Blacksmith Boot (Men)

This is my first pair of redwings. Run true to size. Got a size 9. Looks great in raw denim. Took me a few weeks to really wear them in. Wore them for 2 weeks straight to work, errands, fixing stuff, etc. You start to notice the high quality when you break them in and I can tell these are going to last me many many many many years. I got the charcoal colorway.

I'm a Brannock 12.5B, sneaker size 12.5, and the 11.5 Blacksmiths fit me very well. They looked great and were surprisingly comfortable, but I returned them due to a defect that should have been caught in quality control. As soon as I started walking around, there was an audible "click" with each step on the left boot. After some examination, I found that there was a gap between the sole and mid-sole. If I pushed the sole with my thumb in that spot, I could replicate the clicking sound. It was loud enough to be noticeable, and would be terribly annoying to hear on every other step. I know this could be fixed, but I wasn't interested in having a brand-new boot repaired so I sent it back. I'm sure issues like this are fairly rare, but it made a bad first impression for Red Wing and I'll be shopping for other boots to replace these.

I got the CRT version which has great pull up and goes with just about everything. I had to exchange the boots a couple times to get the right pair. I hadn't heeded advice and only ordered one size down (more on that in a sec) and the second pair had some crummy inconsistencies in the leather (nothing structural, just aesthetic). the third ones have some quirks but they look amazing and I think when they're worn in more theyll even out. Size: I wear a 10 in most Nikes (court forces, classic) and NBs, and a 9 in most dress shoes and chukkas (cole haan lunargrands, varvatos). I initially ordered a 9 and found it to be way too long. I went to an actual red wing store and tried on an 8.5 and found it to be just about right. Just a tad bit of space at the heel (few mm) and tight around the middle (to be stretched out). Toes maybe half an inch or so from the box. I read up and saw that people were having issues breaking this style of boots in. Mine softened up a bit after a few days and have gotten pretty eased in after about a week of moderate wear.

Just picked up a pair in black. Great looking boot, but I can already tell that break in will be tough. The leather is pretty stiff. One note on the BLACK color… it’s not truly black. My boots are more of a really dark chocolate brown. I can really see the difference when I put them next to my black Red Wing moc toes (8130). Like everyone says, get these 1/2 size down from your regular size.

Just picked up a pair of Blacksmith in light brown. The boots require some breaking in but, as with all new quality shoes this is a given. I only have 2 concerns with the design one being the speed lace hooks. They’re sewn into the leather but the manufacturer did not “smooth out” or file the ends which come in contact with the tongue of the shoe and create deep scratch marks. Since these only show when unlaced and open and not when wearing it’s an acceptable inconvenience but I would suggest Red Wing take this into account and file down the sharp contact points against the tongue. The other issue is the light brown leather shows every tiny scratch, nick and scuff mark. I know this can be buffed over but to have to constantly smooth out the marks can be a bit of a chore. Other than these issues these are well worth the $ spent, they’ll last for years and the patina after months and years of wearing should be beautiful.

I have owned the Blacksmith boots in Briar Oil Slick since 2018. These are a straight forward no non sense quality boot. It has the same last as the Iron Ranger without the toe cap which I prefer. The boot has held up perfectly. The leather holds the oil in from tanning so they are exceptionally easy to take care of. The fit great and I have no regrets. My only negatives for this boot are the shoe laces wore out way too quick and were very short. Lastly, this boot no cushion at all so you should be used to boots before purchasing this model.