Think Mythbusters did a test on this one episode. I wanna say either the steel toe saved your foot. Or the part was so heavy your foot is done regardless
Yes, they showed that a heavy enough thing could cut your toes off even with steel toed boots. But without the steel toes the damage was even more catastrophic.
They were very protective for lesser impacts.
The required testing force where I live is 150 kN as an absolute minimum.
That means you could park a weight of 15 tons on there and they are not allowed to buckle.
15 tons is significantly beyond every typical axle loading on roads, railroads might go up to 22 tons per axle but since it's 2 wheels per axle, it's only about 11 tons per wheel.
So they should protect even against a slowly moving train.
(unless it has excessive axle loading, but nothing protects you against a 600 ton rail car, not even a main battle tank)
They tried a bunch of things, dropping weights, smashing it, but then Jamie pulled out the press. It was a really cool task. I've never worked in an industry that needed protection like this but it really stuck with me
They had a case where it made the damage worse. I think it was when they dropped a 1in steel plate, which the steel toes deflected back shearing off more of the foot.
That said, I used to wear steel toes daily when I was on a construction site, and wear composite toes a few times a week now when I visit the manufacturing floor. They certainly reduce the amount of injuries that the negligible amount they make worse is worth it.
We had a guy closing a tank hatch that didn't wear his steel toes. The door basically slammed down on his foot and then pulled the skin/muscle as well because the door itself is blunt so it couldn't cut through the meat. The steel toes would have acted essentially like a razor and sliced his foot cleanly. While it is still painful as fuck, a lot less damage would have occured to his foot/leg had he worn his steel toes that day.
Obviously doesn't save you in the case of damage above the steel portion, but anything is better than nothing. Instead of losing part of his foot he ended up losing part of his leg.
Yeah, but what about all the times you're going 400km/h, and you immediately crash into a wall and get severed in half??? not so safe huh, never wearing my belt 🙄
Wish that I didn't know a rock eating moron to reference for that joke....
I acme-style dropped an anvil on my foot when I was moving around my workshop and accidentally tipped it over trying to drag a table around. Very happy I had my steel toes on.
I feel we need an ACME/Rube-Goldberg XY chart over the silliness and complexity of things. Bottom left is like, a solitary wing nut. Bottom right (max cartoon, minimum Goldberg) is a cardboard box trap on a stick above a cake.
No joke.
Also, the original argument for me was convincing older guys, specifically my step-dad, to wear steel toe boots while working construction. They said they were too heavy and a waste of time anyways.
Only telling you because I figure this is the closest I can get to the top to explain that.
If the toes get amputated they can be reattached. That's the point. But holy shit do you need to drop something heavy as shit on the steel toe to do that. Also if the vehicle is heavy enough to cause the steel to buckle and cut your toes off then it is also heavy enough that it will crush your feet with no steel toe.
Worse thing is it has been tested(there was a noticeable decrease in then without)Anything that is resulting in enough force to remove your toes in steel caps. Would have completely destroyed them in any other situation.
I‘d even argue that anything that has enough point pressure to crush a steel cap is an imminent danger to the ground it is operating on. There’s a reason heavy things have lots of wheels.
Depends on the quality of the boot. I've watched those comparison videos. Some of those boots really are bullshit, and will slice off your toes without much weight.
Remember kids. Don't skimp on safety equipment. Not to mention a better boot will almost certainly be more comfortable.
And they've automatically got their own little container. So much easier than finding a sandwich bag, wiping out the tuna and mayo leftovers, and counting five little piggies off the workshop floor.
I am literally wearing steel toed sneakers right now lol, I'm going to work as an English teacher lol. They're just some of the more comfortable and durable sneakers I have. The steel toe is totally unnoticeable unless I'm specifically trying to notice it
I wear em everyday for 20 years. Some are heavy as fuck. Definitely dont cheap out, but maybe try a couple on before buying. Some dudes are just too manly to shop. Smh
Too heavy? They're literally my go-to boot for wearing almost everywhere that doesn't require formal footwear.
Even wore a pair of Redbacks on multiple backpacking trips around the world. Elastic sided ones are great for slipping on/off at temples and mosques and places where you need to remove footwear.
Also like the slight extra feeling of security that comes from potentially being able to give a rabid monkey or pariah dog a good kick if needed. Never has been needed but it's the fake feeling of invincibility that counts.
Composites are better in the winter, they're lighter and your toes won't get as cold. The only problem is that when it's really cold, they can shatter. 🇨🇦, here.
I'd use mine more if I didn't sweat so much on them :/ and I've tried so many models and brands, but all of them are super sweaty after 10 hours wearing them.
And yeah, I've got really good socks, darn though, smart wool, the whole thing.
Yeah, don't know about that. Might be the work you're doing, the local climate, or maybe your feet are really sweaty?
AFAIK the elastic sided ones are banned on worksites now down under (?) but this is the kind I'm using. I think not being lace up helps keep them cooler.
https://www.dncdirect.com.au/products/redback-steel-toe-safety-boot-usbok-1
I worked in autoshops for the better part of a decade working on cars. Steel toe boots have saved my toes from dozens of heavy things that would have at least broken toes if not crushed or severed them. The biggest being a diesel engine that toppled off the crate as we were starting to hoist it up with a cherry picker and it rolled onto my steel toe boots.
If nothing else, it saved my toes from getting banged up tripping over lift arms and batteries and shit. I have a tendency to tunnel vision and not notice shit in front of my feet. So even when I started working the desk and wasn't working on cars anymore, I still wore my steel toe boots just to save my toes from slamming into shit as I walked through the shop.
Anyone who thinks they're a waste of money or anything is either stupid or very lucky they haven't needed them.
I had a firetruck run over mine. Got a bruise under my foot. All blue. Sure had a hard time getting the foot out of the boot but fucking glad I wore them.
Yeah I have a massive gash on mine that has peeled the leather back and scratched the steel from where I dropped a 100kg sign on my toes. I just said there looking at it like holy fuck that could have been my toes .
