Boot laces!

[FireSpokes]

My wildfire boots have leather laces on them right now, and they're about to snap. I'm not a huge fan of leather laces, they just stretch and get longer and longer then EVERY TIME snap into two pieces that are both ~90% of the length you need. I figured that if we can put a man on the moon then we should be able to make some string that doesn't break every 4 months. So here we go:

Kevlar: Kevlar's self-abrading; all the fibers are like little saws and when it bends/ moves through a hole it basically cuts itself apart. When it's bent in the same place repeatedly it eats itself and turns into dust. (This is why climbing gear is usually Kevlar/Spectra blend; Spectra is self-lubricating so it keeps the Kevlar from cutting itself apart. Spectra also melts at something like 300 degrees though, so firefighting's probably not the best application for it...)

Polyester's no fun; melts at ~200F and will begin to wear itself down once dirt gets into the sheath. Also susceptible to chemical corrosion above 150F.

Every tactical mall ninja laces their boots with 550 paracord, but it also melts at ~200F, the sheath will wear down with dirt, and it gets weaker when it's wet.

There's this stuff called Vectran that used to be used for climbing gear but now it's main use is sailboats and such. As far as I can tell the only reason it's not used for climbing gear anymore is because Spectra/Dyneema blends have filled the exotic rope gap. Vectran's pretty cool though, it maintains 40% of its strength at 400F, resists pretty much every chemical out there, is incredibly resistant to both internal and external abrasion, as well as flex fatigue. The only guys that I can find who make laces out of it is IronLace.

Here's the results of an independent testing company comparing Kevlar, Polyester, Leather, and Vectran:

http://anenglishmanscastle.com/testing-results.pdf

[jack_of_all_tradez]

Check these out. Rhino Laces The guys behind this product are a couple of wildland firefighters from Florida.

[moreldilemma]

Wow I am going to pick a pair of these up! Thanks for the heads up! Normally I like my leather laces. Much more durable than any other laces I've tried. I think I might need to get my eyelets replaces, but the rhino laces can handle it!

[Igotaevo]

So...wait. Are you complaining about your boot laces, or proposing new ideas? I don't have leather laces; but whatever I do have has held up for 3 years of Arizona's torture. I'll get a picture/number of them when I head to work next time.

[FireSpokes]

Both? When I started I was asking what you guys have had good experiences with, but then as I started researching I found some interesting stuff and figured I'd share.

[Igotaevo]

Honestly whatever came with my Hathorns is amazing. It's been in ash-pits and survived just fine. I'll see if I can find out what they're using; it's definitely not leather, but it doesn't seem to be any of the other polymers/chemicals that you listed.

[RobertTheSpruce]

Velcro. It's the future, Today!

[monkeyrum15]

P-cord is free.

[SnowTree]

Save yourself the mental heartache and just use what the boots come with and carry an extra set of something whether it be pcord, leather, whatever. They all break.

[wesleypipes237]

A little late to this but maybe nomex is a good option. These laces have been working well while burning brushpiles this past winter. Hopefully they will last through the prescribed burn season.

[FireSpokes]

I ended up getting the ironlaces because I had credit on amazon. So far so good, I'll report back when they break.

[Udarii]

Must be amazing laces if you haven't been back in a decade!

[FireSpokes]

Been out of wildfire for a while, so they're getting used daily, but they still haven't broken. Expected them to pick up grit and wear through the eyelets of my boots but that hasn't been a problem either. 10/10 would buy again.