Today I'm cutting apart one of
Australia's biggest boot companies' new
boot
to see what kind of Sh** kicker Australians
make.
Well we finally made it down to Salt
Lake and got the new shop set up
and filming room kind of set up. I still
want to make it look a little bit nicer
than this and get some of the
cut in half stuff on the walls. Um but
I'm just going to kind of slowly do it
because it takes forever and we're still
getting the shop set up. So
probably next Wednesday I'll do a shop
tour and kind of show you guys the new
shop and how it's all set up
and then we should be back to a regular
filming schedule
where i'm doing videos every wednesday
and Saturday or Sunday.
And would you guys like Saturday
releases better or Sunday releases?
because I'm thinking about moving all
those weekend videos to Sunday. So
let me know. Um but now let's talk about
these boots.
So the brand is Steel Blue. The style is
the Blue Healer,
and they only come in one color right
now which is oak. They
retail for just a little over $200
depending on where you buy them from.
They're made in Indonesia, and they are a
steel toe boot,
and they weigh two pounds two ounces for
these size 11's.
And sometimes I forget to add the
weights of each boot. So I try really
hard to remember them, but these are
pretty light boots.
Um so now let's talk about what these
boots are
and what a sh** kicker is if you don't know
because it's not maybe not a universal
term.
So if you're not familiar with that term,
and I'm going to call them ''kickers'' from
now on because I don't want to get in
trouble with YouTube,
and all my nieces and nephews watch my
videos and
I don't want to get in trouble with my
sisters. So
what is a sh** kicker for the last time? It
says it's a substantially made boot with
thick soles and typically with
reinforced toes.
If you look up the urban dictionary term
they describe it as
"a pair of heavy boots." Their second
definition
is kind of interesting it says "An
Australian slang for
someone who is charged with menial tasks
in a place of employment.
The term is often used in reference to
one's self when describing the
lowliness of one's own job." So that's not
what it means if you're watching this
from Australia. And for me
I- being raised in a rural area everyone
referred to their boots
that way and they were kind of their
boots that they were always
easy to slip on and and go out to do a
quick chore. They didn't have to lace
them up
and they were dependable. The main things
I look for
in a pair of kicker boots (and maybe this
this ends up being a mini series of a
few different
styles of these boots to see which one i
like best and which one's built best)
but I look for something that's durable
something that's safe
something that's easy to slip on so I
don't take 15 minutes lacing them up, and
something that's waterproof. That way I
just go out and do whatever I need to. I
don't worry about getting
my socks wet or ruining the boots. And um
so that's kind of what I look for in a
kicker boot. And I used to have a pair of
Ariat boots
but they're now discontinued and that's-
they look really similar to these boots.
You've probably seen them before on the
channel but they look similar to these,
so when I saw these boots
um I was really intrigued by them. And
actually I forgot to mention this video
is sponsored by
Steel Blue. Moving still is kicking
my butt.
So when they reached out and they were
like "Hey we should do a video" and I saw
these and was like "oh we should do these because
these are like
my my boots I really liked a lot that
were discontinued."
So that's how we ended up doing them
because they look like a really- they
look like they check all those boxes i
look for.
So let's go over some of the the
interesting things about these boots and
some of the features
before we cut them in half. So let's
start with the leather. So this is a
full grain cow skin leather that's oil
treated to be
water resistant. So I don't think this
leather is waterproof but the
boot is waterproof.
So I think there's probably a liner on
the inside that lines the whole boot
that makes
it waterproof. But this leather is really
soft and supple.
Like it won't take too long to break
these boots in because it's so soft
which is
nice if you really want to get to work
quickly. The next thing I noticed about
these boots was this little split in the
side. I thought this was a defect when I
got it.
