Cool doctors are the best doctors. A doctor who loves quality shoes and boots? Pretty good start. A doctor who uses his downtime to take x-ray images of his Red Wing boots? Now we’re talking.
Elmer, a Filipino anesthesiologist/boot and leather nut, recently posted a photos of Red Wing boots he x-rayed—a couple years after posting two others—and they are about as fun as any boring non-x-ray boot photos you’ll see.
The most recent is of his Red Wing 2268 rebuilt with a Dr. Soles Supergrip sole. The previous two were of his stock Red Wing 2966 engineers, and 2996 lineman boots.
“I am a physician and there was a discussion in some forum I read about how a boot should fit. I kept seeing pictures of cut away boots to show how they are constructed,” Elmer told me. “It gave me that idea to get an x-ray of my foot inside the boot so that I might be able to share something to the community of boot and leather enthusiasts.”
The first two x-rays, with his foot in the boots, are essentially from the best CSI episode ever. All give an incredible look at the nailed heel construction—and just how many nails are in there.
Of course, I wanted more, as all other reasonable people shouldl Luckily Elmer is considering x-raying his Wesco boots so people can have a Goodyear welt vs. stitchdown construction comparison, and also is waiting for delivery of a vintage 1940s hunting boot that should provide a pretty incredible glimpse into the past, and how boots were/weren’t built differently back then.
So what did Elmer learn from all this x-raying? And just wearing great boots in general
“Choose a good fitting boot and your feet will be taken care of by the boots,” he told me. “A good boot upper or leather should go with a solidly built sole. Cuban heels are good for walking especially if the heels or lift is more than an inch—there is less drag when walking, and a curved heel has a lesser surface area than a blocked heel. Also, half soles are cool looking if paired with a polished stacked leather heel.
Oh and one more truism, which doesn’t have much to do with x-rays at all: “I have also learned also that heel slips are always present in engineer boots. You get used to it. Plus you can always adjust the straps.”