 As you might know, if you subscribe to my channel, I have a large collection of boots, so rotation is an interesting concept. I do have my favourites, my Whites, Parkhursts and Truman's. Those are the ones I reach for more often than not. I include my Grant Stone boots in that batch, and this one, their Mocteau Do Anything Boot, is my favourite boot of this style. Want to see why? G'day, my name is Tech, and welcome to my channel called Bootlossophy. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands I live and work on, the Wajik people. If you subscribe to my channel, you know I'm increasingly having difficulty in rotating my boots fairly so that they all get equal wear. If you didn't know that, you're not subscribed, so you better just click on that subscribe button down there right now. Yeah, it's true. There are some boots I maybe have worn twice in the last two years, others a little more frequently and maybe once or twice every few months. This pair is amongst my favourites, and I probably put them on at least once a month. This is the Grant Stone Brass Boot, which I bought in October 2021, and you can see what they looked like out of the box up here. I'll also leave an affiliate link to their website in the description below. Since getting them, I mainly wear them when I go on our weekend hikes in the National Forests around Perth, and I have taken them away on a holiday by the coast when I wore them through the limestone cliffs and sandy beaches on long walks out there. While the heels and outsole don't look very damaged, I think that's more due to the fact that I don't wear these on concrete pavements and other hard surfaces, but mainly on sandy and soft muddy dirt tracks. The uppers though have seen the wax layer wear off, and I have recently re-waxed them with some auto-fabric wax bar. They have been through the ringer, and to be honest they don't look too bad for it. I initially reviewed them after six or seven months, where in May 2022, up there, and I thought it might be time to bring them back to you. So this is just a short update. This is Grant Stone's mock-toe style boot called the Brass Boot. A mock-toe is so-called because it copies the style of a moccasin shoe worn by First Nations Americans in their long history on that continent. The stitch along the apron of the vamp and toe box is called the moccasin stitch, and in a real moccasin construction, which stitch together two pieces. The sidewalls which wrap right around and the top of the vamp. In this case, there's only one piece of leather forming the front of the boot and the stitch, which is hand stitch, just gathers and puckers that leather to create that mock-toe effect. So you could say this is a mock mock-toe. This brass boot is in the makeup called Earth, which is a waxy commander or waxed suede leather from English tannery Charles F. Stead. Stead is famous for the high quality splits of suede and, more recently, some really exotic leathers like Southern African kudu and Scandinavian moose. In this case, while other tanneries also make versions of wax suede, Stead are famous for their version called Waxy Commander, that's their name, which is treated and waxed in the tannage as well as in the finishing, so that it's pretty waterproof. Out of the box, the wax covering is quite thick, not as thick and shiny as wax flesh, but getting up there. However, as it is a supple suede, the leather flexes very quickly with wear and the wax wears and scuffs off quickly, revealing the base suede in the creases and folds. In other examples, like in Caswell's Lisbon boot in Snuff Waxy Commander, the underlying base is a reddish colour and when the dark wax wears off, the reddish neck is revealed in a really incredible patina. From time to time though, you may wear your Waxy Commander so hard that some of the waterproofness wears off, but you can always rewax them, as I did to my Grandstone Edward Boots in Tobacco Waxy Commander, which you can see the process up here. Most of you, I'm guessing, would know Grandstone, and in my review, which I linked to earlier, I went into their full details. But for now, some highlights. Founded by Wyatt Gilmore and Josh Lang in 2016 as a web-based, director-consumer manufacturer of quality heritage-style Goodyear-welded boots. Due to his family connections in boot manufacturing, Wyatt worked in a factory in Shaman, China, and when he started Grandstone, commissioned that factory, which he knew so well, to make their boots. Grandstone is based in Michigan, and the boots are shipped there from the factory where they then do final QC checks, warehouse, and ship to customers. Everyone will tell you that Grandstone's manufacturing quality and QC process is crazy good. I have personally bought factory seconds that, on arrival, have stumped me on what exactly the QC issue was that made them reject it. I honestly couldn't see any. I mean, we're talking about being as picky on quality as the real housewives of Beverly Hills are on each other's clothing. Now I said earlier that Wyatt Gilmore and Josh Lang wanted to make quality heritage-style footwear. The construction method most synonymous with those two objectives is the Goodyear-weld form of construction. Check out my in-depth video on Goodyear-welting here, but basically, it involves real stitched soles and not glued or heat-sealed rubber bottoms. A welt is a thin strip of rubber that goes around the boot. The inside edge is stitched to the insoles and uppers, and the outside edge is stitched through to the outsole. In this way, the two stitches go through different layers of the boot, meaning there are no stitch holes going right through from inside to outside, so water-resistant. Also being built that way, when the outsole wears out, your cobbler can undo the stitches that stitch it to the outsole, peel it off, and then glue and stitch a new one on, all without disturbing either the uppers or sometimes even the welt itself. Grandstone builds on this quality method by continuing to use veg-tanned insoles and