My dad was a forester in Western Oregon in the 1950s. He wore caulked (cork) boots - Whites - all winter. Every night he'd grease them up and put them in front of the fireplace to work the mink oil into the leather. The sight of those boots and the smell of hot mink oil are a great memory of my childhood.
Someone else already mentioned them but coal mining boots are another super hardcore work boot I'd like to see on the channel. Another somewhat related type of boot I'd like to see cut up are military blast and land mine resistant boots, like the ones made by wellco, sarker, and altberg.
Good luck finding mining boots like what you are talking about. Most of the brands I used to buy from have long since discontinued their mining boot lines.
Retired from AT&T, working outside and having to climb poles and microwave towers we had to have heels which had 90 degrees heel so our feet would not slip off the step or ironwork on the towers. This rule was also a rule for Navy Boots, but then some bean counter decided the Navy needed to wear the same boots the Army uses and got rid of the 90 degree heels. Now I see there is a drastic increase of shipboard ladder accidents. I wonder why the bean counters will not consider the safety aspect of using a boot with a 90 degree heel for shipboard safety.
If you've never worn logger boots, it's hard to express how exhausting it is to have that much weight on your feet. It takes months to build up all the weird muscles in your hips and things to be able to get through a day of wearing those without feeling like you can't take another step.
☆An old hippie from the Pacific Northwest Area traded me his corks for a hand sewn patchwork quilt...I still have those boots today-some 35 yrs plus!!!☆
Yeah but when your muscles get conditioned to the extra weight, they feel so good. I had mine specially made by a shoemaker (without the spikes) to my foot and yes, they're heavy, but so comfortable at the same time that I use them daily.
Best video yet. Even the jungle boots can’t top this one. Very informative, enthusiastic, and plenty of history to watch along with it. Damn fine job on this video. Just cringed thinking the cat was going to make the boot into a scratch post at the end.
@@alecjoncas7764these are called caulk boots, (pronounced cork). They are worn by just about every logger on rigging crews. Not rare, even in the slightest. I have 2 pairs just myself.
The high heel will get you up really crazy inclines in thick muddy clay; it's like a giant one lug mud tire. Also, when you're standing on branches, getting over rocks, operating heavy equipment/vehicles, etc that nice gap and tall stack gives you positive retention and tactile feedback when it hooks up; we use them for riding dirt bikes (lots of OHV parks and forest roads), but you need a steel shank or it will tear right out. Red Wing used to make an ATV boot but you had to get it resoled right away because it came with the smooth bottom and that was no good if you were going to have to clamber up slippery tree roots while dragging your bike up out the muddy gulley you just went into. (Oregon born/raised, still a few loggers in the family)
We’ve got a few really nice boot makers in Spokane….JK’s customs, Nicks customs, Frank’s customs, (I just got a pair of commanders made by frank, best $600 I ever spent) plus you’ve got stuff like whites and redwing which are good but nothing like JK’s nicks or franks….
Got an old set of corkys from my father. He worked for the forest service in Washington State in the 50s . The hobnails in them can't be removed because they are rivet fit in the bottom layer of leather. Think I remember him saying that they cost him 100$ in the late 40s.
i work in construction and i love this style of boot. ive bought two pairs of this style and i love the high ankles because it keeps my ankle safe when walking on rebar and pt cable.
Even today the forest of the NW part of the US can snap your feet off if you dont watch your step. Lots of dead fall and tons of stump holes, some deep enough to fall into and not be found if you hurt your legs.
5:54 watching this while i re-caulk my boots for the spring! Working in Northern BC back country and i wear caulk boots every day I dont need snow shoes.
7:40 I think you need a new bandsaw blade after that. Maybe a metal-cutting one . . . I love JK Boots. I have a pair of their 6" O.T.s as work boots, and they made me a custom pair of O.T. in a lace-to -toe pattern that I use to hike in, and they are the most comfy hiking boots of the half-dozen pairs that I have owned.
How do they handle water though? I love my Thorogood's, but they absolutely sucked after a rain hike. Not even just talking about my feet getting wet. They got way too heavy and started trying to fall off of my feet, my pinky toe started pushing against the side, etc. It was just overall not the best boot for wet conditions.
@@ShadeSlayer1911If properly oiled, not an issue but you have to keep them oiled up or else the water will penitrate it then leach out the oils and dry out the leather.
