Dayton Boots 9496 Steel Toe

Dayton Boots made in my hometown Vancouver are nice boots to have. I never would have thought i needed a second pair until i found a pair of now-extinct model 6496 workboots in the display case of a thrift store. The boots were brand new with the original 1960s handwritten price tag still on the bottom - $65 Canadian dollars! (see action shot 1) They are a powerful object lesson in inflation as presently a new pair will set you back around $800. I was unsure whether to wear or preserve the boots but the 2023 Patina Thunderdome made up my mind! I love endurance sports and the thought of committing to a single pair of boots for all occassions sounded wonderful. That is until i make the rookie decision to start the competiton by taking these unbroken, 7 pound, ultra-ultra stiff boots on a gruelling hike. The boots carved giant, bloody, flesh craters into my heels. Fortunately, i was able to smooth out the inside of the triple stitch heel counter. My dawgs thanked me. The hardest part of the competition (for me and for the boots) was spending upwards of 12 hours a day outside in the sub zero temperatures of a canadian winter with uninsulated lether and steel shoes. I work on industrial construction sites (refineries, mines, ports- always outdoors) and commute either by motorcycle or bicycle. I really wanted the boots to go overywhere i went and i reminded myself that this was the THUNDERdome, after all - not the fluffypillowdome. i would keep the boots on, come what may. The snow, ice, and SALT was not kind to the leather but they endured nonetheless. I treated them mostly with Dayton’s OK Oil and a bit of Saphir Rénovateur at the end. My last hurrah in the boots was climbing the highest mountain in Spain. The altitude was barf inducing and my head pounded as i struggled to put one 3.5lb boot in front of the other. I ascended that volcano dome and am so proud of my great and worthy competitors who wore their boots to the max in the glorious work edition thunderdome. BB