With a shortage of spendable cash I resolved not to 'fritter' and instead made one large purchase last year, a splendid German command tent.
And now I have gone and made the purchase for 2011. Instead of all my Christmas money being lost on household expenses like it always is I made the selfish decision to spend it on myself for once. I have a thing about footwear and a theory that an impression starts from the feet up. OK, it wasn't entirely my theory, Judy Dench (I think) agrees with me and said she started her characterisations from the footwear.
Anyhoo, having lusted after a 'proper' pair of low boots for years and drooled over photos of beautiful craftsmanship and skilled shoe making I went and bought a pair of handmade boots from Czechoslovakia. And they have just been delivered. Stitched and pegged full soles, glued and pegged half soles, thick & supple leather. Oh my golly gosh, they are beautiful.
All the various WW2 boots you can buy are all 'hand made'. Actually, all shoes and boots are 'hand made', that is to say there is a lot of hand work in making footwear. However the cost of shoes depends on the degree of hand work to mechanisation, the time spent making them and the materials they are made from.
Well, I bought my original low boots a year and a half ago for £50 which was a relative bargain and with some intensive work I was happy enough with them viewtopic.php?f=45&t=5403
But I still lusted after something that wasn't just functional and looked OK but was more the real deal.
I've had a look at the current offerings from the usual dealers and, as expected, the price rises with the quality. But none hit the spot for me, given I was about to spend a good chunk of cash. And it came down to three makers - Berger in the US, Jokey in Czechoslovakia and Koutny (svec on the forums) in Czechoslovakia. Now, the photos of the Berger boots always seemed to show a bit of sloppiness plus it would mean importing from America. Joky doesn't have a website and there are currently alarming issues of construction so I plumped for Svec. I've admired his step-by-step photos of construction methods and he seems responsive to questions and uses the UK forums.
He has a foot measuring guide so you can easily supply him with your feet measurements and he will make them to your size. This means you will be put on a waiting list but he does show order progress, sometimes with photos of your boots, on the website. In my case he happened to have a ready made pair in stock (I'm a broad size 9) so delivery was just 12 days from payment. Mine cost £248 including delivery but he does offer cheaper versions with just glued sloes but I couldn't see the point of those, I might just as well buy a cheaper pair from Richard Underwood instead.
So, here is Vlastislav Koutny's website: http://www.koutny-cz.eu/produkty/shark-nose-low-boots/
And here are some of his construction photos...
Time to set to work!
Here are the boots, I'm using 'Chelsea' dubbin as it happens to be what I have lying around but it's great stuff - light and slippery and absorbs well (rather than thick and greasy and sits on the surface). I've also got a polish dauber to push the grease into stitch holes and seams. Oh, and a hair dryer!
This whole job took one hour from beginning to end.
The first job actually was to blacken the edges of the sole and heel which I did with an indelible marker.
Applying dubbin liberally and thoroughly...
Don't forget the soles!
I'm working in a temperature of 1°C and I'm a busy man so out comes the hair dryer. Apply heat and watch the dubbin get sucked deep into the leather - the 'rough out' absorbs the most and the quickest. It is possible to melt your dubbin and paint it on which would probably work fine on a nice sunny summers day but my boot is freezing so the liquid dubbin would just solidify before being absorbed.
Repeat the above three further times and a fifth on the rough out.
Now to apply a layer of brown polish to even things up a bit and add some shine.
Now to apply a layer of black polish to add some darkening, patination and dirty up that stitching.
Before and after
I thought it best if both boots looked the same so I went and did the other one as well... 
The leather laces supplied were soaked overnight in a jar of neatsfoot oil then wrung out and wiped down - soft supple and strong now!
Since those photos I've had another go with the black polish and I'm happy with the well-cared-for-not-new-out-of-the-box-look. Further ageing will be down to use and abuse!
Latest:
I'm missing out the top pair of lace holes until I've broken 'em in as it restricts ankle bending at the moment. I'm even wearing them around the house 
- I've found out from bitter experience it doesn't pay to go onto the battlefield with brand new shoes not yet moulded to the feet!
What model hairdryer is best for orfentic WW2 boots? 
Those look TEH AWSUM
I've have the Jockey boots CW seen here below and they've been ok..especially at Devils Hill with all the rain.
___________________________
__________________________
I think some blacking might be an idea? Brown boots were very much a late war thing and even then black were the more common.
Yes, they issued an order that they were not to be blacked but they were.
Black boots look better with field grey too dont you think?
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
Ah, if we are talking fashion statements then I'd say brown looks better with the old saharina suit in '44 
I've got the same boots as Dave B has got. I just used black lederfett on them. Sorts out the colour and the waterproofing at the same time 
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
Hmmm, I was looking at some recreations in one of those French Militaria magazines only this morning.
One was a Luftwaffe Tropical uniform. They had used black boots and I thought they looked quite smart.
I can see the attraction of brown with the tan though.
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
Let me enjoy the 'walnut' phase for a while, they are getting darker by degrees as they get a daily titivation (I can't stop myself and I did say I'd just let them darken with use )
