u/jyl8

Hello, OSB wearers. I’m trying to learn about this company and it’s boots. There isn’t that much written about them so I wonder if you’d be willing to share what you know?

Basically I’m hoping we can assemble a sort of“primer” on OSB. I’m thinking about getting a pair.

Thanks!

Compare the different models, how they differ?

It kind of looks like the Trench and Field are versions of a service boot but I can’t really see any difference beyond the heel/backstay? The Lakeshore seems like their dressy boot? Mill is the budget boot?

By who are the boots built, and where are they built?

My impression is the Trench and Field are actually made by OSB in Illinois? Mill by someone else in the US, and I read the moc toes (Camp) are sewn in the D.R.?

How do the different lasts fit?

My impression is the Elston is their widest, Lakeshore the narrowest, and Springfield in between? How do these lasts compare to other boots, e.g. Red Wing or Truman or etc?

How is the construction and quality?

Customer service, good or not?

Generally, what do you think about the company?

I noticed Whites has the “Stevens” dressy boot on the 5050 last, they look kind of like the MP but the backstay (?) is extra slim.

Anyone have these? Pics?

I’d love a pair in Navy CXL but I dunno if Whites goes for that degree of customization. They seem more conservative in their leathers than, say, Nicks.

I'm trying to teach myself plastering, in the US (Portland, Ore). The only veneer/finish plaster I can get locally is USG Imperial Veneer (about 60% gypsum plaster, 40% sand) and the only base coat plasters I can get locally are USG Imperial Base Coat and USG Structolite, both gypsum based.

I would like to try lime plaster, for longer workability than the 25 minute setting USG Imperial. Since none is sold locally (at affordable, non-artisanal prices) I want to make my own lime plaster.

I read that I can make lime putty by mixing type S hydrated lime and water to a creamy yoghurt consistency, then covering with water and letting sit for at least a couple days and preferably longer.

Then before plastering, mix the putty with sharp sand, like 16-30 mesh for base coat and 30-60 mesh for finish coat, around 1:2 or 1:3 lime putty to sand.

I can get Type S and sharp sand pretty readily.

True? Any tips and tricks?

I am mostly going to use this on plasterboard (blueboard), standard drywall coated with PlasterWeld or WeldCrete, or DenShield fiberglass backer board. Hoping for a one coat veneer finish, at most two coat. Sometimes on a Structolite base coat.

Thanks!

P.S. I have tried mixing both agricultural lime and Type S hydrated lime with the Imperial Veneer gypsum plaster. This works ok, trowels fine and the setting time is extended somewhat. The mix with ag lime seemed to have a longer set time than the mix with Type S. Now I want to try no gysum at all.

Just curious.

How often do you order White’s Boots (or other MTO PNW boot) and found they don’t fit i.e. are the wrong size? Has this ever happened to you?

If so, what went wrong, do you think? Did you not measure, not send in a fit sheet, not go to Spokane for fitting? Have you ever “done everything right” and still gotten a boot that didn’t fit?

What did you do then - return the boot for refund, for replacement, sell it yourself, etc?

Wondering how foolproof the sizing process is, basically. How much of a risk is one taking, buying an expemsive boot without being able to try it on first.

TL:DR thinking about getting my first Red Wing boot. Which one . . . ?

My boot “fleet” are hunting (Hood Winter Light), work (Super Rain Forest, Quarry), logger/fire (Smokejumper, Flashpoint). Heavy, tall, waterproof boots for mountains, nasty conditions, construction, etc. Too much for “normal” daily wear.

For the past year, I’ve been renovating an old building, from foundation and studs, working afternoons, evenings, and weekends, so I’ve been wearing these big boots Every. Dang. Day.

I’m - knocks wood - near the project end. Still plenty to do but I spy a light at the end. In a few months I’ll be able to shut down my computer, descend from my new upstairs office to the new bookstore-cafe, walk a few blocks to the pub, a few more blocks to home, without ever picking up a hammer or trowel. Ah, a civilized life again.

I want to get some footwear for my return to office-cafe-pub life.

They have to be boots, because we’re able to start the Oregon winter. Six straight months of cold gray rain, wet slick and soggy, if we’re lucky some ice or snow. It’ll be like this until May. The Pacific Northwest is beautiful, there’s a reason not that many people live here . . .

They also have to be quality, rebuildable, lifetime boots. I’m still wearing Danners I bought forty years ago. Heck I’m still wearing shirts I bought forty years ago.

Made in America (or Canada, Europe, Japan . . . and screw the tariffs).

This brought me to Red Wing.

Looking for: wet conditions, slippery surfaces, durable, unfussy, look good and work well for twenty years and more, but still some style, suitable for a man of some years and taste. Slim foot, med-high arch. Resist beer and coffee spills. Okay to occasionally pick up a hammer.

What’s a good starter boot for me?

Appreciate your thoughts!

I understood the old naming system. You want to carry the most stuff: “Framer”. The least stuff: “Trimmer”. In between: “Carpenter”.

Hello r/Tile!

I am doing a commercial kitchen and a commercial bathroom in an old house (converting a 1907 FourSquare to bookstore-coffee shop).

