 I don't know. Diesel or Edward? What's the difference anyway? What do you think? Stay tuned and I'll show you which, when and why. G'day, welcome back to Bootlossophy. My name is Tech. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands I work and live on, the Wodger people. I've often been asked on my Instagram posts why I put up a photo of both these boots. The Grant Stone diesel boot and the Grant Stone Edward boot. What the real difference is, and some have asked me which should they choose. It's an interesting question. I know that the leathers on these two particular models look totally different and you'd think that's a clue. But Grant Stone make both in a variety of different uppers In fact, they also make a pair of Edward boots very similar to the Tan Essex using Italian tannery Badalassie Carlos natural Minerva leather. The full review of this Tan Essex is up there. Actually, they also make another diesel from Badalassie's Saddle Tan. So really you could be asked to decide between some very subtle differences. But first a quick introduction to Grant Stone. So if you're new to quality heritage style boots or if you're a boot fan but been living under a rock for the last couple of years let's just go through it. In either case, I'll leave a link to their website below so that you can check them out. Grant Stone is based in Michigan, USA and was founded in 2016 by Wyatt Gilmore and Josh Lang. Wyatt's grandfather and father had a history with olden boots and inspired Wyatt to found a boot company that takes on olden quality and fit to a different audience and level. It is a web-based company so sells direct to consumer only. The main criticism leveled against Grant Stone and I'm not sure that it's valid for reasons I'll talk about is that they are made in China. Why I don't think that's valid as criticism is that from all that I've seen these criticisms generally come from Americans who won't buy anything made in communist China not because of bad quality or poor customer service or poor designs. Criticism I think should be about the product not the source even though I do agree about communist China in a poli-sci kind of way I get it. Anyway, I think the quality issue though has been well and truly settled. I am on record a couple of years ago saying that selling for around 300 US dollars at the time Grant Stone products are probably worth another 100. Post-pandemic with price rises everywhere I still think so and most reviewers agree with me about the quality issue. They are not produced in a sweatshop but in a modern factory in a resort city with a high cost of living and a high expectation of minimum wages and they have really nailed it on the policies and procedures that every business needs to implement in order to ensure quality in their line processing from choosing top materials to quality checks and then continuous improvement reviews. Edward Deeming was an American who brought quality control processes to Japan in the 1950s and ultimately Asian manufacturing have picked up those quality processes. The result here is excellent clicking or selection of leather pieces excellent stitching and attention to detail on things like the welt joints and hardware placement. Anything less than their quality standards are taken out some are sold as seconds and the popular feedback on social media with their seconds is you can't see what's wrong with them. That means I think really poor examples are just simply discarded and never sold, they never see the light of day. The diesel boot is Grant Stone's flagship model. Every time I try to count and say something about this it changes but at the time of recording there are 21 models of this diesel boot. Obviously it's the same boot but they vary it by making it in 21 different leathers and in the mix they change the sole to include studded soles, leather soles and even mini lug commander soles from time to time they change the two backstays. This means that you can get the diesel in a dressy looking black chrome excel say or some other smooth shiny leather through to some rugged waxy commanders or more delicate looking suede and even to the funkier kudos kangaroos and ostrich leathers that are anything but dressy. This one is the Edward boot. Now I've done a full review and it's well up here. The Edward currently only comes in seven different versions and I have to say, apart from the classic Colour 8 chrome excel they tend toward the more funky with dark suede, rough outs and waxy commanders like this in a waxy tobacco as well as kangaroo leather. Despite what I'm about to say in the next section they seem to take the Edward in a more experimental casual boot journey. So what are the similarities and what are the differences? I know these two boots have totally different leathers this particular example but don't let that sway you because they do make the Edward with Badalassi's natural Minerva leather very similar to this diesel and they do make the diesel in other waxy commanders from Charles F. Stead very similar to this Edward boot. Let's delve a bit deeper than just the uppers leather. The similarities are that they are both built using the Goodyear welt construction method. Check out my video on Goodyear welting up there. In both the uppers and insole are sewn to a thin strip of leather going around the perimeter that's called the welt. The bottoms are then put on by stitching the outside edge of the welt through the midsole and the outsole so that you can see the stitch there. So both are equally water resistant and both are equally recraftable when the outsoles wear out. Both use the typical grand stone materials of U.S. veg tent leather for the insole and the midsole and a natural cork filling for comfort inside. Both use a triple ribbed steel shank inserted in the cork layer between the heel and the ball of the foot to