# Steel toe shoes - light weight / wide toebox?



## OhioBurner© (Mar 24, 2016)

So this isn't specifically for cutting wood but could be. I'm in the market for a pair of steel toes, I have some boots but they're getting fairly worn and my company will pay $50 towards a new pair if I need em for work and going to soon be heading to some powerplants where it is required so a good time to get a new pair and save $50.

What I am wondering if there is a pair out there they have a wide toebox, preferably not rounded but more blunt like a foot is suppose to be shaped. And if possible a light weight sneaker/hiking boot/breathable pair.

Any ideas?


----------



## peakbagger (Mar 24, 2016)

http://www.wideshoes.com/catalog.cfm?page=mens-work-_safety-shoes

I have size 13 EEEE feet and they don't fit well with steel toes (I get numb toes). My solution is size 14 wide steel toes with a superfeet insert and a tongue pad to take up the volume. Its not ideal and plan try the timberlands next time around.


----------



## woodhog73 (Mar 24, 2016)

In regards to the lightweight hiking / light duty steel toe I would look at one from Keen.

Keen makes some pretty darn good hiking boots which are also available in steel toe. I'm not sure if they are wide or not. However the ankle support and longevity of the bottoms grip is excellent. They are expensive probably $125 to $150 for a pair. If you don't need the extra support of a work boot, and need comfort comparable to a regular shoe, they fill this need


----------



## jotul8e2 (Mar 24, 2016)

I sell shoes for a living.  For a wide toe safety shoe we automatically go to the Red Wing King Toe line.  Some of the styles are made up to EEEE, or H widths.  http://www.redwingshoes.com/results/king+toe .  There is an actual square toe safety shoe just out from Irish Setter, but it only comes in a western boot.  More to the point, however, they also have several styles with aluminum toes that are much lighter than steel toes.  Do yourself a favor and seek out an actual Red Wing Store where you can try on different sizes and widths.  You have one in Amherst and one in Manchester.

Wolverine offers the wider toe Harrison up to EEEE for less money.  It is also less shoe.


----------



## jetsam (Mar 24, 2016)

Okay... If you can get on this woodcutting  forum and find an expert shoe salesman within three posts... it stands to reason that we could also get expert medical advice here also, right?  This would be a tremendous money saver if I ever went to the doctor in the first place! 

I think I will save this valuable secret for a true emergency.

("*Subject: Need advice, quick responses appreciated.  * Hi guys! I have an issue. The pilot and copilot are both unconscious, I can't figure out the radio, and I may have told the stewardess that I could probably land the plane. We are very low on fuel and I am not sure where we are. I last loaded my stove around 20 hours ago and I really have to get home before all the coals go out. Has anyone seen a cockpit like this one before? Any landing tips? Can you see an airport or anything out the window in the photo? Everything looks really small from up here.  Thanks!".   Edit: If you can tell what kind of plane this is from the photo, help me troubleshoot a performance issue. I tried to do a simple Immelmann because it's always helpful in my WWII flight sims, but the plane didn't respond well and now there is a lot of beeping and lights and all the screaming is making it hard to hear the plane. It sounds like it's saying,"TRAIN, TRAIN", but the scenery is spinning too fast for me to tell if there's a railroad track nearby.)


----------



## sportbikerider78 (Mar 24, 2016)

Amazon actually has a pretty good selection of composite toe safety shoes.


----------



## drz1050 (Mar 24, 2016)

I have an odd shaped foot- narrow heel, wide toes. Needed steel toe, but the red wings were too wide everywhere. Ended up going with the composite toe Thorogood, 804-4655. Not sure about the king toe, but Red Wing has moved a lot of production overseas.. the Thorogoods are still made in the USA.


----------



## jotul8e2 (Mar 24, 2016)

drz1050 said:


> I have an odd shaped foot- narrow heel, wide toes. Needed steel toe, but the red wings were too wide everywhere. Ended up going with the composite toe Thorogood, 804-4655. Not sure about the king toe, but Red Wing has moved a lot of production overseas.. the Thorogoods are still made in the USA.