So I asked them about it and they're
like "hey, if you would have looked at our
website
you would see that this is a gusset that
stretches so it's easier to put your
boots on." I was like "oh
sorry. I haven't looked at the website
yet." And uh
so basically what this is is a little
stretchy gusset right here so when your
foot rounds that corner it's easy to
slide these on instead of
struggling to pull them on. Like if you've
ever owned a pair of pull on boots that
are too tight.
And they also waterproof this so you don't
have to worry about water getting
through there.
And maybe the biggest thing that I
thought was interesting about this
company was their 100%
comfort guarantee. So basically you
got 60 days to wear these
and you can still get your money back if
you don't like the boots which is crazy.
I don't think there's any other company
that does that,
because 60- within 60 days like some
people can wear out a pair of boots in
60 days.
So it's just a really good sign that
this company believes in their products
and stand by-
stands behind their products and isn't
cutting any corners that are going to
make the quality go downhill. Otherwise
they'd have to pay for it.
So that's kind of the general
information of the boot but to really
see
what's going on inside of here and what
we're missing, how it's waterproof, and
how this
outsole is structured we got to cut them
in half. And
I'm not sure if my band saw will cut
through the steel toe
so we might end up doing kind of like i
did on the indestructible
shoe video where I cut the toe off. But
we'll try it first and see how it goes.
And yeah, let's cut in half.
I think I just destroyed the band saw
blade but let's see what's inside.
okay now we got it all torn apart let's
go through the different layers starting
with the outsole working our way up.
So the outsole is a TPU or
thermo polyurethane outsole.
It's a fairly long lasting and slip
resistant
outsole. And up from there we go to the
midsole which is a
polyurethane or PU foam midsole. And
all of- pretty much all the Australian
boot companies that we've torn apart
have a
very similar structure where they go TPU,
PU and fiberboard, but what makes these
boots a little bit different is this
huge
chunk of poron at the heel. And the
reason they put poron there is because
it's a really shock resistant material,
and not electrical shock but
impact shock. So they put it in the heel
so every time you hit your heel as
you're walking
it absorbs some of that shock so it
doesn't travel through your body and
wear you out as much. I don't know if
there's- I've never
compared the difference personally on
how it made me feel
having poron in the shoe versus not, but
that's the whole theory behind it. So
maybe one day I'll do like a
side-by-side comparison
or maybe if we get some more testing
equipment we can do some interesting
tests.
But that's the three- i think- what do
they call it? The three-phase-
trisole comfort technology. That's the
trisole comfort technology.
So up from there we've got the
fiberboard insole and then up from there
we've got the liner.
And I don't know what actually makes
these waterproof so I guess we'll see
when we get them torn apart.
I thought I was going to see kind of
like a gore-tex liner or something in
here but it looks like it's just
lined with like a little bit of foam and
some backing and some of the
fabric on the inside. So maybe the
leather is waterproof and maybe it's
kind of like the timberlands how they're
treated to be waterproof. But you can see
some of the waterproof seal tape that
goes around the seams. And like this
little gusset,
right here there's a piece of
waterproofing tape that runs through
there.
Then we go to the toe. So it is a steel
toe and it
burned out my band saw blade. And
wearing these was uh- I noticed
something that I don't see a lot of times in an
affordable steel toe boot
where I hate steel toe boots because it
wraps underneath of your foot and you feel it as you walk.
Whereas these were really comfortable. I
felt like it didn't wrap
under as much, and maybe it's because
it's a square toe that
they're able to get away with a
different uh contour in the steel toe.
But I was surprised at how comfortable
they were for a still toe.
And then up from there we go to the
leather and the leather
is around 2.5 to 3
millimeters thick. So pretty thick
leather. So that's kind of all the
different layers
but I want to still tear the rest of
this apart to kind of get an idea if
there's anything else we're missing in
here.
So i'm not sure exactly what this
counter material is and maybe I'm
missing some of the waterproofing on the
inside.
