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.

As with my Black Cherry Beckmans no complaints. This is another solidly made great looking boot. I originally purchased the light brown rough look but exchanged them for the Briar Oil Slick after realizing the light color would show every scuff and nick which some find desirable but I like my clean, unmarked look. Well worth the extra $.

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.