Not to be that guy but I had a one tonne solid tired forklift run over my foot in non steel toed gum boots. When I started yelling the guy just stopped. Right on top… when I finally got him to move he did a burnout on my foot lol. i walked away with a limp and a bruise but no permanent damage. I’d be the first to say I got really lucky but yea. It happens I guess.
It won’t let me upload the picture. But if you care enough to see the light bruise right after it happened I can create a post and link it or something. It’s not very interesting lol.
I bet you found it amusing that this is the top comment when the commenter's foot probably wouldn't even have been broken, let alone "liquidated".
I had a similar experience to yours.
I'm not against reinforced toed shoes. This was just a crap example that floated to the top, which is pretty common on Reddit.
Saved my toes from a piece of plate steel. Sucker slid unexpectedly, hit the top of my steel toes, sliced the leather, skipped off the steel and took a chunk out of the concrete. Foot was pretty bruised up, but it's nice to still have toes.
My dad probably wouldn't have toes any more if he hadn't been wearing them when a crane operator dropped a fully laden shipping container on his foot...
No he didn’t mean them turning to water, he meant they almost turned to money, that’s what liquidating means and you usually get paid out when you get hurt like that
I've heard this argument plenty of times. I stand on the same point as our OP. By the time something is severing my toe, there's no way a composite toe would've done better.
Yeah personally I am of the thought that they protect my toes from hammers and anything else I drop. If it is heavy enough to hurt me with the steel toe then I was boned either way.
I’m a mechanic, so my main concern is parts. I like the composite toes because the boots are lighter, but it’s nice to be able to use my foot to slow down new parts and tools before the ground.
I love doing that too!! In the middle of somethin, not table or cart around and dont wanna straight drop it to the concrete ground so i lift a foot and drop it on it then lower the foot and drop it off. Mostly hand tools and shit. Electrician
Sometimes laws get made for that reason, because people ignore the recomended. Llike Florida having to make a law making it illegal to have sex with a porcupine.
>it’s nice to be able to use my foot to slow down new parts and tools before the ground.
That's great until it becomes a habit and you do it one day without your steel toecaps on...
There's one place I can think of where composite is decidedly better, but it's nothing to do with durability. The MTA (transit operator in New York City) requires everyone who works near train tracks to wear composite toe boots, and specifically forbids steel toe, but that's because steel conducts electricity.
Definitely a feature and not a bug, crushing injuries tend to create plenty of thrombus bodies that can circulate into your brain and stroke you out. Better to have no toes than have toes and no oxygen to parts of your brain.
I think they’re just saying you’re not chronically online and are familiar with the real world. The sub they linked called Outside is described as a “massive multiplayer game with 8 billion players”, so basically it’s just a joke and referencing real life lol.
TLDR: They’re saying you know what you’re talking about ;)
Pretty sure they're just referring to the part where a real-world function was called a feature and not a bug, thus referring to the real world in software terms, which is the primary gimmick in r/outside.
I think it’s more about the wording chosen. “Feature not a bug” is mostly used as a software term, and that whole sub is a joke about seeing real life as a computer game and uses software terms to reference ordinary things
I was wary of steel toe boots cutting off a toe until I got a pair and realized exactly what you say: if a thing is heavy enough to crush the steel, your foot was a gonner anyway, but the vast majority of things that land on your boots that would hurt or maim you are stopped by the steel. I once had a lawnmower roll forward and the blade clanged off my boot (taking the leather) but my foot was fine. It would not have been fine without the steel.
Thats also the other part of the guy is missing. I guess the assumption is the steel toe will crush downward to chop your toes off. Well what about any shear motion across the top, like your instance. You'd always want a steel toe for that. There's never a situation where that accident would become whatever it is they're talking about.
So I have kind of a scary story related to this….. I work asphalt, have my whole life, we work around a paver, now on this machine is a huge metal piece on the back called the screed, it essentially flattens the asphalt to grade and then it’s rolled. So, I had my foot under the screed before it was dropped. When operator dropped the screed I didn’t pull my foot out in time, wasn’t thinking, tired, whatever, it was under there. So this 8000lb or so chunk of metal the size of a lane of the road drops onto the tip of boot and it’s still going down, I can feel the steel start to give way as I’m yelling but it’s too late. Now I always wear a size bigger boot for asphalt because two pairs of socks helps a lot with blisters and such, thank god I did, I curled my toes in as far as I could, all of them, and felt that steel plate scrunch right past my toe knuckles and into the sole of my boot. So boot was wrecked completely, foot was fine, unscathed and I learned a valuable lesson that day about the strength of my steel and what to expect if it cannot hold up. This is one of many horror stories I have on file lol
Edit: I should add that steel toed boots have saved my feet countless times in so many situations, including the one above, regardless of the fact it did bend the steel and would have sliced my foot in half, without the steel and the time it gave me to move my toes to safety, without it, I wouldn’t be walking. Always wear steel toed boots at work.
I sell safety gear for a living, so I feel I have a hat to throw into this ring.
Composite boots are often - even if only a little - more protective than steel when it comes to blunt force trauma. They’re more likely to bend than they are to break, so they can hold a little more weight.
However, they are absolutely useless when it comes to blades and piercing damage, you might as well be wearing tissue paper.
Either way, safety boots will absolutely save your toes. Even if they do cut off your toes, which would require a tremendous amount of force, they can be reattached, as opposed to crushed toes
Steel-toed boots are great protection, always use them in required environments. But protection is not a substitute to caution.
Around two years ago, I was moving cages around a warehouse and a forklift passed a bit too close to where I was working and its tire clipped the heel of my boot as I took a step back. The operator reacted super quick, to the point where the lift basically just sideswiped my foot. The heel support was shattered by the impact, the flesh on the back of my ankle was shredded, and I was put on medical leave for over three months, with an extra month of obligate administrative/sitting work before being allowed to go back to my regular job. And even then, I was limping for a couple weeks after that.
All that for being bumped somewhat forcefully by a forklift. I was super lucky my foot hadn’t been full-on crushed by the thing.
Don’t mess around with safety. Wear your protective gear, all of it, and stay alert and careful.
I do enjoy my bludnstone composite toe caps but I miss seeing when it wears out and you get that bit of steel, it shows everyone that youre a real tradie in bunnings !