@@SilvaDreams That's kinda the issue with full grain leather boots. In my experience, even if you oil them well in preparation for a rainy day, they're still likely to soak through. And then they take forever to dry. Suede is much less durable, but it's much better with water. Still not great, but it definitely dries faster and doesn't need to be constantly oiled like full grain leather does. It doesn't keep the water out, but it dries better.
I have no need for boots this awesome...but I really do want a pair. I'm glad there is craft in America that can't be replicated cheaply anywhere else.
It has changed. When I started in logging replaceable corks weren’t available, you just resoled or recorked them. The corks were smaller and there were more of them. Look at the old photographs :55 of the boots and you’ll see the difference in the soles.
I was a logger for years starting setting chokers under a skagit when I was 16. My first pair of caulks was a cheap pair of Hawthornes and I about broke my ankle everyday. After a summer I went down to st Helen's and got fitted for a custom pair of wescos. Those boots are over 22 years old now and I bet if I greased them up they'd be just fine. Also had a pair of whites for when I started doing tree service on the side because they were taller had an actual heel so my climbing spurs were much more comfortable. A bit heavy for setting chokers and pulling rigging though.
Look up the Log Driver's Waltz from the National Filmboard of Canada for more footage of riding the logs down the river and a sweet song about it too :)
Chisel grinds do take a little adjustment to sharpen. Like the grind would suggest, you primarily sharpen the one side, but because the burr forms, you need to at the very least strop the flat side. I think that a very slight secondary bevel on the flat side helps with maintenance but I tend to maintain that on a big hard stone where I can make very shallow continuous passes to JUST barely remove any material.
I'm not going to say I grew up in a logging town although I do remember that every store and every bar had a sign that said no cork boots but every floor had thousands of little puncture holes
This is so wild to me. I was born and raised in spokane and never have heard of JK boots. Looked them up and theyre just a small business next to the mall. But then looking at these boots its obvious how nice they are. Crazy.e
What a beast! It’s interesting to see how such a particular style of footwear evolved for such a common function. Btw, I don’t think the Pacific Northwest is the largest rainforest ecoregion since the Amazon Rainforest is nearly the size of all the United States.
Don't forget that the temperate rainforest of "The Pacific Northwest" also stretches a long way into Canada, to include large parts of Alaska as well. Not saying you're wrong, but people often discount that the ecoregion crosses national borders.
As someone who has broken a tooth off a backhoe, you do not replace the bucket. The bucket has little extrusions for you to attach different tooth-heads for different purposes.
We still wear corks today. The most annoying thing about them to me is when you get sticks stuck to the spikes. Slick as ice on rocks or hard pack surfaces though.
I wear loggers not out of necessity, but because they're comfy for me and I'm rough on boots. I don't know if it's an in official reason for the tall heel or not, but I noticed that you can catch branches and small logs right in front of the heel and it gives you stable footing even on wet wood. Cutting some trees I found I could walk across the resulting mess of branches real freaking easily by using the heel as a hook.
the only problem with these high boots is the transference of stress to your knees as your ankle flexes little...I have 2 bad knees as a result when your young you dont notice it but older you realize and talk to an ortho and they tell you why great vid
For a great book on logging try "The Great Glorious Goddamn of it All" by Josh Ritter. It does a great job of giving a feel of the culture and work of logging. Of course, I do not know anything about logging so I could be totally wrong - but the reviews are excellent.
Think I saw someone restore a vintage pair that someone was still using as a winter boot. I’m not into shoes or boots at all so might have been something different
I'd love to get a decent pair of boots for myself as I have odd shaped feet. left foot size 9.5 width 16 right 9 width16.5 high insteps at $1000.00 for normal type and I worked on power poles
its crazy to me that the BAND SAWWW actually had THAT much of a rough time getting through those boots.... just goes to show you.... if you want boots that will last you a lifetime... SPEND THE MONEY ON GOOD CUSTOM BOOTS!!!!!, it will save you from having to get a new pair of boots every 2 or so years for $200-$300 a pair, instead just go get a custom pair for like $500-$700 and you are set for MINIMUMMMMM 10 years, and thats if you are beating the boots to shit for 10+ hours a day 5 days a week.... if you are in normal work conditions and not beating the shit out of the boots, a custom pair can LEGIT last you 20+ years EASYYYY
I had no idea stomping fruit was a thing ! It's quite anarchic to watch a craftman built item trashed beyond redemption, even in the cause of knowledge
Idk if JK will on a super duty, (definitely reach out and ask them great brand to support) however their competition also spokane pnw brand Franks will biuld a standard work boot and give you option to add a few screw in ports for spikes. I know some UPS drivers that order em for winter. Plugs during summer screw in spikes when it freezes.
