• @KISSmyOSFeddit
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    77 months ago

    A pair of traditional leather boots that were stiff and sturdy enough to support me through anything and last long enough to be buy it for life. The pair weighed over 5 pounds. After 6 months they still hurt after a hike and I gave up breaking them in. Cost me over 300€, and I replaced them with a pair of 80€ trail running shoes which were better in every way for my use case and also lasted 12 years.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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      27 months ago

      Those look like work boots, not hiking boots. But if you’re unable to break them in after 6 months, that usually means you got the wrong size. It shouldn’t take more than a few weeks. If you’re confident that they’re the right size, you can pull a trick from baseball players, and rub mink oil on the glove boot before wearing it for the day. The oil will soften up the leather and allow it to break in better. Then just strip the oils off with alcohol after they’re broken in, re dye them, and polish them. You can also try an old military/cowboy trick, which is to fill them with water and wear them until they dry out.

      • @KISSmyOSFeddit
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        17 months ago

        I did. The problem was, they weren’t too tight but too wide at the heel, so my heel kept rubbing up and down in them.

        • @[email protected]
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          fedilink
          27 months ago

          If you have a proper shoemaker around you: They usually can fix this problem easily.

          The problem is to find an proper shoemaker these days.

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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          27 months ago

          Oh, well that means they don’t fit you properly. The heel will never tighten up. Leather only gets looser, not tighter. You can try putting a different insole in, one with more volume.

        • @Dasus
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          27 months ago

          Oh, that’s unfortunate.

          The blisters one will get with that is crazy. Especially if you’re in the army and can’t stop willynilly.

          I once marched 12km with bleeding blisters the sizes of small apples and had gone through all the skin layers because if I had stopped I would’ve had to stay during the weekend to do it again.