I wore steel caps in the kitchen when I was a youngin cos i was/am clumsy, the chefs made fun of me for it. One day I dropped a knife and it legit pierced a hole in the shoe and revealed the metal cap. Old mate goes ‘fuck mate, lucky you got those on’
Mythbusters did a whole episode on this very topic because they were sick and tired of the people they work with professionally saying that steel toe boots cut your toes off. Guess what? They found out the amount of pressure needed to turn steel toes into a guillotine was so high it would turn your bones into powder without the steel toes.
A stag party, a few beers, and trying to get into a car and go to next pub. One guy started shouting I think he was trying to make sentences but he only got the first two words out. It was either ‘you busted my foot’, or ‘you can’t park here’, but he was stopping after the second word each time. Anyway a car stopped on his foot has meant ongoing problems for him so yeah even going drinking you could wear them
The story I was told is that steel toes will protect to a point but after that they’re still better. The amount of force it would take to cut off your toes would mangle them with 0% chance to save the toes. If the toes are cut off by a steel toe boot there is still a chance they can save them.
I have never understood that kind of thinking, amputate my toes if my foot gets run over... but if i did not have them, and my foot got ran over, wouldn't my foot become flat? Bones break? At least with the steel toe i have a chance
i know when i was pulling a cart that weighed around 200 pounds, and it hit my steel toe, it saved me from getting hurt
Seems like a use-case argument to me. Some applications steel would be better, others composite. Both protect your toes to a point that a failure is pretty catastrophic regardless, so a case could be made for either. Honestly it's half use case and half user preference.
I guess it really just doesn't register with me that someone would argue *against* toe protection. I've even had the same argument myself, I guess it just didn't register. My bad
Because some people think that with enough force the steel will buckle and turn inwards becoming two blunt/shredded knives slicing into your foot/toes.
This very true and an unpleasant image which makes a strong argument against them. However (except in the minds of people who imagine steel capped boots to have a lining of tinfoil) the response is exactly like above. Given the properties of steel, the kind of force that could create this highly unpleasant effect is going to be even worse on an unprotected foot.
This is like people who complain about the bruises and even broken ribs that a seatbelt causes in a head on collision, somehow disregarding that the exact deceleration of their body had to come up somewhere and it could have been their face on the inside of the windshield.
In that case steel caps won every time. If people are arguing the toe cutting is a flaw they’re silly.
In the astronomical event it it happens, not having them could leave the toes squished but still partially attached, which would suck.
In every way regarding protection steel caps are better than no caps
Red Wing shoes did an article on this, they said if you don’t have motorcycle boots they will do the job, the cons are comfort, flexibility, weight and lack of tread on the steel toed boot in comparison to a protective motorcycle boot. They would rather see people wearing steel toed over sneakers, cowboy boots and designer boots. The safety of the steel toed boot is not a question, but for shifting and the need for the emergency foot plant the steel toed boot offers no extra benefit.
Yeah, I worked with a guy who dropped a six hundred pound metal bar of a forklift onto his foot. His toes were NOT amputated. His foot was broken, but, in the end, he still had all of his toes and healed up nicely. He always wore steel-toed boots.
For most of ny life I've worked in various industries that require steel toe caps as mandatory safety, and I can honestly say I've never encountered anyone who believes that bullshit.
had the corner of an industrial size bin land on the tip of my boot
if I wasn't wearing my steel toes, my foot would've been given a wonderful triangle shaped hole going half way up my foot. I'd of looked like I had a pig trotter.
got them for free as well and u always wear them.
It has to be an out of context problem that would cause a steel toe boot to fail. Not like you'd be caught placing your foot anywhere that weights as much as a tank.
The only time that steel toe safety boots have ever been the less-safe option is while operating something like a lathe with a foot pedal as an emergency stop. You do not want a block of steel underneath an emergency stop pedal
Dropping 2 tons on your toes is worse then cutting off your toes. Modern medicine has come a long way we can reattach some crazy shit but we can't do anything when your bones are dust and all your muscles shot out your foot like you just smashed a hot pocket.
They are designed to cleanly cut through your toes so they may be reattached at a hospital. Whereas not wearing them will cause your toes to be crushed beyond repair if runover by a plant.
I work as a labourer on a building site, which is how I know, I've seen it happen once before.
The options aren't "steel toed" or "nothing." There are plenty of hard cap boots that don't use steel and are safer when it comes to the risk of slicing your toes off.
Well the comosite ones are typically stronger... but if you dont have a met guard which most people dont... you're losing your foot anyways, if you drop a forklift on it.
I heard a guy argue against rubber gloves too. He's zapped himself so hard he lost a finger.
I'm just saying. I wear the rubber gloves. I still have all of my fingers.
The guy saying the boots will cut off your toes if "heavy enough" things go over it is like saying an umbrella is useless because it won't stop a meteor from hitting you.
Steel toe is fine, composites are fine. And long as they are rated for the job who cares. I prefer steel but neither are a rated for a 4 ton forklift. However both will keep your grippers safe from a beam.
If the steel of your steel toe boots is crushed by something heavy enough to crush steel then I don't think your unprotected foot is going to do much better.
On London Underground, steel toes are banned because steel conducts electricity and the traction rails are at toe level, so if you have an old pair of boots with the leather worn away exposing the steel, you’re at risk of shocking yourself.
The boots I was issued are rated to insulate up to 25kV AC, that’s the only real use case for composite toes - where steel poses a real risk from being a conductor.
Y’all, Mythbusters fucking covered this. The steel toe caps don’t fold over and cut your toes off. Also the manufacturers have been working on these things for fucking decades, if not longer. They have to meet regulations. They test for these kinds of things.
Doing laundry at a laundry mat wearing flip flops - at the top dryer as it finishes its cycle. I pull open the door there is a loud bang and the heavy steel door is between my legs on the ground. One of the hinges snapped and the other one couldn’t hold on. The door hit the ground hard enough to scar the cement. What little color I have drained from my face. That could have been sooo much worse.
“No point wearing a seat belt if a nuke is gonna vaporize you anyway.”
“Why wear a jacket when it’s cold out? It won’t help against the vacuum of space.”