Guess i would’ve made a decent logger. Flat boots, shoes, whatever start to beat the hell out of my ankles after a few months. Only thing that helps is shifting the angle like these boot makers figured out years ago.
I am a leather crafter by trade. Yes, they had leather that thick. In simplest terms, leather is made from skin. The thickness of the animal's skin determines the maximum thickness of the leather. Belly skin is thinnest. A cow side, after tanning can be 4-5mm thick. If you want the leather thinner, you split the hide. The outer part (hair side) becomes the leather. The inner part (flesh side) becomes suede or nubuk.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
My dad was a forester in Western Oregon in the 1950s. He wore caulked (cork) boots - Whites - all winter. Every night he'd grease them up and put them in front of the fireplace to work the mink oil into the leather. The sight of those boots and the smell of hot mink oil are a great memory of my childhood.
I bet your dad grew you up right sir! I wish I had been grown up in that kind of industry I'm a sucker for wood work.
My dad had a pair of these. When he logged knot bumpers wore these. That was in the eighties.
This was awesome to watch, glad we were able to give that bandsaw a hard time.
The gold standard for tree climbers AND competitive bandsaw blade ruiners.
(Some day ill climb a tree lol)
Hey JK, please have them review your western cowboy boots
I think we need a bigger saw! (or a sharper blade???)
Quality! ❤
Someone else already mentioned them but coal mining boots are another super hardcore work boot I'd like to see on the channel. Another somewhat related type of boot I'd like to see cut up are military blast and land mine resistant boots, like the ones made by wellco, sarker, and altberg.
Good luck finding mining boots like what you are talking about. Most of the brands I used to buy from have long since discontinued their mining boot lines.
yeah ive always loved and wanted some coal mining boots, like you could kill a nuclear bomb and all thatd be left is your boots.
Gonna buy a pair to aerate my lawn.
Lawn aerator shoes are way cheaper
@@themadsamplistIf lawn aerator shoes are a thing, I’m going to flip shit.
@@bakedPython make sure you limber up 1st
@@themadsamplist Not nearly as cool though
You're going to need longer spikes lol
For sure, this is one of the monumental videos of Rose Anvil.
Retired from AT&T, working outside and having to climb poles and microwave towers we had to have heels which had 90 degrees heel so our feet would not slip off the step or ironwork on the towers. This rule was also a rule for Navy Boots, but then some bean counter decided the Navy needed to wear the same boots the Army uses and got rid of the 90 degree heels. Now I see there is a drastic increase of shipboard ladder accidents. I wonder why the bean counters will not consider the safety aspect of using a boot with a 90 degree heel for shipboard safety.
Those beans are harder to count, and they can always find new beans that struggled in high school to replace them. It's awful stuff
If you've never worn logger boots, it's hard to express how exhausting it is to have that much weight on your feet. It takes months to build up all the weird muscles in your hips and things to be able to get through a day of wearing those without feeling like you can't take another step.
☆An old hippie from the Pacific Northwest Area traded me his corks for a hand sewn patchwork quilt...I still have those boots today-some 35 yrs plus!!!☆
My Carolina loggers are no JKs but they weigh similarly so yes... everything you've said is 100% true and on point
Yeah but when your muscles get conditioned to the extra weight, they feel so good. I had mine specially made by a shoemaker (without the spikes) to my foot and yes, they're heavy, but so comfortable at the same time that I use them daily.
Damn, 10 lbs boots sound like something that movie characters wear to limit their power level or something man.
@@jamesMwebber no comparison in quality. Do yourself a favor and buy some JK. Heavy yes but super comfortable after the break in.
Crazy craftsmanship wow! love my jks, got three pairs and they’re my favorite boots by far
Best video yet. Even the jungle boots can’t top this one. Very informative, enthusiastic, and plenty of history to watch along with it. Damn fine job on this video. Just cringed thinking the cat was going to make the boot into a scratch post at the end.
