 I don't gamble, but a friend of mine tells me if you bet on a winning trifecta, you win big. Well, every now and then when you talk classics, you have to win big with this trifecta from Red Wing. The Iron Ranger, the Blacksmith, and the classic Mokto. Stick around and I'll tell you about them. Welcome back to my channel Bootlossophy, and if you're new here, my name is Tech. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands I live and work on here in Perth in Western Australia, the Wajik people. Now these three boots are classic Red Wing models, and beyond that, they're classic Americana heritage style boots. This is the Iron Ranger in Amber Harness Leather, the Blacksmith in Copper Ruffin Tough, and the classic Mokto in the Oro Legacy. But before I go on, I want to remind you to click on the subscribe below. Now nearly 60% of my returning viewers are not subscribed. Come on, you know who you are. I'll see you. Look, if you keep coming back, you might as well click on subscribe. Do it. Okay, back to Red Wing. Red Wing Shoes is an iconic American footwear company that has a rich history dating back over a century. The company was founded in 1905 in Red Wing, Minnesota, by Charles Beckman. It was built by Beckman as a response to the demand for sturdy and reliable work boots for local industries such as mining, logging and farming. The company quickly gained a reputation for producing high quality durable boots that could withstand the harshest conditions, making them a favorite among workers and outdoor enthusiasts. In World War I and World War II, Red Wing Shoes played a crucial role in providing boots to American soldiers, earning them further recognition for their commitment to quality and performance. As the years passed, the company continued to innovate, introducing new technologies and materials to enhance the comfort and safety of their footwear. But in their heritage range, classics like the Oro Legacy Mokto with its distinctive orange leather and white rubber wedge sole has remained largely unchanged and has become a symbol of timeless style and craftsmanship. Today Red Wing Shoes is a globally recognized brand with a diverse range of products, including not only work boots, but also casual and dress shoes and of course what we're interested in on this channel, the Heritage Line. The commitment to crafting footwear that is both functional and fashionable has earned them a devoted following worldwide. Despite the company's growth and expansion, Red Wing Shoes still maintains its headquarters in Red Wing, Minnesota and continues to be a symbol of American manufacturing and heritage. The company's dedication to quality and tradition has solidified its status as an enduring American footwear brand. All their heritage boots use sturdy traditional construction methods, not least of all their reliance on oil tanned leather, tanned by their subsidiary tanning company, SB Foot Tanning, and their use of the Goodyear welt form of construction. If you want to dive into the details of how Goodyear welt construction works, you can check out my video on Goodyear welting up here. While they have a few worthy models in their heritage line, I don't think it can be denied that out of all of them and out of any of their workwear Red Setter range, these three stand out as classics amongst the classics. So I'll go through each of these in turn. This is Red Wing's plant the flag on the mountain product, the iconic iron ranger. It was first introduced in the 1930s, originally designed for the miners digging iron or in the mines of the Masabi Iron Range in Minnesota. Over the years it has evolved and designed, especially during the 2000s, when it was picked up in Japan during that first onset of the Amakaji style trend over there. This model is the 8111 in amber harness oil tanned leather. They are made and given different number designations in five different leathers, but this pull up oil tanned amber harness is the iconic iron ranger. It is iconic in other ways. I always maintain that if you ask the child to draw a boot, this is what they would draw. Low heeled, 6 inches high, cat-toed and slightly clown shoe like with its bulbous toe box. This is an older model made in 2015. It has the original nitrile cork made from rubber and infused with cork for grip. Comfortable enough as the design evolved since 2017 though it has had a Vibram mini lug sole for better grip. The iron ranger is 270 degree Goodyear welted, meaning that the welt goes 3 quarters of the way around the front of the boot and the heel portion is glued and nailed and stitched inside. This creates a sleeker line without a jutting out heel portion at the back. The sole construction uses leather midsole and insole and a cork filling in between into which is sandwiched a steel shank. The uppers, oil-tanned pull-up from SB foot has a strong pull-up as you stress the leather on the