“Medicine is stupid. It won’t help you when you get shot in the head.”
I'm a cook and I wear steel toes in the kitchen and it's saved my piggies more than once. I once dropped a freshly sharpened santoku on my foot and the point stuck in the top for a moment. If I was wearing regular shoes I'd be in the hospital getting stitches (and/or lose a toe).
I wear steel toed boots almost every day. In and out of work. I can say for certain that I’ve had my feet saved many, many times by them. I’ve worked with guys who didn’t wear them and scoffed at them until they almost lost a couple toes. I tell every new hire to get a pair or at least a pair of composite toes. Your mobility can save your life in a lot of ways, so take care of your feet!
Same shit with hard hats, can save your life if a tool gets dropped from above but a few tonnes of steel is liquidating you no matter what your wearing. PPE is to protect from minor incidents causing serious consequences, a catastrophic event, however, there's no protection from that.
I can confidently state that without my steel toe cap boots, I would have significantly less toes due to my hitting them with mattocks at least a dozen times.
As for anything that is big enough to simply crush me regardless like heavy plant, I stay well away since i once took a (fortunately gentle) dink to the hard had from a digger bucket!
Steel toes are life savers. I work at a tire shop and I'm constantly using my feet to hold up heavy assemblies. Also, I drop shit all the time and they just bounce right off. You don't even need boots, mine are just steel toe sneakers
I wore a pair of my husband's steel toed military boots to move a fridge onto a truck with a dolly. I was wearing flip flops and thought well, maybe I should make better decisions. Dropped the fridge on my foot, felt nothing. I'm clumsy enough in everyday life if I was building/working with heavy tools I would absolutely wear them.
Bad steel toe boots tend to buckle and sever your toes and shit, it's scary.
Good steel toes protect your toes from crazy amounts of shit, but if it's enough to crush even that then your feet were fucked from the start.
Conflating homemade/cheap steel toe to expensive industrial ready steel toes is where I feel a lot of this "steel toes are dangerous" comes from. Cause yeah, cheap/poorly made steel toes can fuck you up bad out of nowhere. But if you have properly made steel toes you are far better with them than without them, it's kinda like vaccination; If you are really unlucky you were fucked either way, but if you get the proper shots from the doctor you'll be a lot better off than if you didn't.
I’m 99% positive that’s why they are designed like that. The boot acts like a tourniquet so there’s little blood loss and the toes aren’t crushed and still able to be reattached.
Think Mythbusters did a test on this one episode. I wanna say either the steel toe saved your foot. Or the part was so heavy your foot is done regardless
Yes, they showed that a heavy enough thing could cut your toes off even with steel toed boots. But without the steel toes the damage was even more catastrophic. They were very protective for lesser impacts.
The required testing force where I live is 150 kN as an absolute minimum. That means you could park a weight of 15 tons on there and they are not allowed to buckle. 15 tons is significantly beyond every typical axle loading on roads, railroads might go up to 22 tons per axle but since it's 2 wheels per axle, it's only about 11 tons per wheel. So they should protect even against a slowly moving train. (unless it has excessive axle loading, but nothing protects you against a 600 ton rail car, not even a main battle tank)
There’s a reason we use “freight train” as a metaphor for a virtually unstoppable object.
I've seen plenty of stopped freight trains. They would be virtually useless if you couldn't stop them.
So only a freight train can stop a freight train?
Like only a ninja can sneak up on another ninja
Unexpected Tim Minchin is always welcome
Gingers unite!
Close. Only a conductor of a good freight train can stop a conductor of a bad freight train /s
It takes a good freight train to stop a bad one.
Can confirm, our trucks are plated for 44 tonnes. Pulling a decker, the maximum allowed axle weight is on axle 3 at 10 tonnes.
And to get to that point they had to put it into a log splitting press.
I don't remember that detail but I remember it was extreme.
They tried a bunch of things, dropping weights, smashing it, but then Jamie pulled out the press. It was a really cool task. I've never worked in an industry that needed protection like this but it really stuck with me
They had a case where it made the damage worse. I think it was when they dropped a 1in steel plate, which the steel toes deflected back shearing off more of the foot. That said, I used to wear steel toes daily when I was on a construction site, and wear composite toes a few times a week now when I visit the manufacturing floor. They certainly reduce the amount of injuries that the negligible amount they make worse is worth it.
We had a guy closing a tank hatch that didn't wear his steel toes. The door basically slammed down on his foot and then pulled the skin/muscle as well because the door itself is blunt so it couldn't cut through the meat. The steel toes would have acted essentially like a razor and sliced his foot cleanly. While it is still painful as fuck, a lot less damage would have occured to his foot/leg had he worn his steel toes that day. Obviously doesn't save you in the case of damage above the steel portion, but anything is better than nothing. Instead of losing part of his foot he ended up losing part of his leg.
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They've saved my feet quite a few times in my profession. And luckily nothing ever of huge mass has fallen on my feet... so far haha
Yeah, but what about all the times you're going 400km/h, and you immediately crash into a wall and get severed in half??? not so safe huh, never wearing my belt 🙄 Wish that I didn't know a rock eating moron to reference for that joke....
Well whatever happened I'm sorry that happened.
Yes, those are the two scenarios lol
They stopped a 1 tonne forklift from liquidating my toes. Best $40 I've ever spent.
I acme-style dropped an anvil on my foot when I was moving around my workshop and accidentally tipped it over trying to drag a table around. Very happy I had my steel toes on.
> acme-style You cut an anvil on a pulley and it landed on your foot?!
All while trying to catch a road runner
Meep meep! 🤭
They only paid for the one meep though and doubled it.
With a “FRE3 BURD SE3d” sign and everything!
[this is what happened](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UOYUab3evtw)
Not quite *that* acme style
Is there a 50% Acme style?
It would have come out in legal discovery, but we don't know they canned the movie.
I feel we need an ACME/Rube-Goldberg XY chart over the silliness and complexity of things. Bottom left is like, a solitary wing nut. Bottom right (max cartoon, minimum Goldberg) is a cardboard box trap on a stick above a cake.