I have very hard to fit feet also and it is quite literally a pain.  I've always envied people who could just put on a D width whatever walk out in them.  I've sold a lot of Thorogood boots over the years and they are like Red Wing, some made here, some not.


----------



## woodhog73 (Mar 24, 2016)

Hey Jotul8e2.....would you say the redwing heavy duty type work boots hold up the best ? 

I've heard good things about redwing work boots but have never tried a pair yet. I don't wear a steel toe heavy outdoor type work boot every day so for me I value longevity over comfort. If I wore them everyday I'm sure I would think differently.


----------



## peakbagger (Mar 24, 2016)

Lots of good info.


----------



## D8Chumley (Mar 24, 2016)

I've had plenty of Red Wings including the King Toe. Our company gives us $150 voucher for them every other year, some held up better than others. Some of them would give me a rash on the inside of both ankles in the summer, so I tried Keen. The first pair of Keen composite toes were awesome but were discontinued when I went to buy another pair. I forget what model they were but the 2nd pair I have now are the Pittsburgh and they are not quite as comfortable but are holding up well. I wear a 13 E


----------



## woodhog73 (Mar 24, 2016)

Good info on the keens.  I'm not so sure they make a heavy duty boot for hard outdoor work but for lighter duty I think their steel toe are probably a good option for high level of comfort.


----------



## D8Chumley (Mar 24, 2016)

I am a construction worker, and do earthwork spring through fall. I'm an equipment operator by trade but had been a foreman for several years in between being an operator. We have been really busy the last 3 years and I run jobs Spring-Fall and into the winter depending how busy we are when winter hits. 

   The first pair I bought I wore 11-12 hours a day, on my feet for at least 9 and walking on a lot of rocky soil. The only reason I stopped wearing them to work after 2 seasons was the soles were starting to come apart. They were light weight, unlike the pair I have now which are a little heavier. They didn't lead an easy life for sure. Your results may vary


----------



## Hasufel (Mar 24, 2016)

jetsam said:


> *Subject: Need advice, quick responses appreciated.  * Hi guys! I have an issue. The pilot and copilot are both unconscious, I can't figure out the radio, and I may have told the stewardess that I could probably land the plane.


Dear jetsam: I think I can help you but I need some more information. Before he lost consciousness, did the pilot ask you if you like gladiator movies and have ever seen the inside of a Turkish prison?? 

Funniest post I've seen in a long time--thanks for the laugh!!


----------



## drz1050 (Mar 24, 2016)

As far as most durable boots, I'd probably put Chippewa at the top of my list.. their leather is thicker than Thorogood or Red Wings.. had a pair a while ago and they wore like iron, but they don't really fit my feet well.  

I've never owned a pair of White's or Danner's, but have heard good things... but those are also $$$


----------



## beatlefan (Mar 24, 2016)

I agree with Jotul8e2. I bought my first pair of Redwings 25 years ago.  I won't buy anything else. They are expensive, but well worth it.


----------



## OhioBurner© (Mar 25, 2016)

drz1050 said:


> I have an odd shaped foot- narrow heel, wide toes. Needed steel toe, but the red wings were too wide everywhere. Ended up going with the composite toe Thorogood, 804-4655. Not sure about the king toe, but Red Wing has moved a lot of production overseas.. the Thorogoods are still made in the USA.



That is called a normal foot, something that is lost in most 1st world societies. I'm actually a barefoot convert of sorts, wherever I can I go barefoot I do. I've run full marathons barefoot and even that pic in my avatar on a 3 day 40+ mile trip in the mountains I was barefoot. One thing I've noticed over the years since the switch is my toes now splay out more than they used to. If you look at the footshape in traditionally unshod societies their toes splay out very wide, with gaps usually between each one. Wearing shoes compresses the metatarsals and causes the foot to eventually take on the shape of the shoes and causes all sorts of foot problems. My toes are still curved in a little, can't completely undo about 30 years of wearing shoes, but still pretty wide in the toes. My midfoot and heels though are very skinny. So I have similar problem. Usually when getting wide widths, they make the whole shoe too wide and the heel slides around a bit, which is why I specified a wide toebox not just a wide shoe in my original post.

