Steel toe or not

[Tom Dunlap]

I've been buying my boots from Nokomis Shoe Shop In Minneapolis for about 37 years. My first wear a pair of kangaroo skin 8" hunting boots. About two months ago I bought a pair of Vasque. They were marked $120 but I got them for $110. Maybe because I wore them home instead of in a box

http://65.108.1.131/index.html

Tom

 

[lhampton]

I see a lot of guys mention that they don't or wouldn't use steel toes near utility lines. I'm not that familiar with the line clearance end of the business, is this really an issue?

I would have thought that if you are in tight enough to worry about the steel caps on your toes, that there are other, more valuable parts of your anatomy to try and keep from making crispy.

Louie Hampton

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I've tried logger boots, then blew out some ligaments in my ankle. I cannot se how women walk in heels!

Logger boots are made for climbing in gaffs, mountain boots ar made for climbing....

If your boss has been in logger for 30 years, then that means he has tried nothing else. I like to experiment once in a while. I had been wearing Danners for years, but when i started footlocking they did not hold up. These seem to be holding theor own.

Oh, they are comfortable, and comfort is good. Gaffs fit tin them ok, I don't wear gaffs all that much so I'm not a good judge there.

 

[Bradley]

Jps, I second the motion on the La Sportiva's. I've gotten into the habit of wearing my Makalu's for all gaff work over the Wesco's. The shank is so much better, I can stand in the irons all day with absolutely no foot pain. Any boot designed to work w/crampons will work great with gaffs.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

That sounds like the modle that joey wears, and the same reasoning.

Loggerboots have not realy changed over the yeasr all that much, the climbing sports provenders engineer things for people who are willing to spend money on something that works.

Comfort is a good thing, I hurt enough as it is, so i'll spend a bit more money on a better boot.

 

[Froggy]

Reply

JP->maybe it's all a mater of personal preferance. One might prefere loggers over climbing boots. Or vice versa. I say what ever works. I agree with you that one shouldn't be afraid to try new and better products offered out there. One other thing loggers have gotten lighter and more designed towards tree climbing. So you can sit in your gaffs all day or prune all day. You have to be willin to spend money on a good product. Like they say you get what you pay for.
BB

 

[jokers]

Line clearance guys in this area are required to wear EH(electric hazard) rated footwear which normally have composite safety toes and shanks. Right now I`m wearing a pair of Bates 2230s. Nylon and leather upper, composite toe and shank, and a soft Vibram sole. They are relatively lightweight and they are comfortable, including the wide toe. They even have a zipper down the side. They look like SWAT team boots. BTW, the EH standard is set locally by the utility that owns the lines as far as I know. I also know that there is an OSHA standard for safety toe footwear for loggers and I believe groundies as well.

Louie, you`re right about making other parts of your body crispy before worrying about damage to your feet but what typically happens when a person becomes part of a high voltage circuit is that a substantial exit wound occurs at the part of the body which is best grounded. So it doesn`t really have anything to do with contacting high voltage with your feet, in fact there are working clearances that must be maintained based on voltage, the higher the voltage the larger the distance. I guess what they are trying to achieve is minimization of ground potential through the feet. From videos and pics I`ve seen it`s pretty common to have toes blown off and wounds in the bottom of feet that look as if they were made by a 12 guage.

Russ