Boot soles

[SilverCreek 0]

My best friend is the former owner of Weinbrenner, the manufacturer of the Gary Borger wading boots. I've been a wading boot tester for them. Below is a composite of several posts I have made on wading boots, felt vs rubber, studded vs un-studded. In my view current one piece soles are CR*P.

 

Having been a boot tester, I think I know what is important in boot design that makes for a quality wading boot. Unfortunately almost all felt and rubber wading boots today do not have a feature that I think is very important for safety and that is a stacked heel. Why? To save cost!

 

A stacked heel is a separate heel, that is placed upon the sole of the boot, to create a "notch" in the bottom of the boot between the sole and the heel. Most wading boots these days, whether felt or rubber have a one piece molded sole and heel.

 

The heel of a boot forms a ledge that "digs" into the soil when one walks down hill. Try walking down a hill with a flat soled pair of shoes and a shoe with a heel and you will notice how much more stable you are with the heeled shoe because it grabs and stops your foot from sliding down hill. This is especially important for boots with felt because felt is a relatively smooth surface and needs the heel.

 

For wading with a rubber or felt sole, the heel is really important especially then standing on any rounded surface such as the top of a rounded rock. The corner of the heel forms an edge that "grabs" onto the surface of a rounded rock and gives you a stable hold on the top of the rock. Look at the photos of the bottom of the current wading boots. Is it any wonder that they can't grab while going down hills or on the top of rocks?

 

Not all studded boots are equal. It is better to have too few studs than too many.

 

Studs do not cause you to slip on rocks. What causes you to slip is the distribution and projection of the studs. The distribution must be planned so that both studs and felt contact the surface of the rock. Too many studs too close together and you are standing on the studs alone and not on both felt and studs.

 

The studs should project only a bare minimum from the felt. Early prototype versions of the Borger boots had the studs projecting too far from the felt and was corrected on the production model. Your body weight will compress the felt and the studs then contact the rock and cuts through the algae. As the felt gets worn, more and more of the stud gets exposed. It the boots starts new with exposed studs, this does not allow for wear of the felt.

 

A stacked heel is doubly important if you are going to have studs so that you have this felt surface on the top of rocks. Too many studs and the corner of the heel may be the only non studded surface on the rocks.

 

If you have a higher quality boot like this Weinbrenner Borger Boot that has a "stacked" heel made of separate stacked, glued and sewn pieces of felt, the corner of the heel forms an edge that "grabs" onto the surface of a rounded rock and gives you a stable hold on the top of the rock. Imagine this boot on a rounded rock and you will see what I mean. Although the boot is studded, you cannot see them. This is how studs should be mounted.

 

 

 

The bottom of the Borger boot shows that the area under the ball of the boot has no stud but as you rock your foot forward, the studs begin to grab. Also notice that on the side view of the boot above, you cannot even see the studs because only the tips project from the boot. As you step on the felt, the felt compresses and the tips of the studs contact the rock and river bottom.

 

 

 

I've tested two pairs of boots made in Korea (studded and unstudded) that Weinbrenner was thinking of marketing in the US under the Weinbrenner name. I fell off a rock and dinged my reel because they had a one piece sole with flat heels and a poor stud pattern. I recommended changes to the design but they decided not to market the boots.

 

The stud pattern is way to tight on the studded pair. The stud pattern must allow both felt and studs to contact the ground/rocks. That way, when you are on a rock, you are not on just the tips of the studs.

 

What did I do with the boots? Sold 'em on Ebay cheap. Unfortunately, even new current boots are still made like this.

 

 

 

The design of the boot is very important. You can't just put a layer of felt on a one piece sole with a rounded elevated one piece heel and expect it to grab the top of a rounded rock. Note that the felt of the Borger boot is not only glued to the welt but sewn to the welt. A glued wet can pull off, a sewn welt will not.

 

Quality boots cost more but if they save a fall, they are worth it. I wish they could make them lighter but these boots last forever. I was a tester for the the prototypes of the Propex (ballistic nylon) boots above. I still have them and they are going on 10 years although the need new studs and soles. The boots are solid and have not blown out the sides or the toes.

 

Not all felt boots are equal and I think it is really important to have a separate stacked heel because there is no tread pattern on felt to provide grip when on slippery surfaces. As a boot tester, I got to keep the boots I tested, but some boots are not worth keeping even if they were free. I can't imagine buying boots that are unsafe just to save the cost of making a separate heel piece.

 

A Second post I made about boots from about 6 years age on the former Fly Fisherman Magazine FF Forum :

 

 

Most boots do not have a sewn and glued welt. Most have just the felt glued to the boot bottom. A sewn welt means that the felt is actually sewn to the bottom of the boot through the welt. Some boots have a double sewn welt.

 

A sewn felt keeps the felt from separating from the boot bottom.

 

Here's the side and bottom of my Gary Borger boots and you can see that the felt is sewn to the the boot around the edges to the boot welt. And it has a stacked heel.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Hodgman with just a glued felt.

 

 

 

Patagonia - ditto - no sewn felt.

 

 

 

Here's the Cabela Guide with a double sewn felt.

 

There is more to a quality boot than just a sewn welt but it is a good place to start. If you look very carefully at the welt - that bottom of the boot that attaches the upper to the sole - you will notice that you do not need to see the sole of the boot to see if the welt is sewn or molded. Look at the Hodgman and Patagonia boots and you will see that there is no "lip" to the welt and therefore there is no place to sew the welt to the sole. Both the Borger and Cabela's boots have a lip for the sewn welt.

 

Now look at the following boots, a Simms Rivertek and and a Simms L2. the Rivertek looks like it has a sewn welt and the L2 does not.

 

Simms Rivertek

 

 

 

Simms L2

 

Cheappie model Orvis Clearwater - no sewn felt.

 

More expensive Orvis Battenkill - sewn felt

 

The take home lesson is that you cannot go by brand name. You need to examine the model of the boot and see if the welt is sewn and glued.

 

Now look at all the boots and you will see that only the Gary Borger boot has a Stacked Heel. The rest of the boots have a one piece sole which is a cheap way of making a sole and makes for a less stable boot that has less grabbing ability on rocks and slippery banks. The Patagonia is an especially poor design with no heel at all.

 

Boots are not bathroom slippers. They need a heel edge to dig into slipper bank and to provide a point of purchase on slippery rocks so that the edge of the heel digs through the algae to the rock surface. Look at the side views of the boots and imagine standing on a round rock surface with each of these boots? Or imagine walking down a slippery path. Which one will provide the best grip and fit to the surface of the rock or dig into the slippery path?

[Troutbum11 0]

Here in MD felt is banned so I have rubber Vibram soles. haven't got studs yet but intend to..

[Losthackle 0]

SilverCreek

 

I do wish I had read your article before I ever bought wading boots.

 

I thought the lack of a heel was to improve traction on the river bottom. Oh foolish me.

 

When the time comes to consign my current boots to the the furnace (assuming I don't get there first), I will bear your piece in mind.

 

Very good, sir, and thank you