Well lots of suggestions I'll look into, thanks all.


----------



## Bad LP (Mar 25, 2016)

I was going to write Redwings. Best boots I've ever owned by a long shot.


----------



## Dobish (Mar 31, 2016)

every year I go and by the exact same pair of redwing slip ons.... been doing it for 7 years now


----------



## OhioBurner© (Apr 5, 2016)

Well the price put me off on Red Wings, for the handfull of days I'll wear them in a year. Found a pair of Keen on amazon that looked perfect for me - low cut, flat sole w/o raised heel. Some of the comments mentioned lack of arch support and lack of ankle support, etc, so perfect for me I want zero support just flat soles. I usually take the insole out as well, they tend to be molded in shape to provide arch support. Got em today but it's no good. Even going a full size bigger than normal and getting EE width these things are way to narrow in the toebox. Not only does the steel toe rub on both sides, but it actually ends right at the front of my pinky toe (like its jabbing into the edge of the steel toe) and actually rubs the next toe in.




Probably would have been fine if only the toe was wider. Like a 1/2-3/4" wider. Any other suggestions for a similar shoe, with wider toebox? I'll even go DOUBLE the price of the Keens and say $150.


----------



## BrotherBart (Apr 5, 2016)

Why not just get a ten dollar pair of tennis shoes at Walmart? I never fire a saw without these suckers on. Steel toes, Kevlar and steel metatarsal guards. I was only issued two feet at birth. Yeah, they cost a car payment but my feet are worth it.


----------



## OhioBurner© (Apr 5, 2016)

Well like I said these are not for cutting wood, though I understand the suggestions since this is a wood cutting forum. This is something I need for some training at work which will be in various power plants for a week trip coming up soon. Just looking for the lightest/minimalist pair of footwear that meets these minimum requirements: steel toe (I get some uncertain answers about alloy or composite toe - they may be ok no one has ever checked THAT closely before) and wide toe box that doesn't crush my toes. So was just curious if anyone knew of anything like this, since there is a lot of steel toe experience on this forum I'm sure. I do have other heavier boots for running the saw, I have no intentions of wearing them all week.


----------



## OhioBurner© (Apr 5, 2016)

Actually I may go down to a Red Wing store, the Oxfords which I think are one of their 'King Toe' (its hard to tell since it doesn't seem to say in the description but it comes up in the King Toe search) are $150 msrp so might be worth checking out.


----------



## peakbagger (Apr 5, 2016)

For power plant work, most folks go with leather compared to fabric construction. The leather is bit better at keeping hot water and steam from burning your feet. Leather also is far less absorbent which is useful in areas with chemicals.


----------



## OhioBurner© (Apr 5, 2016)

peakbagger said:


> For power plant work, most folks go with leather compared to fabric construction. The leather is bit better at keeping hot water and steam from burning your feet. Leather also is far less absorbent which is useful in areas with chemicals.


Thanks peakbagger but short of some kind of disaster I hope to not expose feet to steam or chemicals. This upcoming work I need it for will be all hydros but I do occasionally go to gas and coal plants.


----------



## peakbagger (Apr 5, 2016)

Must be a "sparky" they never get dirty in power plants


----------



## OhioBurner© (Apr 6, 2016)

Never heard that term before, but hydros and gas plants are pretty clean. Irregardless I'm an office person - generation dispatcher - we just get sent to plants from time to time for training and simply need the steel toes to be on the premise.


----------



## peakbagger (Apr 6, 2016)

"Sparkies" are generally electricians and/or electrical engineers. I expect a dispatcher is probably a "sparkie" to some.

I agree hydros and gas plants are usually very clean, the operators have a lot of time on their hands and generally management sets the expectation that the place will be kept clean.  Biomass and coal plants take a Sisyphean effort to keep clean and many staffs just give up  and live with the dirt and grime (which is bad approach as coal and biomass dust had an annoying habit of burning or blowing up.).


----------