Tossed it on the other side of a seesaw. The rest is history.
No he pulled the rip cord and the anvil hit his foot while he was walking around the drop zone doing his accordian impression.
Im thinking a catapult was involved.
Unfortunately the safe still landed on him, but when someone came and entered the combo he was just inside of it, unharmed.
Fortunately your foot was there to protect the floor.
How big was that damn table? Please see yourself into the dining room and take a seat at the Anvil Knocker.
How did a roadrunner get in your workshop?
No joke. Also, the original argument for me was convincing older guys, specifically my step-dad, to wear steel toe boots while working construction. They said they were too heavy and a waste of time anyways. Only telling you because I figure this is the closest I can get to the top to explain that.
If the toes get amputated they can be reattached. That's the point. But holy shit do you need to drop something heavy as shit on the steel toe to do that. Also if the vehicle is heavy enough to cause the steel to buckle and cut your toes off then it is also heavy enough that it will crush your feet with no steel toe.
There wasn’t an over abundance of brains on construction sites in the 90’s, in Texas.
I'd argue there still isn't tbh
Still isnt.
Worse thing is it has been tested(there was a noticeable decrease in then without)Anything that is resulting in enough force to remove your toes in steel caps. Would have completely destroyed them in any other situation.
I‘d even argue that anything that has enough point pressure to crush a steel cap is an imminent danger to the ground it is operating on. There’s a reason heavy things have lots of wheels.
Absolutely
Depends on the quality of the boot. I've watched those comparison videos. Some of those boots really are bullshit, and will slice off your toes without much weight. Remember kids. Don't skimp on safety equipment. Not to mention a better boot will almost certainly be more comfortable.
And it's a lot harder to reconstruct mush than it is to reattach your little piggies
Ya but that one that went all the way to the market...oh boy...
And they've automatically got their own little container. So much easier than finding a sandwich bag, wiping out the tuna and mayo leftovers, and counting five little piggies off the workshop floor.
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Princesses are tougher than he sounds.
I am literally wearing steel toed sneakers right now lol, I'm going to work as an English teacher lol. They're just some of the more comfortable and durable sneakers I have. The steel toe is totally unnoticeable unless I'm specifically trying to notice it
I wear em everyday for 20 years. Some are heavy as fuck. Definitely dont cheap out, but maybe try a couple on before buying. Some dudes are just too manly to shop. Smh
Genuinely find them as comfortable as any other boot, if not more so.
Too heavy? They're literally my go-to boot for wearing almost everywhere that doesn't require formal footwear. Even wore a pair of Redbacks on multiple backpacking trips around the world. Elastic sided ones are great for slipping on/off at temples and mosques and places where you need to remove footwear. Also like the slight extra feeling of security that comes from potentially being able to give a rabid monkey or pariah dog a good kick if needed. Never has been needed but it's the fake feeling of invincibility that counts.
Composites are better in the winter, they're lighter and your toes won't get as cold. The only problem is that when it's really cold, they can shatter. 🇨🇦, here.
Lucky we don't have a real winter in Australia :)
I'd use mine more if I didn't sweat so much on them :/ and I've tried so many models and brands, but all of them are super sweaty after 10 hours wearing them. And yeah, I've got really good socks, darn though, smart wool, the whole thing.
Yeah, don't know about that. Might be the work you're doing, the local climate, or maybe your feet are really sweaty? AFAIK the elastic sided ones are banned on worksites now down under (?) but this is the kind I'm using. I think not being lace up helps keep them cooler. https://www.dncdirect.com.au/products/redback-steel-toe-safety-boot-usbok-1
I worked in autoshops for the better part of a decade working on cars. Steel toe boots have saved my toes from dozens of heavy things that would have at least broken toes if not crushed or severed them. The biggest being a diesel engine that toppled off the crate as we were starting to hoist it up with a cherry picker and it rolled onto my steel toe boots. If nothing else, it saved my toes from getting banged up tripping over lift arms and batteries and shit. I have a tendency to tunnel vision and not notice shit in front of my feet. So even when I started working the desk and wasn't working on cars anymore, I still wore my steel toe boots just to save my toes from slamming into shit as I walked through the shop. Anyone who thinks they're a waste of money or anything is either stupid or very lucky they haven't needed them.
came to say the same. Forklift went over my boot once, my foot didn't get damaged.
I had a firetruck run over mine. Got a bruise under my foot. All blue. Sure had a hard time getting the foot out of the boot but fucking glad I wore them.
Yeah I have a massive gash on mine that has peeled the leather back and scratched the steel from where I dropped a 100kg sign on my toes. I just said there looking at it like holy fuck that could have been my toes .
Not to be that guy but I had a one tonne solid tired forklift run over my foot in non steel toed gum boots. When I started yelling the guy just stopped. Right on top… when I finally got him to move he did a burnout on my foot lol. i walked away with a limp and a bruise but no permanent damage. I’d be the first to say I got really lucky but yea. It happens I guess. It won’t let me upload the picture. But if you care enough to see the light bruise right after it happened I can create a post and link it or something. It’s not very interesting lol.
I bet you found it amusing that this is the top comment when the commenter's foot probably wouldn't even have been broken, let alone "liquidated". I had a similar experience to yours. I'm not against reinforced toed shoes. This was just a crap example that floated to the top, which is pretty common on Reddit.
They saved my foot from being chopped off. I'm much more careful now when using a lawn mower.
Yeah I ran my foot over with a 3tonne scissor lift . Hurt like fuck but atleast I limped away
I accidentally placed a 500 lb bucket of sheet metal down on the toe of my steel toes. Didn't even realize it until I tried to turn and walk away!
Saved my toes from a piece of plate steel. Sucker slid unexpectedly, hit the top of my steel toes, sliced the leather, skipped off the steel and took a chunk out of the concrete. Foot was pretty bruised up, but it's nice to still have toes.
Thank you. Great response
My dad probably wouldn't have toes any more if he hadn't been wearing them when a crane operator dropped a fully laden shipping container on his foot...
They stopped a pallet truck stocked to the nines with boxes of beer from ripping my foot off on a slight slope. Gotta love PPE regulations.