mid-soles and cork fillers, leather heel counters and leather toe puffs, all natural, breathable, moldable materials that help the boot shape to your feet with time and wear, meaning comfort levels get better and better with wear. Which brings me to how they feel now, nearly three years after I got them. Firstly, I bought these in a size 8D, following the usual mantra of getting a half-size down from my true measured Brannock size. I take the same size 8D in Grandstone's Leo lasted diesel boots. And in this Floyd last, the fit's fine. Some people say the Floyd last, the last is that foot-shaped mold on which this shape boot is actually built. Some say that the Floyd is roomy enough to go down another half. I disagree, I like in a high-walled mock-toe boots, but there is always some room in the toe box because of the high sidewalls. Honestly though, I just do not slip around in these, so they're the right size. The length is fine, and the extra room just means my toes are not crunched up. So my advice is, size only a half down if you're in the D-width. If you have wider feet, I can't advise you on that, but you can contact Grandstone whose customer service and response to emails is really good. Like I said at the beginning, I have worn these at least once a month. To be honest, on some months I wear these at least once a week depending on what I'm doing and where I'm going. At any rate, it means that the pair is amongst my most worn pairs of boots, at least outdoors. How do they feel now? Well the uppers show their suede suppleness, they are very soft on your feet, and the last is shaped in the way that really supports your heels and ankles and gently wraps the waist of your foot and the instep. The width of the ball of the feet have stretched enough that now they give support yet just don't feel restrictive. The rounded toes, not exactly wide, is still wide enough not to squeeze your toes. The hard rubber compound of the proprietary Grandstone lug soles is firm. Even now I can feel hard on hard surfaces like pavements. But on softer grass and sand, it's grippy and sure-footed. The firm leather midsole and thick welt combined with the hard rubber outsole was initially hard to break in. By that I mean it hardly flexed as I walked but in short time it learned to bend with my foot flexes and is now feeling quite supportive underfoot. The arch support, it's not the best despite the steel triple ribbed shack. It's not bad but there is no build up beneath the arch to support your arch and if you have flat feet you may find you need some orthotic insoles. I guess I've been spoilt recently by recent acquisitions of Pacific Northwest boots with your incredible build up arches. The all natural materials though, the leather on cork and leather layers have conformed to the shape of my feet as my weight bore down on them in the last couple of years. Where once it felt like I was walking on hard slab they've really, I don't know, molded to the shape of the bottom of my feet and softened with wear and moisture. What I'm saying is firm, supportive but comfortable, really comfortable. As for QC, okay the surface wax wore off but hey that's not a QC issue and in fact it's a feature. It's expected to happen and reboot collectors demand it to happen. For QC, what can I say? After two years, no issues, nothing, nada. Despite being kicked against rocks and scuffed against tree roots, despite being awash with salt water on the beach, nothing has kinked, nothing has fallen off, not even any loose stitches. I think most people advise that grandstone boots, even these, are not heavy work boots but on this showing I'd be confident wearing them as light work boots, factory floors, workshops, that sort of thing. You'd be fine unless you're on a job site that needs steel toes or sturdier protection from concrete mixers and band saws. So in summary, what do I think of these? I guess I've told you by telling you that I wear this pair a lot amongst my 96 so far pairs of boots. I love them. There's truth in good boots feeling more and more comfortable the more you wear them. Okay, perhaps the arch support is only good but not great but you know many brands are the same. Get a pair of a Thor-Tex or another insole then you're sorted. Quality wise, well put together and keeps up well. As for value, when I bought these there were 298 US dollars. Today they sell for 328 US dollars. That's an increase of 30 dollars after two years time, global inflation and a pandemic wreaking havoc with supply chains and freight costs. 30 bucks increase is not bad. I can see if these are your only pair of outdoor boots that you also use casually, you might be wearing them for three to five times a week maybe. And I can see that in that context from what I've seen that last you probably three or four years before needing a re-sole. Depending on where you are and what you've done, a re-sole may cost you about a hundred to a hundred and fifty I guess. So in three or four years you'd have spent, oh I don't know, four, fifty, five hundred on a pair of boots that will last you another three or four years. So you know 80 bucks a year, that's value. Buying a cheap $200 glued construction boot might last you two years at 100 a year at least. And then there's style because value is not just price or even how long it lasts. Value is also about emotions. I feel good wearing these boots so it's worth it. These look good. I feel good wearing these boots. I feel protected. I feel that I look good. Now that's value to me. Anyway, that's what I think. Let me know what you think in the comments and just before you type something remember to click on like to help me out. And if you are new here or you've been watching my videos without subbing, look just help me out and subscribe, okay? Okay, let's wrap up. Coming up in future are videos on Weiberg's Hackett boot, a Parkhurst retrospective and an Australian branded Western roper boot that's made in Mexico. Subscribe so you don't miss them. Until then, stay well and I'll see you soon.