inside. It starts firm but with use and conditioning it is extremely supple while remaining supportive. The quarters and single piece backstay are attached using the famous Redwing Puritan triple stitch. The Puritan machine used to put all three stitches in at the same time is so old that Redwing maintained their own trained crew to keep the machines going. The Puritan machine pulls the thread through a reservoir of wax as it stitches so that not only are all three stitches done at the same time, they are stitched with freshly waxed thread. The toe cap is a real toe cap, meaning that the toe cap is a piece of leather attached and stitched on top of the toe portion of a full vent. This is the original safety toe. Other toe cap boots often have a false toe cap, meaning that the toe cap piece is sewn on to the end of a cut-off vamp piece. The hardware is an unmistakable shiny nickel, four eyelets and three speed hooks. The tongue is semi-gusseted up to the last eyelet. Once broken in which can be a bit of a nightmare for some people, it is extremely comfortable to wear. It is generally half a size down from your true size as measured on a branded device and Redwing offer the Iron Ranger in US sizes 6 to 14 with some half sizes thrown in and an average D width as well as a wide E width. This is the model 3343 blacksmith in copper rough and tough. The SB foot rough and tough range is another oil tan full grain leather that is more impervious to hard knocks and scrapes. It is hot stuffed with oils and waxes after chrome tanning and has a rugged and textured matte surface giving it a rough weathered look. Over time the leather develops a beautiful patina full of character. This blacksmith in copper rough and tough started life a little more copper coloured and in time and with conditioning has mellowed into this deep tan. The blacksmith has many similarities with the Iron Ranger but with a few marked differences Now first of all it is also a work boot come service boot. I've always said that in reality there's very little difference between an old time work boot and a service boot except by definition. In this case the blacksmith was designed as a work boot even earlier than the Iron Ranger in the 1920s when Redwing recognised the demand for robust and reliable boots for local laborious tasks such as metalworking and blacksmithing and so the blacksmith shoe was born. In time it became the blacksmith boot. It's also a six inch boot low block heel also 270 degree good you voted and also has a slightly bumped toe. That's no wonder really because it's built on the same number eight last at the Iron Ranger is built on and also like the Iron Ranger the shaft is unlined but the vamp is lined with canvas. This one is a 2021 makeup and so you can see the newer Vibram mini lug sole. Vibram is an Italian sole manufacturer with a history going back to the 1930s that you will see paired with many makers boots. The 430 model mini lug sole is designed to provide better grip with these flattened commando style lugs but also retain a lower profile so that it can be worn more casually without looking like you're about to parotute in and raid Moscow. Then comes the differences most obviously the blacksmith is a plain toe boot. Interesting I assume blacksmiths had less call than miners to crawl in their knees thus wearing out the the leather on the toe boxes. While there's a puritan triple stitch at the quarters the blacksmith has a single piece backstay that does not run around the heel. The heel counter is internal whereas the Iron Ranger heel counter is external between the uppers and the backstay. The stitching at the heel stitches the internal rough out heel pocket inside the boot which keeps the heel counter in place. The hardware while in the same configuration of four eyelets and three speed hooks is an antique brass. The tongue is also semi-gusseted also up to the last eyelet. At the top of the collar there's a piece of rolled leather to finish it off whereas the Iron Ranger just has to cut leather. The other obvious difference is the straight across level of the collar. On the Iron Ranger it's cut to slope forward from back to front. I'm not sure if this is a stylistic design or cut that way to make it more comfortable for miners to kneel. The blacksmith also sizes a half down from true and Redwing offers them in only three levers from sizes 7 to 13 with only a few half sizes in there and in only the average D width. I'll leave a link to the Heritage website for you to check their site availability. They wear just as comfortable as the Iron Rangers and reported to be less tough to break in potentially I think because of the more supple out of the box rough and tough leathers. And so we come to the classic 875 mocktoe. The mocktoe boot design was originally inspired by real moccasin shoes made by Native Americans and featuring a single piece of leather wrapped