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USMC Service Shoe by WWII Impressions

McQ7

New Member
Just acquired! Pics to follow...
Special thanks to member airfrogusmc for his inspiring pics of these boots and for the input!

Note: this is my first post here and I discovered it through the pics by airfrogusmc. What a cool forum! I noticed some love for Bronson brand flight jackets as a budget option and I've been happily wearing my A1 for over a year now. Ok, on to the subject at hand.

I'd been considering getting these boots for almost three years now, and recently revisited WWII Impressions website only to find my size was sold out. I wrote Juan to double check his stock and he said they were not available but that he'd keep me in mind should they ever restock. He wrote me back a few days later with the news that he found my size on the display model, and here they are...

First, as they arrived with a finish similar to Corcoran historic jump boots in brown. Kind of a painted on look:
f4cdfeeec482e3484b29ea37d24bebe6.jpg


Then, I cleaned and conditioned them with Lexol and they looked like this:
82c1f99e1a030d10c13b4df05962ac3a.jpg


Here they are after one application of Meltonian cordovan shoe cream followed by two applications of Lincoln marine cordovan wax overall and an additional two on the toe caps. Brushed and then buffed with panty hose after each application:
60082677b2837515df826bd49dcaa9c2.jpg


I also replaced the stock laces with some dark brown flat waxed by Alden. They're thinner at 4 mm but also too short at 54 inches & I plan to get some 5 mm TZ Laces in 59 inches.

There are many more pics in this Imgur album:
https://imgur.com/a/IvcMr

My plan is to update this thread with additional pics as these get worn and broken in.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Steve27752

Well-Known Member
Welcome to VLJ MCQ7, the boots are coming along nicely. I hope that you took the tights off when you were ‘Buffing’?
 

Falcon_52

Active Member
Really nice! I have had mine for a few years now and still love them. They must be using a different leather with these most recent productions. The leather on mine had/has a little more red tone and was a little more glossy out of the box. Still, these are great shoes. Enjoy!

Noel
 

McQ7

New Member
Welcome to VLJ MCQ7, the boots are coming along nicely. I hope that you took the tights off when you were ‘Buffing’?

Thanks very much, happy to be here!

No, I had her leave on the tights...
But seriously, I had read about hose being effective, decided to give it a shot, and am pleased with the results. I don't want a mirror shine, but do want the top caps shinier and more protected than the rest.


Really nice! I have had mine for a few years now and still love them. They must be using a different leather with these most recent productions. The leather on mine had/has a little more red tone and was a little more glossy out of the box. Still, these are great shoes. Enjoy!

Noel

Great to hear from another happy owner! I'd love to see a pic if you get a chance. There are some red undertones on mine, beneath the top coat. The raw edges of the leather also show it, which you might be able to pick out from the imgur album images. I have to say, even after the Lexol conditioning the uppers on these boots are very stiff. The footbed is comfortable, though.

Related:
I had come across a couple of guys who stripped their Corcoran brown jump boots of the factory finish, then conditioned, dyed, and waxed. Their goal was a more natural look, but they also wanted a broken-in appearance. I wrote the owner of a blog which featured this alteration, and he said the leather on those boots is not aniline dyed (colored through the leather) but is a corrected grain with a top coat (color rests on top of the leather). Juan had also told me these USMC ones are not aniline dyed but pigment dyed, so they're done in the same way. If you strip off the top coat you also remove most (almost all) of the color, and then you build back up from there. Anyway, I suspect that over time this top layer gets worn away, waxed over, etc. However, for those who may be interested who have been put off from the factory look of the Corcoran historic brown jump boot, check this out: http://thelandlessgentry.blogspot.de/2018/02/diy-antiquing-corcoran-brown-jump-boots.html
 

Thomas Koehle

Well-Known Member
Just checked the “how to” and impressed about the outcome ...

I habe 2 pairs of brandnew corcorans waiting back Home in Europe to be broken in but really do bit habe the balls to follow such a procedure although the “treated” final result looks su much better than the factory stock ones
 

Falcon_52

Active Member
IMG_1693.JPG

Here is a quick photo of mine (maybe 3 or 4 years old now). Not the best photo but you know...

Also thanks for posting the how-to on the paratrooper boots. Very interesting!

Noel
 
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