provide arch support for the gap as well as torsional stability. In both these cases they use Grandstone's proprietary studded outsole but both models include different outsole options as well designed to go with different uppers' leathers. The Budalasi-Carlo-Sattletown version of the diesel for example comes with a leather outsole as you can see in this review up there. Both the diesel and the Edward are lasted using Grandstone's Leo last. Now a last is like a foot shaped mold like this one that is carved into the shape that the designer wants the boot to look like. The uppers are then pulled over the last to create that shape and the bottoms put on before the last is then removed. The Leo last is a very comfortable last on my reasonably average feet hugging the heel to give me stability yet rounding to a wider and rounded quite low profile almond shaped toe box. And that provides comfort in the forefoot as well as giving you the sleek looks. They are both 6 inch American plain toe service boot patterns with block heels although both look very similar to English country boots particularly in that wide forefoot last. They come in sizes from 6 to 13 and in D, E and triple E widths which is actually a big range for a small to mid size boot manufacturer. This means they have to invest in multiple copies of about 50-51 physical last so that the factory can make multiple copies of a boot in a different size and width at the same time. With each last costing up to $100 not including amortized development costs that's a fairly healthy investment to make. Finally, they both sell for US $340 to $380 depending on the leather. So now what's the difference? Firstly, the Edward has larger quarters and the quarters are not cut into by that heel counter backstay. This gives the Edward a cleaner look in the design without the extra patches of leather and the extra stitching. In fact, the Edward has only a one piece backstay which is the center strip that covers the seam of the quarters at the back. The diesel has a two piece backstay the large heel counter cover and a larger curved center strip up the back than it exists on the Edward. Again, the difference enhances the simple supposedly sleepiness of the Edward. Another point of difference is the hardware. Forgetting what they're made of because that can vary within different models the eyelets on the Edward are smaller and there is one more. There are five eyelets to the diesel's four before each have those three speed hooks. In describing the Edward, Grant Stone says that the differences create a dressier feel and I agree. Small eyelets, bigger quarters, simple sleek stitching, all say dressy. But then, why do they primarily make the Edward in very casual, some would say rugged leathers like this tobacco waxy commander from Charles Havestead Tanry in Leeds. This is clearly a casual, yes, a rugged upper, especially when the wax wears and flex off and you see the roughened up tobacco red nap underneath. I think they're playing with us. Alternatively, the boot would, the boot wall these days, I guess doesn't really segregate between a formal design and a casual design. Former looking boots can be made of funky new tenages. Casual boots can be made up of glossy, shiny leathers and let you try to patina the hell out of them rather than wear them with your suit, which you probably put into moth balls a couple of years ago anyway. So, if you had to choose between one or the other, which should you choose for your use case scenario? I think forget the dressier versus not as dressier argument. You can always choose a leather that suits. I guess the key question is what you are looking for. You can automatically take off quality, comfort, value and durability for both of them. I think to make your choice you'd have to look at which aesthetic you like. Do you like the cleaner lines of the Edward or in fact do you find, like me a little, that that's not as attractive? I mean to my eye, there seems to be a lot of acreage in the back of the boot and it makes it a little unbalanced. Your choice may also rely on the type of leathers you like. Yes, there are crossovers, but to my mind, the Edwards have more selection of the rugged uppers in a couple of waxy commanders and a rough out and a dark loading suede. On the other hand, you're likely to see an uppers leather you like in a diesel. I mean there are 21 to choose from, so there's a lot more variety. Ultimately though, this is where I wimp out on you. Ultimately, despite the subtle differences, I really don't see much difference in choice. Choose either the diesel or the Edward model that most appeals to you in the whole. In the entirety, the uppers, the pattern, the hardware, the outsole combination, how do they come together? Do you like it? The devil take how it was designed. Or better yet, get both. Get multiple pairs of both. It's a difficult choice for sure, not because of the differences between the diesel and the Edward and which would suit you better. It's actually a difficult choice because they are so similar. My personal opinion, I'm not entirely sure why Grant Stone even has the Edward model. If on the other hand, they went all out and made it only in very dressy leathers, like say calf and cordovan, if they make it distinctive with a subtle broguing along the edges of the quarters, if they made a slightly higher healed version to accentuate dressiness perhaps, I don't know, if they made it different, then the choices would be more stark. Hey, I hope you liked the comparison video. Let me know if you'd like more comparisons by leaving a comment below. And of course, please click on the like button. If you're not already subscribed, don't miss out. Click on the subscribe button and let YouTube tell you when I upload more videos about boots and more boots. Until next time, take care and I'll see you soon.