A Little Laissez-Faire - Iron Rangers at 4 Months

Back in September, I wrote an initial review on some Iron Rangers in charcoal Rough & Tough leather I picked up from Sierra Trading Post. I figured it might be a nice time to take a quick look at their progression now that they've gotten a fair amount of use. I've been wearing them two to three times a week in all kinds of weather throughout the streets of Philly - a touch of rain, a dusting of snow, a smattering of alley and subway urine mixed in there. You know, urban landscape stuff.

In terms of care, they've been wiped down a couple times, conditioned once, and polished them with a little bit of black shoe cream once, which was applied sparingly and purposefully concentrated in spots which see the most wear. I should point out that I could have not touched them at all to this point and they'd be just fine. Honestly, the polish was done more for cosmetic reasons than anything. 

To that point, if I had to level a criticism of charcoal Rough & Tough leather, I'd say that the color can come across initially as a little flat. By using a slightly darker shade of polish applied judiciously, it adds another level of depth and is much more interesting to look at, as long as it's done subtly.

I used to try and polish out marks and blemishes on my boots, but lately, I've been trying to let them go with minimal care and live their lives with as little babying as possible - a sort of laissez-faire mindset, if you will. Since then, I've noticed I've actually been more happy with how they look. There aren't a lot of battle scars on these boots just yet, but as more occur I think they'll look all the better for it. Like Danny Trejo. In boot form.