I agree
Ordered a pair of JK boots after watching your late video. Just waiting for them to be made to see how well worth it they are.
Yes! Great video dude!
Let’s see the insides of your Russell’s
Also, Coal mining boots are another beast worth checking out.
eating that pineapple broke me
Pineapple with shaving foam, Westons favourite 😂
Fr like that was disgusting
That sent me too 😂😂😂
It's nice to hear Spokane, WA being mentioned! Been here for a few years! Great video on a local and iconic brand!!
JK’s, Nicks boots, and Franks boots all make top notch custom boots. Just broke in a pair of custom commanders from Frank’s….. best $650 I ever spent.
Rare for Spokane to be mentioned? Almost all of the top of the line PNW brands come out of the Spokane area.
So impressed to see the boots that built this country.
I love these videos of rare boot types.
Not a rare type of boot at all😅
How many you see? I’ve seen 2 my whole life and that’s with searching all of the internet and social media
@@alecjoncas7764these are called caulk boots, (pronounced cork). They are worn by just about every logger on rigging crews. Not rare, even in the slightest. I have 2 pairs just myself.
The high heel will get you up really crazy inclines in thick muddy clay; it's like a giant one lug mud tire.
Also, when you're standing on branches, getting over rocks, operating heavy equipment/vehicles, etc that nice gap and tall stack gives you positive retention and tactile feedback when it hooks up; we use them for riding dirt bikes (lots of OHV parks and forest roads), but you need a steel shank or it will tear right out.
Red Wing used to make an ATV boot but you had to get it resoled right away because it came with the smooth bottom and that was no good if you were going to have to clamber up slippery tree roots while dragging your bike up out the muddy gulley you just went into.
(Oregon born/raised, still a few loggers in the family)
We’ve got a few really nice boot makers in Spokane….JK’s customs, Nicks customs, Frank’s customs, (I just got a pair of commanders made by frank, best $600 I ever spent) plus you’ve got stuff like whites and redwing which are good but nothing like JK’s nicks or franks….
My dad had a nice pair of boots like those. Never paid them any mind, he logged and ranched for a living. typically alone as well.
your videos for jkboots convinced me to buy a pair for my birthday
The first pair of boots to be functionally puncture proof on the channel, Grats JK. That's why I only wear your footwear now.
Got an old set of corkys from my father. He worked for the forest service in Washington State in the 50s . The hobnails in them can't be removed because they are rivet fit in the bottom layer of leather. Think I remember him saying that they cost him 100$ in the late 40s.
Wonderful video. Your historical boot videos are so good. These boots remind me of reading Sometimes a Great Notion.
Now that's a fancy set of golf shoes right there!
second thought. first was "i want these"
We always called them corks when I was logging and any reputable brand the spikes are removable and you could change out whatever length suits you
That bandsaw was having a heart attack lol
i work in construction and i love this style of boot. ive bought two pairs of this style and i love the high ankles because it keeps my ankle safe when walking on rebar and pt cable.
Even today the forest of the NW part of the US can snap your feet off if you dont watch your step. Lots of dead fall and tons of stump holes, some deep enough to fall into and not be found if you hurt your legs.
The heel is also for where the spurs go. Because of the heel it can not shift on the sole and will have a stable base
5:54 watching this while i re-caulk my boots for the spring! Working in Northern BC back country and i wear caulk boots every day I dont need snow shoes.
7:40 I think you need a new bandsaw blade after that. Maybe a metal-cutting one . . . I love JK Boots. I have a pair of their 6" O.T.s as work boots, and they made me a custom pair of O.T. in a lace-to -toe pattern that I use to hike in, and they are the most comfy hiking boots of the half-dozen pairs that I have owned.
How do they handle water though? I love my Thorogood's, but they absolutely sucked after a rain hike. Not even just talking about my feet getting wet. They got way too heavy and started trying to fall off of my feet, my pinky toe started pushing against the side, etc. It was just overall not the best boot for wet conditions.
@@ShadeSlayer1911If properly oiled, not an issue but you have to keep them oiled up or else the water will penitrate it then leach out the oils and dry out the leather.