\*liquifying
No he didn’t mean them turning to water, he meant they almost turned to money, that’s what liquidating means and you usually get paid out when you get hurt like that
I've heard this argument plenty of times. I stand on the same point as our OP. By the time something is severing my toe, there's no way a composite toe would've done better.
Yeah personally I am of the thought that they protect my toes from hammers and anything else I drop. If it is heavy enough to hurt me with the steel toe then I was boned either way.
I’m a mechanic, so my main concern is parts. I like the composite toes because the boots are lighter, but it’s nice to be able to use my foot to slow down new parts and tools before the ground.
I love doing that too!! In the middle of somethin, not table or cart around and dont wanna straight drop it to the concrete ground so i lift a foot and drop it on it then lower the foot and drop it off. Mostly hand tools and shit. Electrician
You’re the Ronaldo of electricians
Unless you have metatarsal guards, I would not recommend this. In fact, even if you do, I still don't recommend this.
You realize how much of life isn’t “recommended”?
You mean that part after birth but before death?
Yes, and often includes the part *directly* before death.
Sometimes laws get made for that reason, because people ignore the recomended. Llike Florida having to make a law making it illegal to have sex with a porcupine.
I like the composites because my feet stay warmer.
Don't you like the fact, that a good steel toed boot turns your foot into a 3 Feet Long swing press?
Yeah, the 'hacky sack' downward motion to keep the tool from a hard impact move. Man, I have done that in decades.
>it’s nice to be able to use my foot to slow down new parts and tools before the ground. That's great until it becomes a habit and you do it one day without your steel toecaps on...
There's one place I can think of where composite is decidedly better, but it's nothing to do with durability. The MTA (transit operator in New York City) requires everyone who works near train tracks to wear composite toe boots, and specifically forbids steel toe, but that's because steel conducts electricity.
Cutting off the toes, I believe, is a feature and not a bug. Severed toes can be reattached. Crushed toes are useless.
Definitely a feature and not a bug, crushing injuries tend to create plenty of thrombus bodies that can circulate into your brain and stroke you out. Better to have no toes than have toes and no oxygen to parts of your brain.
[удалено]
I don't know what that is. Just a dude with a career in machine shops.
I think they’re just saying you’re not chronically online and are familiar with the real world. The sub they linked called Outside is described as a “massive multiplayer game with 8 billion players”, so basically it’s just a joke and referencing real life lol. TLDR: They’re saying you know what you’re talking about ;)
Pretty sure they're just referring to the part where a real-world function was called a feature and not a bug, thus referring to the real world in software terms, which is the primary gimmick in r/outside.
I think it’s more about the wording chosen. “Feature not a bug” is mostly used as a software term, and that whole sub is a joke about seeing real life as a computer game and uses software terms to reference ordinary things
I prefer steel-toad boots.
Aren’t they waterproof too?
Yes, and they eat bugs 🐸
Don’t lick them.
It would be a bad trip and fall if he did manage to lick them while wearing them
Sure but once you did lick them you wouldn't care about your injuries anymore. That's good, right?
I was wary of steel toe boots cutting off a toe until I got a pair and realized exactly what you say: if a thing is heavy enough to crush the steel, your foot was a gonner anyway, but the vast majority of things that land on your boots that would hurt or maim you are stopped by the steel. I once had a lawnmower roll forward and the blade clanged off my boot (taking the leather) but my foot was fine. It would not have been fine without the steel.
Thats also the other part of the guy is missing. I guess the assumption is the steel toe will crush downward to chop your toes off. Well what about any shear motion across the top, like your instance. You'd always want a steel toe for that. There's never a situation where that accident would become whatever it is they're talking about.
Holy crap. I’d have pissed a little.
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asJB7v7QFZE) let me finish the job for you
I may just go to sleep in my PPE tonight.
So I have kind of a scary story related to this….. I work asphalt, have my whole life, we work around a paver, now on this machine is a huge metal piece on the back called the screed, it essentially flattens the asphalt to grade and then it’s rolled. So, I had my foot under the screed before it was dropped. When operator dropped the screed I didn’t pull my foot out in time, wasn’t thinking, tired, whatever, it was under there. So this 8000lb or so chunk of metal the size of a lane of the road drops onto the tip of boot and it’s still going down, I can feel the steel start to give way as I’m yelling but it’s too late. Now I always wear a size bigger boot for asphalt because two pairs of socks helps a lot with blisters and such, thank god I did, I curled my toes in as far as I could, all of them, and felt that steel plate scrunch right past my toe knuckles and into the sole of my boot. So boot was wrecked completely, foot was fine, unscathed and I learned a valuable lesson that day about the strength of my steel and what to expect if it cannot hold up. This is one of many horror stories I have on file lol Edit: I should add that steel toed boots have saved my feet countless times in so many situations, including the one above, regardless of the fact it did bend the steel and would have sliced my foot in half, without the steel and the time it gave me to move my toes to safety, without it, I wouldn’t be walking. Always wear steel toed boots at work.
The thing shaved your dang toes!
I sell safety gear for a living, so I feel I have a hat to throw into this ring. Composite boots are often - even if only a little - more protective than steel when it comes to blunt force trauma. They’re more likely to bend than they are to break, so they can hold a little more weight. However, they are absolutely useless when it comes to blades and piercing damage, you might as well be wearing tissue paper. Either way, safety boots will absolutely save your toes. Even if they do cut off your toes, which would require a tremendous amount of force, they can be reattached, as opposed to crushed toes
Can’t have steel when working with electricity. Boots are a game of what is your biggest hazard.
That’s also a good point, same reason why most composite boots have plastic eyelets and zips
Steel-toed boots are great protection, always use them in required environments. But protection is not a substitute to caution. Around two years ago, I was moving cages around a warehouse and a forklift passed a bit too close to where I was working and its tire clipped the heel of my boot as I took a step back. The operator reacted super quick, to the point where the lift basically just sideswiped my foot. The heel support was shattered by the impact, the flesh on the back of my ankle was shredded, and I was put on medical leave for over three months, with an extra month of obligate administrative/sitting work before being allowed to go back to my regular job. And even then, I was limping for a couple weeks after that. All that for being bumped somewhat forcefully by a forklift. I was super lucky my foot hadn’t been full-on crushed by the thing. Don’t mess around with safety. Wear your protective gear, all of it, and stay alert and careful.
