Goodbye 875

This has to be the saddest post. My 875 was stolen. The thief knew whats good as well, since my neighbours also have their shoes outside the house, and only my 875 was gone.

I wish the new owner will take good care of this lovely shoes. 875, its been a good run with you. Have fun with your new owner. God bless!

Cleaning my 875

It's the time to clean my 875 again. Except this time round I will be cleaning not only the leather, but also the sides of the crepe soles. Yes, you heard (or read) it correctly. The CREPE SOLES. As odd as it sounds, I am going to clean the sides of the crepe soles today. Yes I once mentioned that I like my 875 looking dirty and worn out. But also at the same time, I like them looking tidy. So, how should I put it, I like them looking dirty in a tidy manner. HAHA. I'm weird. I know.

Starting to notice that the sides of the soles are looking unevenly dirty. With stains from God-knows-where, its starting to irk me.

So I remembered I once read somewhere that toothpaste can clean the crepe soles pretty well. Got my tools ready: A Colgate toothpaste and toothbrush.

And I started to brush a little toothpaste, with a used toothbrush that I'm gonna replace anyway.

Brushing and brushing... 

After rinsing it off...

TA-DA! Looking slightly better. Though I have to admit I was expecting to become sparkling white. Haha. But its alright. Most prob the tougher stains are denim stains.

After the soles are settled, proceeded to clean the leather as usual, with the Obenauf's Leather Cleaner.

See this ugly patch of stain?

Spray the cleaner on it, scrubbing it with a piece of foam.

TA-DA!

All looks well and neat!

Red Wing 875 (After 6 months)

6 months of near intensive wear..

On a side note, I just collected my 9013 back from the cobbler where it was sent for resoling. Will be posting the pictures on the next post. :)

How do I lace up the shoes?

I read on a site, can’t remember which one, which someone posted about having problems with putting on their Red Wing Beckman shoes. I can totally relate to that as initially I have problems putting on taking out as well. It will take me VERY long to put them on. And upon reaching a place where I have to take out my shoes, I will be cursing and swearing inside as it will be the painful chore of removing or undoing the laces again.

It’s a chore, I admit, if you are doing the laces the contemporary way like this:

But I had learnt the other way of lacing, which greatly helped in a sense that I only need to “loosen” 2 sets of the X portions and wriggle, TA DA! Its fast and it leaves an awesome imprint on the tongue of the boots cos there will always be 2 sets of underlying X thats resting on the tongue;

This is the lacing method that I personally love a lot. 

For those of you having problems with doing and undoing the laces, no harm giving this a try!

Credits:

Ian’s Shoelace Site

Shoes Palace Network

Went to a renovation site wearing my 875

And heres how it looks like when I stepped out. Love it!

Red Wing 875 (after 4+months)

Actually wanted to give it some cleaning, but I was rather busy recently and hence the dirty look now. Perhaps I will wait a couple of weeks later to give them some cleaning and oiling.

Red Wing 875

Used a horsehair brush to give it a brush before going out to work. Splendid!

Red Wing 875 (After 3 months)

Well just some monthly updates of the 875. Nothing spectacular yet.

Realised the creases at the upper ankle portion is getting more obvious. Nice~

X marks.

Loving the X marks caused by the laces.

Working in 875

Cleaning and applying LP to the 875 (Part 2)

As mentioned in previous post, thought the leather looks kind of dry and the scuffs are begging me to apply some LP on it. So here goes:

I had been asked several times on how to apply the LP on the leather. Its none other than the trusty bare hands on yours. Our body temperature can help to melt the LP a little. Some folks suggested using microwave to melt the LP a little before application. Personally I don't fancy putting non edible stuff in my microwave so using the fingers should be the best way.

Right: Before Application

Left: After Application

I just love the imprints the laces done to the leather. 

Looking all goody!

The leather looks to be darker upon application. But experiences from the past told me that this is just a temporary phase. The leather will return to its normal color after the LP is fully absorbed. One thing to remember, leather ages with time and the color will get darker times goes due to usage, time, heat, external elements and such. So don't go too protective of the leather.

Let it age gracefully with the necessary treatment like the LP once a while is good enough.

Cleaning and applying LP to the 875 (Part 1)

It seemed to be pretty obvious that I am wearing my 875 very often recently. I still wear the 9013 too but it will be about once a week, whereas the 875 takes the spot of "rest of the week".

What prompted me to do a cleaning on the 875 was this ugly patch at the front:

On a side-note: I love the white crepe soles getting dirty looking. Haha!

Hence, I used the Obenauf's Leather Cleaner to see what it can do. 

And I felt that a treat of the LP was needed after I noticed some cuffs around:

And after some gentle scrubbing using a sponge with the leather cleaner:

Check this out!

For a better comparison pic:

I'm pretty amazed at this. I used to think the leather cleaner is just a wipe in a sense that its so gentle that it hardly lift dirt off. But after this, I'm totally impressed. Of course I have to emphasize that most probably the dirt is new and no tough stubborn stains like denim staining etc. That is why it is easier to be get rid off.

And now I am leaving them to dry under the sun. It will be quick as I didn't spray too much cleaner on it and the weather is pretty hot now.

Will be back with the pictures of the application of the Heavy Duty LP..

Red Wing 875 (after 2 months)

Been wearing the 875 almost every day for the past month, except 1 or 2 occasion I wore the 9013. The 875 is starting to mould to my feet and the initial aching and soreness is gone! Now my feet just slips in and sits comfortably. Absolute pleasure!

This is what I like to do whenever its a sunny day; Sun the interior to get rid of the god-knows-what inside there

Red Wing 875 (after 1 month)

Here are some evolution pics on my RW 875.

Actually, I am starting to believe that it is the Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP that is protecting my 875 from denim stains. I am constantly pairing this pair of 875 with a Naked & Famous Raw Denim Jeans, Weird Guy to be exact. As you can see from the white soles, there are obvious denim stains. BUT! The impact on the leather is minimal.

I've seen many bad denim stains on the 875 and similar but I am so glad mine is still kept to the minimal damage. (keeping fingers crossed!)

And on that bombshell, here is the family shot again:

Red Wing 875 in Phuket

Wore my RW 875 to my trip to Phuket. Gosh it is such a lovely place. Love the beach, the sun, the sea and everything. Maybe except for the food. It was not as good and wide variety as Bangkok. Well I was wearing RW for my Bungee Jump, ATV trip and Elephant trekking. Other than that I will be in a pair of flip-flops from Camper.

Here are some pictures of my RW 875 in action!

After the ATV:

 Look at the dust! 0_0