@@SilvaDreams That's kinda the issue with full grain leather boots. In my experience, even if you oil them well in preparation for a rainy day, they're still likely to soak through. And then they take forever to dry. Suede is much less durable, but it's much better with water. Still not great, but it definitely dries faster and doesn't need to be constantly oiled like full grain leather does. It doesn't keep the water out, but it dries better.
great video Wes..!! love your PNW videos.., especially when you do the historical bits in the beginning .. great logging footage,, really interesting
These boots are weapons!
Fascinating history lesson. Thank you.
I have no need for boots this awesome...but I really do want a pair. I'm glad there is craft in America that can't be replicated cheaply anywhere else.
It has changed. When I started in logging replaceable corks weren’t available, you just resoled or recorked them. The corks were smaller and there were more of them. Look at the old photographs :55 of the boots and you’ll see the difference in the soles.
I was a logger for years starting setting chokers under a skagit when I was 16. My first pair of caulks was a cheap pair of Hawthornes and I about broke my ankle everyday. After a summer I went down to st Helen's and got fitted for a custom pair of wescos. Those boots are over 22 years old now and I bet if I greased them up they'd be just fine. Also had a pair of whites for when I started doing tree service on the side because they were taller had an actual heel so my climbing spurs were much more comfortable. A bit heavy for setting chokers and pulling rigging though.
I would love to see a cut in half review of a pair of viberg work boots, very difficult to find information or reviews on them, love the JK's though
They’ve been discontinued for quite a while. I keep hearing that they are coming back.
Awesome vid bro, one of the coolest boots you cut open.
This is nuts. Never knew such a thing existed. Awesome.
These are the most beautiful boots I have ever seen 😮
Look up the Log Driver's Waltz from the National Filmboard of Canada for more footage of riding the logs down the river and a sweet song about it too :)
4:49 they takin chances out there! lol dangerous af
Chisel grinds do take a little adjustment to sharpen. Like the grind would suggest, you primarily sharpen the one side, but because the burr forms, you need to at the very least strop the flat side. I think that a very slight secondary bevel on the flat side helps with maintenance but I tend to maintain that on a big hard stone where I can make very shallow continuous passes to JUST barely remove any material.
I used to work in a bar in an old logging town that had prominent signs everywhere that told you not to wear corks indoors
People also underestimate the weight of logs. Its more so that the logs will SMASH you inbetween them. If you bob too low.. def no stopping it. Scary.
thanks for this cheery comment.
A good day to you too
Outstanding video! Thank you for sharing.
Yoooooo, those are the boot that the bounty hunter wore in the spongebob movie!!
The spikes remind me of old golf shoes they are exactly the same with the 2 holes and the key to tighten them
These make my La Sportiva Blizzards look like house shoes made for walking on shag carpet.
Even my Meindl Schlern MFS look like office slippers compared to those 😢
I'm not going to say I grew up in a logging town although I do remember that every store and every bar had a sign that said no cork boots but every floor had thousands of little puncture holes
This is so wild to me. I was born and raised in spokane and never have heard of JK boots. Looked them up and theyre just a small business next to the mall. But then looking at these boots its obvious how nice they are. Crazy.e
these are the kind of thing that make me wish i was healthy enough to go and do the job they were made for. Absolutely love the construction.
When I was towing log rafts I had custom made XtraTuff Corks. Great for logs but slippery as hell on a steel deck .
They look like madmax roadwarrior end of the world boots. I want a pair look sturdy.
I have spiked whites pacs ice shoes for winter.
Awesome video
What a beast! It’s interesting to see how such a particular style of footwear evolved for such a common function.
Btw, I don’t think the Pacific Northwest is the largest rainforest ecoregion since the Amazon Rainforest is nearly the size of all the United States.
Don't forget that the temperate rainforest of "The Pacific Northwest" also stretches a long way into Canada, to include large parts of Alaska as well. Not saying you're wrong, but people often discount that the ecoregion crosses national borders.
That was an epic review
As someone who has broken a tooth off a backhoe, you do not replace the bucket. The bucket has little extrusions for you to attach different tooth-heads for different purposes.
Please review the JK western Cowboy boot!
My grandpa left me a pair from the 1920s I used them in my 20s for when I used to be a landscaper , protected my feet like no other a
I bet the algorithm loves those boots.
Seriously tho, whenever Rose Anvil does a Meet and Greet, we all need to bring our grandpa's boots to his stand!
That was totally wicked!