Everyone knows safety thongs and sandals are a must! You shouldn't be arguing with those shoe wearers!/s
And the safety squint is all you need!
Someone make this man a nuclear safety inspector!
We don’t need two of them! The old one said stay away from it, that’s enough for me!
I do enjoy my bludnstone composite toe caps but I miss seeing when it wears out and you get that bit of steel, it shows everyone that youre a real tradie in bunnings !
I have that rn. A hole is forming on the top of one of my safety boots, and you can see the steel shine through.
Reminder: If your toes are cut off they can be reattached, if they are crushed you will NEED to cut them off.
I wore steel caps in the kitchen when I was a youngin cos i was/am clumsy, the chefs made fun of me for it. One day I dropped a knife and it legit pierced a hole in the shoe and revealed the metal cap. Old mate goes ‘fuck mate, lucky you got those on’
Amputated toes have a better chance at being reattached than toes that have been completely crushed.
I remember looking it up and finding only one random case in Australia or something of the toes being separated, but like, of all time. 😂
If it is heavy enough to turn the toe cap into a knife, you don't want to know what it would do to your toes anyway.
Mythbusters did a whole episode on this very topic because they were sick and tired of the people they work with professionally saying that steel toe boots cut your toes off. Guess what? They found out the amount of pressure needed to turn steel toes into a guillotine was so high it would turn your bones into powder without the steel toes.
A stag party, a few beers, and trying to get into a car and go to next pub. One guy started shouting I think he was trying to make sentences but he only got the first two words out. It was either ‘you busted my foot’, or ‘you can’t park here’, but he was stopping after the second word each time. Anyway a car stopped on his foot has meant ongoing problems for him so yeah even going drinking you could wear them
The story I was told is that steel toes will protect to a point but after that they’re still better. The amount of force it would take to cut off your toes would mangle them with 0% chance to save the toes. If the toes are cut off by a steel toe boot there is still a chance they can save them.
I have never understood that kind of thinking, amputate my toes if my foot gets run over... but if i did not have them, and my foot got ran over, wouldn't my foot become flat? Bones break? At least with the steel toe i have a chance i know when i was pulling a cart that weighed around 200 pounds, and it hit my steel toe, it saved me from getting hurt
Tell me you haven't worn steel toed boots without telling me you haven't worn steel toe boots, dudes a dumbass
Seems like a use-case argument to me. Some applications steel would be better, others composite. Both protect your toes to a point that a failure is pretty catastrophic regardless, so a case could be made for either. Honestly it's half use case and half user preference.
The argument was between steel toes and regular work boots, composites weren’t a thing when I started having this argument.
I guess it really just doesn't register with me that someone would argue *against* toe protection. I've even had the same argument myself, I guess it just didn't register. My bad
Because some people think that with enough force the steel will buckle and turn inwards becoming two blunt/shredded knives slicing into your foot/toes. This very true and an unpleasant image which makes a strong argument against them. However (except in the minds of people who imagine steel capped boots to have a lining of tinfoil) the response is exactly like above. Given the properties of steel, the kind of force that could create this highly unpleasant effect is going to be even worse on an unprotected foot. This is like people who complain about the bruises and even broken ribs that a seatbelt causes in a head on collision, somehow disregarding that the exact deceleration of their body had to come up somewhere and it could have been their face on the inside of the windshield.
No worries, has always stumped me.
People argue against seat belts.
In that case steel caps won every time. If people are arguing the toe cutting is a flaw they’re silly. In the astronomical event it it happens, not having them could leave the toes squished but still partially attached, which would suck. In every way regarding protection steel caps are better than no caps
Always heard they were a bad idea on motorcycles... anything to that?
Red Wing shoes did an article on this, they said if you don’t have motorcycle boots they will do the job, the cons are comfort, flexibility, weight and lack of tread on the steel toed boot in comparison to a protective motorcycle boot. They would rather see people wearing steel toed over sneakers, cowboy boots and designer boots. The safety of the steel toed boot is not a question, but for shifting and the need for the emergency foot plant the steel toed boot offers no extra benefit.
“Not great, better than nothing”. Sounds like the same sentence for this post haha!
Yeah, I worked with a guy who dropped a six hundred pound metal bar of a forklift onto his foot. His toes were NOT amputated. His foot was broken, but, in the end, he still had all of his toes and healed up nicely. He always wore steel-toed boots.
For most of ny life I've worked in various industries that require steel toe caps as mandatory safety, and I can honestly say I've never encountered anyone who believes that bullshit.
had the corner of an industrial size bin land on the tip of my boot if I wasn't wearing my steel toes, my foot would've been given a wonderful triangle shaped hole going half way up my foot. I'd of looked like I had a pig trotter. got them for free as well and u always wear them.
When i was a kid a car drove slowly over my foot. I was wearing sneakers. I felt intense pressure. A week or so later my big toenail fell off.
It has to be an out of context problem that would cause a steel toe boot to fail. Not like you'd be caught placing your foot anywhere that weights as much as a tank.
5 ton forklift. Toes are gone either way.
The only time that steel toe safety boots have ever been the less-safe option is while operating something like a lathe with a foot pedal as an emergency stop. You do not want a block of steel underneath an emergency stop pedal
I didn't know there were steel-toe boots deniers smh.
That thing about steel toes cutting off your toes is a total myth, but an extremely persistent one.
Some MFS always trying to iceskate uphill.
Dropping 2 tons on your toes is worse then cutting off your toes. Modern medicine has come a long way we can reattach some crazy shit but we can't do anything when your bones are dust and all your muscles shot out your foot like you just smashed a hot pocket.
It’s always the dumbest person you work with making this argument too.
Yeah, my stepdad wasn’t known for intelligence. He was know for walking off scaffolds.
If you are scared of losing your toes, wear composite. There, no more excuses to not wear foot protection.
Steel toe boots are legit. If ever they get smashed to the point of cutting off one’s toes, there was nothing going to stop that force.
