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Shortly after moving to the country, I saw one of these in a neighbor's basement, and thought it was a workholding device for woodworking.
Enter a caption (optional)"No, it's a boot jack," he said, doing an excellent job of hiding his surprise that I didn't know what it was. (City boy, here.)
Out in these rural parts, boots are more common than Nikes, so it makes sense that everyone has a boot jack. What doesn't make sense to me is their design. You use them like this:
Getting the first boot off, no problem. The part that doesn't make sense to me is that you then step on the jack with your freshly-exposed sock. More often than not, when I take my boots off, they're muddy. I assume you'd get fresh mud on the jack when taking the first boot off, then transfer that mud to the bottom of your sock when bracing the jack to remove the other boot. I looked around and every boot jack I saw, despite minor differences in detail, appears to have this same flaw:
Enter a caption (optional)
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Enter a caption (optional)I actually think this would make an interesting assignment for an ID student: How would you design a similarly minimal object that gets the boots off, but keeps your socks clean in the process?
Rain Noe
Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.
16 Comments
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The "solution" to this design "problem" is a doormat. Do you routinely come inside with mud on your shoes?
Step 1: Wipe off your feet outside (or wash them off with a water hose if super muddy).Step 2: Go insideStep 3: Use boot jack!Report as spam-
Wiping your boots off before you use the boot jack is the obvious solution. Those who don't immediately think of it were probably raised in a barn. /snark
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I think this is resolved:
Doormat - Wet RemovalBoot Brush - Dry and Mud RemovalBoot Jack - Boot Removal!Report as spam -
Put a second one next to the first? If homemade, easy, cheap, compact.
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I would suggest putting the fulcrum/leg on the top as well as the bottom. That way you could remove one boot, flip the jack over and remove the other boot.
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Neat and compact, although you do have to bend down to turn it.
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i suggest extending the stepping surface with its fulcrum to fit two feet, one for the dirty boot and the other for a bare sock separated by a barrier for no cross-overs.
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Extending the stepping surface for two feet spaces, for the contaminated boot as well as the clean sock and then extended fulcrum makes sense to me....
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Not thinking of a doormat is the problem. Cause when there’s mud on your shoes and you don’t wipe it off before taking off the boots, you’d probably step into mud no matter what.
Perfect example of a designer making incorrect assumptions!Report as spam-
I have yet to see a glimpse of evidence that Rain is actually a designer
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The heel-to-toe stance makes balance much more difficult. I sometimes remove my shoes by standing the toe of one on the heel of the other, and I almost always need to lean on something for balance. I would mount the jack to a base 3x as wide, and stand feet side-by-side to use. Solves the sock soiling problem too.
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In my limited observations the people who use boot jacks aren't using them with their muddy boots. Like the example in the video, crocodile belly boots aren't typically the kind of boots you get dirty like that.
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Take boot 1 off halfway, then remove boot 2. Kick boot 1 off.
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Just make the stand on part wider, but try to remember to take the same boot off first ... :)
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I don’t know about minimal, but I’ve seen them with an arch over them and a swinging paddle that acts as a brace for the toe of the boot while you use your hands on an upper t-bar as purchase. Ends up being quite a large piece of hall furniture though!
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Where are you, again? I've lived in semi-rural Ohio most of my life and have never come across one of these. Also, the only people I've met with boots like that are "cowboys" who like to line dance and drive lifted trucks.
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