u/jyl8

I have some boots with white stitching on black leather. I'd like to "seal" the stitching so it doesn't turn dark when I apply and buff black shoe polish. Is there a product you'd use for that?

Hi to experienced White’s Boots wearers!

I have a sizing question.

If you want to wear a thicker type of aftermarket insole in your White’s boot, would you upsize the boot, and how much?

For example, my feet are 11 1/4” long with circumference 9 1/4”, measured per White’s website’s instructions. I believe that would normally put me in a 10.5 B. But I always wear Superfeet insoles and would want to wear the Workboot insole with the boot I’m considering. That is a thick, cushioned insole.

Would I want a 11 D or E, perhaps?

Thanks!

Loose, snug, tight, long, short, stiff, supple, etc?

Specifically
- How much room do you ideally want for your toes, both from tip of toe to end of boot, and wiggle room up and down and sideways?
- Do you like the instep (top) of your foot snugly held, or free to move around
- How about the heel, locked down or freer floating
- Sides of feet firmly held, or a looser fit
- Arch fully supported, or are you a believer in flatter footwear
- What about hardness or softness, do you like a cushy insole/midsole, or a firm-even-hard insole that is molded to your feet
- Ankles snugly wrapped or open and breathing?

And how does this translate in footwear sizing, as you wear different types and brands of boot and shoe and other footwear? Do you wear the same size always, or are you as much as a size different between different footwear?

Finally, what is the best way to measure one’s feet, and measure one’s boots?

Yes, basically you just get on a plane and bring back a suitcase of cool ODM tools.

But . . .

What stores should the hapless foreigner visit, that will have all the cool Japan-only power and hand tools? How about swag?

How much can you get away with bringing back in luggage, before either running afoul of security or customs? Battery limits, import duty, detestable tariffs?

Is there any point in trying to visit the Makita, Hikoki, etc plants? Are there museums or anything for the public?

And of course, given limited capacity and even more limited spousal tolerance, what is on your short list of stuff you'd bring home?

Looking for suggestions for work gloves.

This is for general hand protection when using tools, carrying materials, etc.

I’ve been using the ubiquitous red Milwaukee dipped stretchy fabric gloves, but in addition to not liking being a billboard for TTI, they cost $13 for the cheapest version and only last a couple weeks.

If the gloves need to be replaced every week or two, I’d like to pay less. If the gloves will last many months, I’m willing to pay more.

What do you all use?

I’m interested in trying out a classic PNW wildland fire fighter boot.

Why? Just curious to see how this sort of boot fits and performs, in the mountains, not for fire-fighting, just a bushwhacking civilian, and more likely in wet soggy conditions than in hot dry fire season. Interested in learning how different they are from old-school “hiking boots” (Raichles etc) like I used to wear, and traditional “hunting boots” (Danner etc) like I have now.

The problem is the price of admission at Whites etc is pretty steep. $700+ when I don’t know if I even like this kind of boot, hmm.

(I was interested in old-school military boots, bought a pair of Kaz-03 boots, great quality but sooo heavy . . . not sure I have much use for them, but it was a pretty cheap lesson. If I’d paid $700+, that would have been a painful lesson.)

So, can anyone describe just what this sort of boot is like, is good for, and how you use yours other than fighting fires? Are you a logger, ranger, hiker, farmer, hunter, etc? You don’t just wear them to the coffee shop, right?

And what do we think about buying used PNW wildland fire boots? I have no problem with used shoes, actually I buy most stuff used when I can, but I wonder if a boot that has formed to one man’s foot can be comfortable for another? It also occurs to me that if you buy a used pair of Whites then get them resoled, you’re pretty much at the price of new. . .

Another option might be to buy some used wildland fire boots that are not a PNW brand. Someone must make them. Even if they aren’t the real deal, maybe they will be a cheap way to get a sense of how this kind of boot feels.

Thoughts?

Hi! 1999 (10th Gen?) F150 4x4 here. New to me, bought used for one project, which is still going on, but like it enough that I might keep it. First pickup since my 1987 F250 4x4 big block back in the day. It’s nice to be back in a truck again.

But . . . after changing the tire by the side of the road, I think the OEM tools are not great.

The bottle jack doesn’t lift high enough, I had to stack up four scraps of 2x8. Two scraps is fine, four gets dicey. Then the whole crank-until-arm-is-falling-off thing.

I’m not sure who thought the cable hoist for the spare, with such a short cable that you have to lift the spare with one arm while wiggling the clamp through the wheel bore, was a good idea.

I would like to find a better jack to carry, that will still fit under the seat but can lift the truck high enough, and come up with some cordless impact wrench arrangement to both crank the jack handle and undo the lug nuts.

Finally, I think an inflator would be a good thing to carry, plus a couple cans of Fix-A-Flat. Knee pads. Maybe an Advil. Hey, I’m 63. Advil and I are good friends.

What do you all carry and recommend? For jack, wrench, inflator, and anything else to make roadside tire changes less of a PITA?

Hi everyone. I have two exterior walls that I want to cover with stucco in a reasonably smooth, flat finish suitable for mural painting.

One is an old painted concrete retaining wall, the other is a new wall that has been covered with metal lath and Structolite.

I am thinking I’ll paint both walls with WeldCrete, then a base coat of Quickcrete Base Coat Stucco, then Quikcrete Finish Coat Stucco.

Make sense?

(If you can’t tell, I have never done any stucco. I’ve only done a bit of plastering.)

I believe the Danner Flashpoint II boot, their wildland firefighting NFPA-rated boot, has been discontinued.

Anyone know why? Was the boot poorly regarded, not selling, etc?

Anyone have the Danner Quarry with the met guard? Does the met guard make the boot less flexible, less comfortable, heavier, etc? Basically, what’s the downside to getting the metatarsal protection?

I like the used cordless collated drywall screwdriver I bought, so am interested in getting a cordless one. Have a lot of drywall to do.

Anyone know if there’s much difference between the (older?) XRF02 and the (newer?) XRF03 or XRF04?

The ‘02 is a good deal less expensive. $300 new; I found a new-in-box XRF02 for $200. The others are more.

I wish more work boots came with toe protectors (bumpers, covers).

The toe is the part of the boot that gets beat up the worst. For practically everyone.

My son’s old Danner Quarry are worn through to the alloy toe, but the boots are otherwise fine and have been resoled 3X.

In a thread over at r/tools, I learned that in Europe Milwaukee is priced at a premium to Makita, closer to Festool prices, and Ryobi is priced similarly to Makita. Very interesting.

I'm looking at getting a press tool for refrigerant lines (1/4" and 3/8" mostly, occasionally larger).

What tool (brand, model) do you recommend, and what brand of fittings do you use?

I see press tools from Milwaukee, Dewalt, Rigid, and Klauke.

I see fittings from Zoomlock, RLS, and Mueller.

I am unclear if every brand of tool can do every brand of fitting. I am also unclear if these tools can all be used for plumbing fittings as well, with the appropriate jaws.

Help me figure this out, please? Thank you.

P.S.: If you think using press fitings instead of brazing is crazy, please let me know.

I am looking at getting a "detail belt sander" - meaning the ones with a long skinny belt that can reach out to sand a small area. Comparing the corded Makita 9032 with the cordless XSB01, probably leaning toward the cordless as I think this will get used for short sanding sessions so battery drain should, I think, not be an issue.

Any experience with this tool? I'd be mostly using it to get rust off metal tools and parts.