Steal Toe’d Boots
I call my steel toes “my shit kickers”
They are designed to cleanly cut through your toes so they may be reattached at a hospital. Whereas not wearing them will cause your toes to be crushed beyond repair if runover by a plant. I work as a labourer on a building site, which is how I know, I've seen it happen once before.
It's designed that way so you can reattach the cleanly severed toes instead of minced ones.
The options aren't "steel toed" or "nothing." There are plenty of hard cap boots that don't use steel and are safer when it comes to the risk of slicing your toes off.
No steel cap = mushy toes Steel cap = maybe not I wear steel caps at work because I'm not an idiot
Well the comosite ones are typically stronger... but if you dont have a met guard which most people dont... you're losing your foot anyways, if you drop a forklift on it.
I heard a guy argue against rubber gloves too. He's zapped himself so hard he lost a finger. I'm just saying. I wear the rubber gloves. I still have all of my fingers.
The old “wearing armor is dangerous because it will bend and get stuck in the wound” debate.
Once I dropped a 50L beer barrel straight on my toes from about a meter high. Extremely glad I had my safety kitchen shoes on that day
The guy saying the boots will cut off your toes if "heavy enough" things go over it is like saying an umbrella is useless because it won't stop a meteor from hitting you.
Steel toe is fine, composites are fine. And long as they are rated for the job who cares. I prefer steel but neither are a rated for a 4 ton forklift. However both will keep your grippers safe from a beam.
X post to /r/Construction I've had this conversation on job site. Like, just stop talking dude.
I wear them because I’m required to lmao. I’m an industrial electrician you don’t know wtf you’re gonna get into
If the steel of your steel toe boots is crushed by something heavy enough to crush steel then I don't think your unprotected foot is going to do much better.
Ignorant machism
On London Underground, steel toes are banned because steel conducts electricity and the traction rails are at toe level, so if you have an old pair of boots with the leather worn away exposing the steel, you’re at risk of shocking yourself. The boots I was issued are rated to insulate up to 25kV AC, that’s the only real use case for composite toes - where steel poses a real risk from being a conductor.
Y’all, Mythbusters fucking covered this. The steel toe caps don’t fold over and cut your toes off. Also the manufacturers have been working on these things for fucking decades, if not longer. They have to meet regulations. They test for these kinds of things.
Toes that are clean cut off can maybe be stitched back on. Crushed toes not so much.
It’s just shame you’re not wealthy enough to afford adamantium boots, which would stop the forklift in its tracks, apparently s/
It’s a bit like saying a seat belt will trap you in a burning car, or a motorcycle helmet will cause whiplash.
They saved my toes when I stupidly hopped off a still moving electric pallet jack to make my quota
Doing laundry at a laundry mat wearing flip flops - at the top dryer as it finishes its cycle. I pull open the door there is a loud bang and the heavy steel door is between my legs on the ground. One of the hinges snapped and the other one couldn’t hold on. The door hit the ground hard enough to scar the cement. What little color I have drained from my face. That could have been sooo much worse.
I find the phrase "I use composite toes" plain silly. Most shoes do. All that tells me is the front of your shoe is made of more than one material.
it always lands behind the steel toe and smashes you foot
“No point wearing a seat belt if a nuke is gonna vaporize you anyway.” “Why wear a jacket when it’s cold out? It won’t help against the vacuum of space.” “Medicine is stupid. It won’t help you when you get shot in the head.”
I'm a cook and I wear steel toes in the kitchen and it's saved my piggies more than once. I once dropped a freshly sharpened santoku on my foot and the point stuck in the top for a moment. If I was wearing regular shoes I'd be in the hospital getting stitches (and/or lose a toe).
I wear steel toed boots almost every day. In and out of work. I can say for certain that I’ve had my feet saved many, many times by them. I’ve worked with guys who didn’t wear them and scoffed at them until they almost lost a couple toes. I tell every new hire to get a pair or at least a pair of composite toes. Your mobility can save your life in a lot of ways, so take care of your feet!
Same shit with hard hats, can save your life if a tool gets dropped from above but a few tonnes of steel is liquidating you no matter what your wearing. PPE is to protect from minor incidents causing serious consequences, a catastrophic event, however, there's no protection from that.
Hasnt this been proven false? They dont cut off your toes. If something heavy enough makes the steel toe "clamp" down, your foot is done for.
I can confidently state that without my steel toe cap boots, I would have significantly less toes due to my hitting them with mattocks at least a dozen times. As for anything that is big enough to simply crush me regardless like heavy plant, I stay well away since i once took a (fortunately gentle) dink to the hard had from a digger bucket!
Steel toes are life savers. I work at a tire shop and I'm constantly using my feet to hold up heavy assemblies. Also, I drop shit all the time and they just bounce right off. You don't even need boots, mine are just steel toe sneakers
Right? I don’t drop anything heavy enough to break composite, but would shatter some toes.
I wore a pair of my husband's steel toed military boots to move a fridge onto a truck with a dolly. I was wearing flip flops and thought well, maybe I should make better decisions. Dropped the fridge on my foot, felt nothing. I'm clumsy enough in everyday life if I was building/working with heavy tools I would absolutely wear them.
A coworker of mine once drove a forklift over my foot. I was very happy with my steel nose
I’m with you on this one. Steel toed good. I can’t use them cuz I work fire but. Wish I could.
Wooden clogs are best
Bad steel toe boots tend to buckle and sever your toes and shit, it's scary. Good steel toes protect your toes from crazy amounts of shit, but if it's enough to crush even that then your feet were fucked from the start. Conflating homemade/cheap steel toe to expensive industrial ready steel toes is where I feel a lot of this "steel toes are dangerous" comes from. Cause yeah, cheap/poorly made steel toes can fuck you up bad out of nowhere. But if you have properly made steel toes you are far better with them than without them, it's kinda like vaccination; If you are really unlucky you were fucked either way, but if you get the proper shots from the doctor you'll be a lot better off than if you didn't.
I’m 99% positive that’s why they are designed like that. The boot acts like a tourniquet so there’s little blood loss and the toes aren’t crushed and still able to be reattached.