under the foot and then sewn onto the vamp piece showing that distinctive seam running around the apron of the toes. In the 1950s Redwing launched the 877 model then called an Irish setter very similar to this except it was an 8 inch high boot. It was originally launched to serve the needs of hunters and miners and then later this 875 model was launched as comfortable work boots with the flat wedge soles offering comfort but also the ability not to track dirt as they came indoors from outdoors thus catching on with building construction crews especially in the finishing trades. This 6-inch 875 has become a classic with Hollywood stars including them in their wardrobes and being fought over by American manual laborers who claim them and non manual workers who wear them as comfortable casual shoes. At the bottom is basically a flat traction tread outsole made of rubber and very comfortable but also prone to wear down quite quickly. It uses a 360 degree Goodyear welt construction where the welt goes all the way around the boot causing more of a platform raft effect in the heel area. The midsole is rubber so that the rubber outsole has a good attachment to it but the insole is leather. Inside the boot the shaft is unlined but the vamp is lined with leather. The uppers are also from SP foot in this case this is the Oro Legacy leather originally unpigmented its natural orange leather color is now touched up with a light layer of pigment that tones down the natural orange undertones. This means that the grain and imperfections of the animal hide can be seen just under the surface pigment and as with all of redwing leathers it starts firm but then becomes supple and flexible once broken in. As a result breaking these in can also be a nightmarish week. However once broken in the rubber wage sole the leather insole and cork filling and the eventual suppleness of the leather makes this a comfortable work and casual boot. In the uppers this is a real mock-toe stitch in that it stitches the two pieces of leather at the top of the vamp and around the foot together with the mock-toe stitch. Some mock-toes like the Theragut classic mock-toe have a fake mock-toe stitch they stitch to pucker the one piece of leather at that seam rather than attach two pieces of leather together. Once again the quarters are attached using the Puritan triple stitch. There is a double stitch single piece backstay with an internal heel counter stitched in underneath a suede or rough out heel cup on the inside. The top of the collar has a rolled leather piece to finish it off and the 875 uses all nickel eyelets with the tongue gusseted up to the second top most eyelet. Conditioning this is easy with Redwing's own boot cream or you can use big four Venetian shoe cream or a balm like smiths. Sizing is also a half down from true at least on my feet but because of the roomy high wall mock-toe some people have told me that they take a whole size down. I am skeptical because while the volume in the toe box is high that can't make a difference with the length in that it might be too small the size. For me in my sizing a half down from true while I do have volume above my toes my toes are only a thumbs width away from the front so I don't know I'd have any room in the length if I went down another half. I have worn these as casual boots and also as light work boots. I went up repairing the sheets up on my roof for example and digging and crawling around in my backyard as well as putting up a pagola. They are very comfortable as both casual and work boots. So there you are a quick look at three classic designs of the classic American Redwing brand. Redwings sell from their website so I'll leave a link below but they also have either branded stores or retail partners in most places around the world. The Iron Ranger sells for about 350 US. The Blacksmith about 330 and the 875 mock-toe for about 310. In Australia they sell for between 580 to 600 Aussie dollars maybe about five dollars less than 600. Being built sturdy and dare I say very fashionable the value is plain to see when compared with fashion brands or other less classic and more fashion forward boots. Hey if you like my quick review click on the like button below I really would appreciate that and if you haven't subscribed yet it would be great if you click on subscribe as well I really would appreciate that. It helps YouTube remind you when I put up new videos and also pushes the videos out to more people so that they can enjoy them and it supports me to run this channel and defray some costs. Go on then. I think my next video is going to be about the Vibex service boot or it might be a quick comparison of some classic American boots like the old and indie the Wolverine Thousand Mile maybe the Ellen Edmonds Higgins Mill and one of these. Until then take care and I'll see you then. Okay camera focusing me I'm over here all about me.