I have a pair of steel toe 16"Hoffmans with non-studded logging soles that are about a year and half old. The cons are that they are heavy, hard to break in, and about $300 dollars after being shipped. The pros is that after a year and half of doing tree work and hauling scrap metal (which I use the boots as hammers to bust sharp pieces of metal off the sides of the trailers) they are holding up great. They are made in either the US or Canada, and they seem to really take pride in their work. They are great of you do a lot of spiking but otherwise they are pretty heavy and cumbersome for climbing around the crowns of trees. I've hiked 21 miles with 80lbs of gear (not by choice) while wearing them and it wasn't to bad, so they can be used for other task outside their intended use. Hoffman makes some other boots that are less expensive and lighter and probably better if you do a lot dragging brush, especially up and down hills.
As mentioned if you know a good shoe cobbler you could just get your boots resoled, however they have to be good and really know what they are doing. I had a pair of redwings redone and the guy who supposedly knew what he was doing did a butch job on it and the boots were falling apart in a couple months.
A boot I really like for doing tree work or for just about anything is the old olive drap military Jungle boots, but they have to genuine military boots, because there are a lot of cheap knocks off that don't last at all and sadly a lot of military surplus will try to sell the imitation boots yet swear up and down they are the genuine deal. They don't have steel toes in them, and they are not water proof, and not good for snowy conditions (however I have worn them in winter but expect your feet to get wet if your in slush), but they are lite, drain water quickly (helps if you wear wool socks) , have excellent traction, have a great heel for wearing gaffs, protective shank that is still flexible enough for long hikes or dragging lots of brush, last at least a year of solid abuse and can be found for about $60 to $100 dollars.
Good luck.
