybrid sneaker SL Heritage boot build so the Iron Ranger was the first time I was only standing on pure leather and rubber and at the time I thought it was a tough Breakin but now after breaking in over a 100 different pairs of boots I can confidently say breaking in the iron Rangers isn't that bad in fact it's easy but if you're switching from sneakers you can expect some sort as your feet adjust to having less shock absorption overall it's going to be more of a Breakin for your feet than it is for the boots like they say pain is just weakness entering into your body I promised I show you how that you can help keep the insole of the Iron Ranger from cracking and I will here is your entire care guide for keeping your iron Rangers in tip top shape now each leather is different and you're going to need to treat the Amber harness here differently than you would a mule Skinner or a rough and tough leather I have a full breakdown of how to care for each specific leather in my Redwing boot care guide on booty.com which you can find in the link in the description below but there are a few things that remain true regardless of the leather you have on your iron Rangers first of all you should always use cedar Sho trees when you're not wearing them this is very easy you can find these for cheap on Amazon this helps two things that cap toe it stays quite firm but the InStep right here can get really flat and can look like absolute clown shoes if you're not doing this trust me I have seen it many many times the cedar Sho trees also help absorb some of the moisture which is going to do the most to prevent all that drying and cracking from the insoles that we saw when we visit Ed cobbler to buy us a shop other than that just taking a horsehair brush and brushing your boots down once a month or something like that with no conditioner or anything like that that's going to help keep dirt out of the wealth area and it's going to give the leather a bit of a refresh again if you want to know what the best leather conditioners are or the cleaning methods you can use for the various leathers and check out the Redwing leather care guide on booty.com link down below all right so let's just talk about my experience I've reviewed over 100 boots from the most popular brands over 3 years and over that time I have owned my iron Rangers so what do I think how often do I actually wear them even though over there I have over 50 different pairs of boots I go through phases there are some weeks where I wear my iron Rangers the entire time there are some weeks where I don't wear them at all I will say over the 3 years this is the boot I've worn more than any other Boot and that doesn't mean it's necessarily my top recommendation but I do love the Redwing Iron Ranger I think the style is so unique I think the Leathers Redwing uses are super underrated to me this is the perfect boot if your lifestyle is a mix of casual and work use they're one of the most iconic and popular boots in America and after 3 years of owning them I believe they have earned and deserve that popularity for show now if you do want to see the boots that I recommend personally most often then watch this video next

Channel: BootSpy

Views: 54,024

Keywords: Red Wing Iron Ranger Review, Red Wing boots, Red Wing, Iron Ranger, Red Wing Iron Ranger, Red Wing Iron Ranger 3 year review, red wing iron ranger after use, red wing iron ranger break in, red wing 8111, red wing amber harness leather, bootspy, bootspy red wing, red wing bootspy, red wing blacksmith, iron ranger vs blacksmith, iron ranger

Id: dzIlb2jpM30

Length: 13min 35sec (815 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 10 2024