And uh yeah. So let's tear the rest of it
apart. Oh and I forgot to mention this
does have a shank. It's a
composite shank or like a really hard
plastic shank. And it's not quite as
bend resistant as a steel shank,
but it is going to give you more support
than not having a shank. So I guess we'll
kind of see what it looks like when we
get it all torn apart.
And I forgot one more thing. I'm out of
practice.
I haven't filmed in a couple weeks. So I
forgot to mention the insert. So this is
a foam insert and it's pretty thick. It's
like
12 inches- or 12 millimeters at the
heel
and right around six or seven at the
ball of your foot.
So now I think I got everything. Let's
rip the guts out of it.
Okay now that we've got all the guts ripped
out you can see on the inside here that
they
back all the seams, the sewing seams, with
some
waterproof tape and this gusset right
here
they back that with some waterproof tape
and even on the decorative stitch on the
toe here
they back that as well. So there's
nowhere for water to get in.
And I thought this leather was oil
treated to be water resistant but not
waterproof
and that there was going to be a liner on the
inside, but as we can see
there's no waterproof liner. So this
leather is
waterproof treated. So it's a waterproof
leather. The other things we saw in here:
So the counter is a
composite counter, just kind of a hard
plastic counter.
The shank is a composite shank. And I
wonder why they don't put a steel shank
in here. I know that these boots are
electrical
shock resistant. So I wonder if that has
something to do with it where they can't
use a still shank
to get the rating of whatever for shock
resistance.
And then the still toe, as you can see,
it doesn't tuck under as much as I've
seen on or maybe even felt on some other
steel toes.
And like I was saying it is a square toe
steel toe. So it was really comfortable.
And uh because I was like- I never really
found a steel toe boot that's
really as comfortable as a regular boot.
So I'm gonna
wear the other pair of these they sent
me for a while and see how comfortable
they are in the long run. But my initial
wear
was that these- my initial wear
impression was that these have a really
comfortable steel toe which is important.
So
what do I think of these boots now that we
got them torn apart? I think they're a
really good boot.
You know, a lot of the features that you
would look for in a kicker
style boot, this checks off all those
boxes it seems like it does it really
well. They're fairly comfortable
with the steel toe. They're really
comfortable because of their
construction. You know there's so much
foam in here and they poron and
everything.
I think you'd be happy with these boots
especially if you're looking them-
looking for a pair of boots that you can
beat up, that are reliable,
that aren't going to get your feet
soaked, that aren't going to
not protect your feet, that are going to
be easy to slip on and go do your chores
and you don't have to worry about them.
Um as for the look of them, they're not
my style of boot. I'm not a big cowboy
boot person. I
don't really own a pair of cowboy boots
for any other reason than for
a pair of kicker boots. And um
you know, a square toe is a unique style. But
for me. I don't really care what my
pair of kickers looks like. You know, I
just want them to perform well.
And some people are into the cowboy boot
style. A lot of people are into cowboy
boots. So
if you're into these and you like the
style and you're looking for a good
reliable boot, i think you'll be happy
with them. The only thing I didn't
super love was the composite shank.
But I still think you're going to be
fine. As long as you're
not really beating up this shank area I
don't think you'll have any issues with
it and
it's still going to support you. It's
just, you know, it's never going to be as
supportive as a steel shank
in my opinion. But maybe I'm wrong. Let me
know what you guys think about that
and what you thought of this video. And
thanks again to Steel Blue for
sponsoring this video.
And if you want to learn more about
Steel Blue I'll put their links to the
Facebook page and their website and
everything so you guys can check them
out. They're just starting to get into
the American market.
And yeah. I'm pretty impressed with them.
And
thanks for everything you guys do. Thanks
for supporting this channel. Thanks for
supporting this channel through the move
and being patient with me, because
moving the entire shop was a disaster.
And in the shop tour video for Wednesday
I'll include some footage on the entire
packing up and how much stuff we had to
pack up and
how crazy it was, because it was it was
wild, and I'm glad we moved into the new
shop. So
thanks for everything you guys do. See ya.