Thank you for the history lesson. Very cool.
That one dude from the spongebob movie with the spiky boots lol
Editing is perfect.
We still wear corks today. The most annoying thing about them to me is when you get sticks stuck to the spikes. Slick as ice on rocks or hard pack surfaces though.
I'd order a pair of these exact spec boots asap if they were on the market
I wear loggers not out of necessity, but because they're comfy for me and I'm rough on boots. I don't know if it's an in official reason for the tall heel or not, but I noticed that you can catch branches and small logs right in front of the heel and it gives you stable footing even on wet wood. Cutting some trees I found I could walk across the resulting mess of branches real freaking easily by using the heel as a hook.
Now, without any doubt thats one pair of tough boots!
the only problem with these high boots is the transference of stress to your knees as your ankle flexes little...I have 2 bad knees as a result when your young you dont notice it but older you realize and talk to an ortho and they tell you why great vid
I had to go to spring heel boots because too many years in a block heel wore spots in my knees, too. Now I wear hiking boots for operating equipment
Logging spikes were the inspiration behind athletic cleats (baseball/football/golf)
Love your vids!
When I did Polyaspartic coatings those were the bane of my existence
For a great book on logging try "The Great Glorious Goddamn of it All" by Josh Ritter. It does a great job of giving a feel of the culture and work of logging. Of course, I do not know anything about logging so I could be totally wrong - but the reviews are excellent.
Great find!!!
I used the tall heel on my Whites to go down rough slopes. Dig the heel in and it is almost like stairs.
Do you have plans on looking at the newer boot company duradero moc toes that come with 1 free resole?
Awesome video 👍thanks for sharing
Review the diemme everest leather hiking boots❤
Think I saw someone restore a vintage pair that someone was still using as a winter boot. I’m not into shoes or boots at all so might have been something different
I would like to see you climbing with those boots on !
The screw in spikes are what they use on cricket shoes also known as “spikes”
I don't need spikes , and my foot is done growing.... I wonder how much it would be to get 6e wide 15 eye boots custom made....
Can you review Royer's boots ?
I'd love to get a decent pair of boots for myself as I have odd shaped feet. left foot size 9.5 width 16 right 9 width16.5 high insteps at $1000.00 for normal type and I worked on power poles
Have you heard about Judd desert boots?
these boots are so cool❤️
What a great vid about a great boot.
Wonder if they make a steel toed version too
its crazy to me that the BAND SAWWW actually had THAT much of a rough time getting through those boots.... just goes to show you.... if you want boots that will last you a lifetime... SPEND THE MONEY ON GOOD CUSTOM BOOTS!!!!!, it will save you from having to get a new pair of boots every 2 or so years for $200-$300 a pair, instead just go get a custom pair for like $500-$700 and you are set for MINIMUMMMMM 10 years, and thats if you are beating the boots to shit for 10+ hours a day 5 days a week.... if you are in normal work conditions and not beating the shit out of the boots, a custom pair can LEGIT last you 20+ years EASYYYY
I had no idea stomping fruit was a thing ! It's quite anarchic to watch a craftman built item trashed beyond redemption, even in the cause of knowledge
Aren’t the boots also high to keep the wet foliage off your pants?
Would love some spikes JUST LIKE THAT to add or remove to and from my Carolina Linemans boots.?????
Idk if JK will on a super duty, (definitely reach out and ask them great brand to support) however their competition also spokane pnw brand Franks will biuld a standard work boot and give you option to add a few screw in ports for spikes. I know some UPS drivers that order em for winter. Plugs during summer screw in spikes when it freezes.
Timeless boots!
With these spiky cleats, anything is possible!
except walking on a hardwood floor.
I wonder if these are a purpose built piece of equipment?
Guess i would’ve made a decent logger. Flat boots, shoes, whatever start to beat the hell out of my ankles after a few months. Only thing that helps is shifting the angle like these boot makers figured out years ago.
I am a leather crafter by trade. Yes, they had leather that thick. In simplest terms, leather is made from skin. The thickness of the animal's skin determines the maximum thickness of the leather. Belly skin is thinnest. A cow side, after tanning can be 4-5mm thick. If you want the leather thinner, you split the hide. The outer part (hair side) becomes the leather. The inner part (flesh side) becomes suede or nubuk.
How long would it take to break in these boots? 😮