Good enough
(2023-09-25)
I have been wearing mine for a month. Daily polishing with Kiwi to get that nice patina. Toes seem much squarer than I remember, you could almost put them on either foot in a hurry! The eyeletts were poorly set in & chowed the laces with their sharp edges, so squeeze them with pliers before lacing! I am happy & bought a second pair. Leather boots are much better in the African bush than the modern type cloth & rubber. More protection against thorns & barbed grass seeds.
Good boots but room for improvement
(2023-07-03)
So first of all i bought these boots as a modern boot not for my reenactment impression so i will not comment on any authenticity. And some of the ishues i list here may be a result of the authentic style of boot that was copied for this one.
So these boots are solid. the anti tracking sole still offers plenty of grip. Though if they had a replica of thd military ishue bata boots id have prefered those.
The construction is good all seams are double or tripple stitched and are unlikely to give in. They fit nice and roomy in the toe area so they are realy comfortable. The leather is of good quality yet it takes some time before it absorbs any grease because of the leather dye. The tongue is of superthin leather which makes it fold up around your foot real nice and create a good seal in wet conditions.
However the leather of the cuff could in my opinion have been a bit thicker.
Now for my biggest problem with these. The buckles. Now these buckles do show up on the originals so its not unauthentic but sure where they yhe cheapest choice back in the day. Thd buckles are made of a thin stamped sheet they have no rollers nor rounded edges on thd bottem side. So they do not fasten very smoothly and are hard to pull tight without digging their sharp thin edge in the leather strap thus damaging it.
As this is meant for modern use i replaced those with the heavy brass buckles from a old pair of us ww2 replicas i had laying around and this fixed the ishue.
So these boots are solid. the anti tracking sole still offers plenty of grip. Though if they had a replica of thd military ishue bata boots id have prefered those.
The construction is good all seams are double or tripple stitched and are unlikely to give in. They fit nice and roomy in the toe area so they are realy comfortable. The leather is of good quality yet it takes some time before it absorbs any grease because of the leather dye. The tongue is of superthin leather which makes it fold up around your foot real nice and create a good seal in wet conditions.
However the leather of the cuff could in my opinion have been a bit thicker.
Now for my biggest problem with these. The buckles. Now these buckles do show up on the originals so its not unauthentic but sure where they yhe cheapest choice back in the day. Thd buckles are made of a thin stamped sheet they have no rollers nor rounded edges on thd bottem side. So they do not fasten very smoothly and are hard to pull tight without digging their sharp thin edge in the leather strap thus damaging it.
As this is meant for modern use i replaced those with the heavy brass buckles from a old pair of us ww2 replicas i had laying around and this fixed the ishue.
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Very accurate build, looks very close to era Bata lightweights
After a few washes to get the leather dye out, leather holds shoe polish great. Very good for getting the reddish shine many originals began to grow
Mahar - US