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OT/ work boots?

roadapple

Plastic
Joined
Sep 28, 2003
Location
BakerCity. OR
Or maybe I should ask what the best soles are for chips in the shop.
I wear cheap Walmart boots and the chips just tear em up.
Would a leather sole fair any better?
 
I like steel toe foundry boots for machine shop work and welding. They are butt ugly but are safe, the metatarsal guard saves the laces as well as your foot and are tough as hell.

image_61476.jpg


http://workingperson.com/review/product/list/id/54180
 
Any boots with the green triangle (indicating level of protection) should stand up well in the shop. Many shops (most?) require them.

Hot chips will burn into them anyway, and laces can get burned through.
 
I worked in a machine shop in a steel mill,never did find a sole that held up, my solution was buy cheap steel toe boots and replace them every 3 or 4 months. I once resoled a pair with steel belted tire treads,kind of like ho chi min work boots, they held up as well as anything,but you better have a sense of humor if you go that route.
 
I have worn Red Wings almost exclusively since I was a teen. They hold up in a machine shop better than on the farm. ESPECIALLY if you have animals and hose them off regularly!

In the machine shop (stamping plant actually) I had a pr with standard (at that time) lether soles and they lasted 6 months. The chips around the bridgeport just ate ratt through them.

Otherwise I have always had the SUPERSOLE, and it lasts a long time. I prolly go through a pr of boots upwards of 1.5 to 2 yrs. And they are all I wear. I have a new pr for "good" (break-in?) and there is the werk pr. I don't have anything other than these unless you wunna talk sledding boots.

I just bought a new pr for the first time in many yrs, and I expected them to be imported - as that is all the talk, but as it turns out - only some models are imported. I wear model 1105 and they are made in USA.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
Do you care how it fits your foot?

Danners are good with long narrow feet.

Red Wings are ok for a normal (average?) foot.

West Coast Boot Co. (WESCO dot com) are wonderful if you have fat feet or if they're unusual in some way. I wear an 8 1/2 EEE and my feet are exceptionaly tall over the arch. WESCOs for me. They last well and they will rebuild them too.


Cat
 
I bought a pair of Forge Shield foundry boots. I like them and may get a second pair just to use as recreational day-to-day footwear. They are made in USA, they are pull-on and that means they are the quickest pair of shoes to put on that I have. Mine are a year old, and are holding up just fine. That said, I don't wade through tons of chips every day or get spattered with molten metals since I was dumb enough to get a desk-job kind of career, but I really like them.
 
I tried many different brands of work shoes (boots) and found Redwing to stand up the best. I wore high, heavy steel toe boots and got bullet proof orthotics (hard plastic) made for my feet...... one fallen arch. I always wore thick heavy expensive work socks from Cabela's. Even put those comfort soles
from the drugstore in there. They were heavy as hell but you get use to, at least I did, and once I got the right combo my feet were fine. I did have a snow plow frame come down just behind the steel toe and it broke every metatarsal bone like a guillotine. The Metatarsal protector probably would have saved me,
who knows.... you can't plan for everything. The foot healed up..... never bothered me. Redwings have many different soles depending on the working conditions and chemicals you encounter.
 
I have two pairs of the made in USA Danner boots, and they are just fantastic. I use to wear Ariat boots, but haven't gone back since.
 
The Best Boot for Chips I ever found was by accident, and I am wearing currently. They are Florsheim FE675 composite toe, leather bots. Lace ups and old school leather shoe design, that does loosen up with wear, so order on small side. These come in wide and I got a deal on them, i just wish i ordered half size smaller. Big thick rubber soles, and not stiff by any means, but they absolutely repel chips.
I am looking for a slip on boot, is why i am searching boot forums, I just had to respond to this old post about chipless soles.
 
Personally I wear high end hikers, most recently Zamberlens, but put some miles on Asolos. Not brown sneakers[merrill] but seriously rigid boots.
I can twist and break the spine of inferior shoes in a month. Then my knees go, then my back, and I say, oh, I need new shoes.
 
I usually wear bates gx8 insulated, but recently switched to haix airpower xr2's. So far they are very comfortable and the soles are great and grippy...for 350 a pair I'd expect them to be good lol.
 
I have two pairs of the made in USA Danner boots, and they are just fantastic. I use to wear Ariat boots, but haven't gone back since.

I second the Danner boots, I use the Vicious 4.5 Non-Metallic Toe Work Boot...fantastic product.
 
It is possible to buy work boots and immediately have a shoemaker replace the sole with Vibram. Vibram soles are tough stuff, used by welders for their heat resistance.

metalmagpie
 
It is possible to buy work boots and immediately have a shoemaker replace the sole with Vibram. Vibram soles are tough stuff, used by welders for their heat resistance.

metalmagpie

you can do whatever you like , but IME, it takes at least a month or two to get shoes resoled . why not buy
boots that already have vibram soles in the first place. i wear USA made Chippewa and Carolina boots w/
lug soles -they came w/ vibram soles. i thnk they ingest chips and bits of welding wire much less than
flat-soled shoes. also- i like a decent heel- it makes me stand up straight , so i don't get hunchbacked.

https://youtu.be/C9Pw0xX4DXI
 
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