PNW boots,Pacific Northwest boot hype?

[PolishDawg]

I have several pairs and now have concluded, they are absolutely horrendous and not anatomically correct for the human foot and cause knee and back pain.

The youtube community really sold me on them as being a superior amazing piece of footwear. But I am much happier in the cheaper Jim Green Barefoot boots/shoes that came recommended by the same guy.

I need flexibility in my foot to be comfortable I also have high arches...and ironically a boot with support hurts my knees and back but completely flat and flexible footwear allows my arches to expand and contract with my steps which provides makes my hips/knees/back very happy.

That said I think it's also fair to say that these boots for many are an indisputable and necessary tool of the trade.

I wish we could get a nice 5.5-6 ounce leather boot made in the barefoot style and it seems Jim Green is the only one coming close to making a shoe/boot of greater quality.

Its laughable that these thin flexible style shoes and boots are now being marketed as "barefoot" selling for 100-250$ a pair. We used to call those Payless shoes...remember that chain...hahaha...the thinnest dinkiest, stuff you could get...but they were no more than 20 bucks a pair

 

[Dogrescuer]

Hi @PolishDawg have you tried LL Bean?

 

[nemo]

Working all day in the forest with wet and steep slopes, chainsaws, and big timber? If so you'll appreciate the stiffness and the logger arch. They're not for everyone. Not sure about the internet hype but I can't imagine most of those influencer types are walking around on tree trunks limbing.

I have high arches and plantar fasciitis but don't need my custom orthotics in the logger style and can work all day in the forest. In a crepe sole like a Red Wing 875 I can and do use them. But yeah, bucking and rolling logs does cause back pain!

That flexy stuff gives no support for my arches and my podiatrist recommends against flat and non-supportive footwear.
Or barefoot.

 

[dojpros]

Could you tell us your Brannock size, your size in Jum Greens relative to other brands you wear etc.?

Thanks in advance

 

[litework]

I only buy PNW boots with a moderate arch and they’re pretty comfortable to me. I haven’t been brave enough to try anything more aggressive even though those styles seem to be pretty popular.

 

[Maxwedge]

I've been wearing PNW boots since the mid '90s and I would tell this to anyone -
Don't buy these as fashion boots.

They take me about 1000 hours of wear until they feel broken-in. For me that's about 3 months working 6/12s. If you buy them for weekend hikes or motorcycle rides you'll never break them in and they'll always be heavy, stiff, uncomfortable boots.

You can only appreciate the extra-heavy construction if you tough it out through the break-in and then around 1000 hrs they just turn to butter around your ankle. I have had several pair of Wesco Jobmasters resoled (around the 2.5 -3 year mark) and at that point they fit like a leather sock.

It really depends on what you need a boot for. I am not a Logger or Wildland Fire Fighter, but if I was these would be the Only types of boots that could survive. I work in electrical utility (Industrial Electrician teamed up with Lineman) and while I don't "need" such a heavy boot, the fact that I can and have gotten 6 years out of a good pair of boots sold me a long time ago. I have also worn plenty of RedWings, Georgia and Carolina boots and they last me about 1 year.

Don't buy PNW boots as a cool "occasional use" boot. You'll never get to the good part.

I've been wearing these Nick's 6-7 days a week since X-mas and they aren't broken in yet...

In Wesco I order them "1 lift lower" on the heel, and in Nick's I get the "HNW" last (lower heel). I have had many boots with the tall Logger heel but don't need it so prefer a "medium" heel.

Again, these aren't fashion boots, despite what all the youtube dorks try to sell you. You need to put some serious miles on these to actually break them in and fully appreciate them.

 

[Tanuki]

I never heard them called "PNW" boots until just now. Mine are circa 1973, custom built in about a week by a guy with a shop up the McKenzie River, someplace between Walterville and Leaburg. He wasn't backlogged with a bunch of orders from internet fashionistas.

Setting choker, limbing, bucking, it didn't take 1000 hours to break them in. Not made for hiking, a scooter ride or just farting around. They are still working for me, but for light forest labor I use a pair of Viking rubber calks or a set of over-the-ankle mountaineering boots that I had calked by Hoffman.

Nowadays my woods work is up above Scappoose, so I would probably shell out to Wesco if I had enough logging in my future to wear this pair out.

 

[litework]

Now those are a pair of Pacific Northwest Boots! My Nick's 6-inch, Vibram mini-lug boots are probably not true PNW boots. They're just made by a PNW boot maker. They are required PPE [leather, over the ankle, well-defined heel] in my industry and do very well in that role. They are more service type boots and I wear them in the office more than in the field. The boots I see on YouTube tend to look more like the ones I have though so I'm not sure which type the OP is struggling with. I almost exclusively wear boots and these are some of the most comfortable I've owned.

 

[Tanuki]

I can't imagine most of those influencer types are walking around on tree trunks limbing

That cut resulted from some limbing with a double-bitted axe rather than a chainsaw. Probably the only time I decided that I was keep my tool too sharp for the task at hand. And that limbing a slanting trunk section four or five feet up in the air was not in my job description.

 

[Maxwedge]

Break-in update on my Nicks. They're just starting to feel broken-in around the ankles. Again, I wear them 12+ hours a day in heavy utility construction.