The kitchen walls are 1/4” Denshield over 1/2” plywood; the bathroom walls are 1/4” Denshield. Subfloors are wood. Both rooms have floor drains and the floors will be sloped to the drains at 1/4” per 12”.

Floors and walls will be, you guessed it, tile. Larger hex tile (nonslip) on the floor, subway and square tiles on the walls (plus some stainless steel areas).

I want the floors, and the walls up to 12” above the floor, to be waterproof, so people can hose them down to clean. I am planning to use a waterproofing/decoupling membrane on the floors and a waterproofing membrane on at least the first 12” of wall.

I have a few specific questions, and would appreciate any other tips/advice you’d like to share.

Q: Should I use “Ditra”brand membrane on the floor and “Kerdi” peel/stick membrane on the walls? Or is there a better product you use?

Q: Any special tricks you use for laying out and tiling sloped floors with floor drains? I assume I will have to accept some variance in tile spacing as the pattern converges to each drain.

Q: Tiling directly on Denshield is okay, right? Do you apply any special bonding agent for thinset adhesion, or simply tape seams and go?

Q: What epoxy grout do you recommend? I see they have epoxy grout systems that you apply from tubes directly into the tile gaps, is that easier?

Thanks! I’ve tiled kitchens, showers before, but was so much younger then . . . I suspect I have forgotten everything. Membranes didn’t even exist back then, we tiled showers directly over greenboard and floated cement pans.

I have the XAD06 angle drill with 7/16” hex spindle. I think this tool would be more useful if it had a 1/2” drill chuck instead, i.e. was the XAD05.

I think I can convert it by buying the XAD05 spindle, Woodruff key, chuck, and chuck screw. Might cost $100 in parts. EDIT: about $130.

Or I can buy a “White” brand 1/2”drill chuck on a 7/16” hex bit for about $100, and simply stick that into the XAD06.

Or I can sell the XAD06 and look for a used XAD05. Unsure how much that would cost, net. EDIT: about $250-$300, less whatever I get for my quite-used-looking XAD06.

What would you do?

Question for the White's experts -

How are the Filsons x white's collaboration boots? Are they built to White's highest standards, or are they cheapened in some way?

In general, how are the other "collab" boots by White's? Can you expect them to live up to White's normal quality and construction?

Thanks.

I have various outdoorsy, work, and/or other rugged type boots.

Workboots mostly, some Danner hunting boots, also an Austrian military boot and now a couple PNW logger type boots.

I think it’s time to get a boot for wearing around the city - for the “urban wilderness”, as it were.

My budget is limited: this boot will do only “light duty”, I feel it doesn’t merit spending several hundred dollars just to walk to the coffeeshop. Let’s say a few hundred dollars.

Practical requirements: good for the rainy PNW climate, decent traction (no leather soles), nice looking enough to wear to a casual dinner party, capable enough if I happen to walk on grass or dirt, suitable for a slim foot, with good arch support or able to accept a Superfeet innersole, and rebuildable / resolable.

I have several pairs of TrueWerk T1, T1 Pro, and T2 that I like a lot.

I lost about 30 lb and they no longer fit me. I would have to get them “taken in”, waist reduced from 36” or 34” to 32” or 33”.

Is this something that a tailor or seamstress can do with good results?

Is it worth doing or would you instead sell the pants and buy new pairs? They are in good used condition. I might be able to get $50-60 a pair, they sell for $90–120.

I’m asking because while I’ve had suit pants and suit jackets tailored (ages ago), those seem to be of simpler construction than these TrueWerk.

The pants are these, if the pictures help? https://truewerk.com/products/t1-pro-mens-work-pants-knee-pads

I noticed that even Bosch has a cordless jobsite table saw now

https://a.co/d/0bCoXzZI

and wonder why Makita doesn’t have one.

Makita had plenty of jobsite table saws in the past, sometimes bundled with the excellent Rousseau table, and they are still pretty popular today. With XGT, they are well positioned to kick ass with a cordless table saw.

(I don’t think the unobtanium-in-the-US combo miter / table looks good enough. Maybe for rough framing, like to rip a 2x, but not for trim and finish carpentry.)

Would you buy an XGT table saw?

I bought some of this stuff.

https://www.carbonates.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/MICRONA-Agricultural-Lime.pdf

I am thinking of mixing it with USG Imperial Veneer Plaster, with the idea that adding lime to gypsum might extend working time. Sort of a home brew USG Diamond.

Has anyone done this? Any idea if it’s worth trying or “don’t bother, kid”? What proportions would you try?

I know of a few kinds of mud. There is ready to use joint compound, comes in larger tubs or 25 lb bags in boxes. There is ready to use “patch compound” in smaller tubs, sometimes it is pink. There is dry compound in bags, everything from 5 min to 45 min. Maybe there’s more, I dunno.

Anyway, what kind of mud do you use for each stage of mudding? To fill gaps before tape? To tape? To feather out and hide the tape?

I have been tending to mix and use 20 minute compound, because it dries faster than the ready to use stuff. But I also find myself rushing with that stuff, and maybe end up being more sloppy and needing more sanding.