[at-l] Boot fitting information (fairly long)

[m_factor@hotmail.com (Mara Factor)]

Um, let me add this...

I wore ~9 year old Limmers from Georgia to Pearisburg and Glencliff to 
Katahdin.  I had them resoled (for the second time) before I started.  
Needleess to say, they were well broken in before I started.

The worst foot pain I had on the trail was on the days when I had to walk in 
thoroughly soaked boots.  It didn't matter whether I was in the Smokies or 
in Maine.  And it didn't matter how many times the boots had been previously 
thoroughly soaked.

Any wear and tear, soaking, abrasion, etc. shortens the life of your boots.  
If you allow yourself the time to break them in slowly, you only wear the 
parts necessary to give you a good fit.  If you soak the entire boot, you 
will only shorten the life of more of the boot (mostly the stitching along 
the seam(s) and welt but also weakening the leather itself.  Of course, you 
can't avoid that on the trail which is why I just said to let it happen 
naturally.

Mara
Stitches, GAME99

>From: Sloetoe <sloetoe@yahoo.com>
>Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 15:53:44 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>--- Mara Factor <m_factor@hotmail.com> wrote:
>A whole bunch of really excellent boot-fitting stuff, except for:
> > Some people recommend the soak in water and wear until dry method to
> > break in boots.  That may work but only because it just speeds up the
>process of breaking down the boot as a whole.  It will reduce the life of
>the boot faster than just breaking them in slowly.  Besides, while I would
>never dunk my boots in water, they do occasionally get that soaked just
>from hiking in rain.  Let it happen naturally.  :-)
>
>### Sloetoe dives in:
>"Let it happen *naturally*?" I must point out (oh so gently, here it
>comes) that what's happening naturally here is BLISTERS!!! Soak the boot,
>just as your first 48 hour rain-on-trail will do, and walk (WALK!) it dry
>with the *same*weight* as you'd have when backpacking. (This weight idea
>is very important -- did you see the part in Mara's comments where she
>talked about smaller/lighter people? You will flex the boot in different
>places and to different degrees with a loaded backpack than without.)
>But ultimately, aside from oldphart boots like the welted beasties that
>Mara and I wear, I don't know as it'd make much difference to soak a boot
>nowadays: with the predominance of man-made materials, nylon and synthetic
>rubber substrated this&that forming the midsoles, insoles, welt-gluings,
>heel counters, toe counters, teflon-laminates, nylon exteriors... I don't
>think "soaking" a boot to obtain a better fit is an option nowadays....
>
>Hope this fits your needs...
>Sloetoe
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