We tested the Brunt boots—6-inch, soft-toe, waterproof, oil-tanned leather pro-grade work boot—in remodeling, deck building, landscaping, weekend work and taking out the trash applications. Here’s what you need to know about one pair of the best work boots for DIYers.
Top-Line Observations
- A tough, simply designed boot
- Near zero failure points. No overlays, no racing stripes
- Outstanding eyelet detail for the laces
- Comfortable and easy to lace up. No pinch points like I’ve discovered on other boots
- Waterproof
- Deep treads (Brunt calls them lugs) with a 90-degree heel for hooking a ladder wrung
- Outstanding price
The Test
I threw my life at these boots. I need them to be at my beck and call for everything from taking out the trash to being up and down a ladder 12-million times a day doing drywall on a basement remodel to keeping my feet happy mowing a lawn or managing snow. Can I just slip them on to get something in the truck or take out trash? Or do I need to lock in for the day?
The Reviewer
Our remodeling / home improvement practice cuts across the industry in more ways than that, I think, XYZ Kitchen-Bath-Basement-Handyman does. How? Yes, we remodel kitchens and baths and basements, But we also engage a lot of earth and excavation for anything from a fence to the externalities of a deck cum backyard makeover. There’re ladders, there’s mud, there’re temperature extremes for the snow removal part of the empire. I mow my own lawn.
The Review
MyFixitUpLife tool reviews take forever to produce because we actually, you know, use the stuff. I threw my life at the Brunt Workwear Sullivan Waterproof Soft Toe 6-inch Work Boot. In the more than 6-months I’ve run these boots under my skeleton, they’ve done nothing but impress.
Ankle Eyelets
I may be (may?, come on) be a weirdo, but the last thing I’m going to do is lace up anything to take out trash cans or run to the car or even take my son to school. I wear what I already own.
I own boots. The problem–and Brunt solved this elegantly–is that laces are flying all over the place making just slipping them on the banana peel you slip on.
Virtually all of the 6-inch boots I’ve reviewed lace the ankle with hooks. Why? I have no idea. However, It’s not just useless, it’s terrible. It solves no problem I’ve never had. It creates problems I have to solve.
The Brunt Sullivan ankle eyelets are ingenious. If you like the hooks, you can use them. But there’s a hole through the hook that enables you to use it like a lace eyelet.
Fit And Finish
The sizing works for me. I’m an outlier in the sizing department, but as the American figure changes, Brunt changes with them. The Brunt Sullivan is fracking comfortable. And in the span of this review, remains so.
All footwear wears out. IT might not look destroyed–and my Brunts don’t–but they are. That I got 6+ months out of these monsters is a huge win.
Mud Capture
The clay/mud/slurry soil I work in is tough. Traction isn’t even a consideration after a rain. What matters to me is if I can work in that environment and I can eject it from my boots easily. Brunt nails it.
Price and Value
The Brunt Sullivan 6-incher works. Are they the best work boots for DIYers? The Brunt boots could be the best pick for what you do, and worth the cost at $160, so I’m calling that a great Price-Value ratio.
Test Results: Bona Fides
- Light, rugged, comfortable and well-fitting
- A+ for the eyelets in the upper lace hooks
- Clear dirt and mud easily without sacrificing traction
- Wonderfully UN-festooned with labels and stickers and overmolds that inevitable fail
- Waterproof. Excellent in wet and snow
- Gloriously does NOT come with a hardened toe
- Overall, a top pick for MyFixitUpLife
