Steel toes kill my toes

[jakethesnake]

Give it a try yourself. I'm in the middle of resoling a pair or RW 8188 that I picked up with a damaged toe. Changed it from a 270 degree welt with a heel to a 360 welt with a Vibram 2060. I replaced the cork filler with leather and added a midsole.

Help me lol.

 

[Dub11]

Help me lol.

My handy work looks like a dog chewed on them lol.

Now this guy does some good work and is priced pretty decent compared to some others I've seen. He quoted me about 200 on a pair of boots and that with adding a welt to a blake stitched boot. Ive seen other cobbler charge 100-150 just to replace a welt let alone add one.
Also he did a pair of Heritage RW that had been resoled at RW amd they didn't put the cork back in.

And heres this guy who does this double sole thing. He takes a softer wedge sole then adds a thinner hard rubber vibram to it. He lists the price at 190 and up just for the sole.

 

[jakethesnake]

The last time I got mine done by my local it was 60$ lol. He was old school. Just needed a sole. He polished them all up good. I don’t think I’m willing to go 2 bills on a rebuild with new around 3

 

[Deets066]

The last time I got mine done by my local it was 60$ lol. He was old school. Just needed a sole. He polished them all up good. I don’t think I’m willing to go 2 bills on a rebuild with new around 3

Same here. Old timers that did it just closed their shop. They were in their 80’s and nobody had interest to take the company over. Sucks because they did an awesome job.

 

[davidwyby]

The last time I got mine done by my local it was 60$ lol. He was old school. Just needed a sole. He polished them all up good. I don’t think I’m willing to go 2 bills on a rebuild with new around 3

I have a guy that has helped me a lot in escondido. Resoled 3 pairs of my chips, helped me figure out my arch. But he's 2 hrs from me, haven't made it back to ask about the toe crunch. He'd probably do shipping or I could. I think he was $75

 

[Wilhelm]

HAIX Black Eagle Safety 50 Mid



Wide toe section, toe cap and puncture proof sole - not steel though.
Very thick leather, took 6 shoe cream treatments and 4 weeks of wearing 8+ hours a day to get them soft where it matters.
They now feel almost pleasant to wear, they should settle and adapt to my feet with more wear time.

I have been getting extreme feet pain from the safety shoes that I get at work.
I could feel the steel toe cap throughout the entire work shift.
I now wear these HAIX shoes and it seems my feet are recovering.

HAIX used to be Germany made, not anymore unfortunately.

My BIL introduced me to HAIX safety shoes.
He gave me a pair of "Texas" and "Trekker" and they were the most comfortable work shoes I ever wore.
Steel toe cap and sole inlay.
One were mid the other high.
I loved those!

 

[Wilhelm]

HAIX Black Eagle Tactical 2.0 GTX Mid



No safety features, but lightweight and comfortable to the feet after a very short wear-in period.

My feet are very wide in the toe section, as such I have issues finding shoes that I can wear without getting aching feet.

 

[cus_deluxe]

When theres not snow on the ground, i wear 8" thorogood moc-toe composite toe boots all day everyday, best boots ive owned. @davidwyby i had a similar issue with keens that i used to wear. A persons feet are similar in size to each other, but not exact, sounds like u have one foot thats just slightly bigger and maybe is the dominant side so it gets worked more.

 

[redline4]

don’t pretend like we don’t know why your boots are blown out from kneeling down sugar dot dot dot

I learned it by watching you.

Chinese boots may work for you, or maybe you just haven’t tried the right boot yet.

Bangladesh actually. So Ive tried Carolina, Georgia, Danner, Thouroughgood, Wolverine, Keen, Redwing, and probably a couple I have forgotten over the 27 years of me working on cars. I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Dub11]

The last time I got mine done by my local it was 60$ lol. He was old school. Just needed a sole. He polished them all up good. I don’t think I’m willing to go 2 bills on a rebuild with new around 3

I'm not either that's why I'm giving it a go myself. Plus working nights has given me a chunk of free time to mess around.

My local cobbler is $80

 

[Dub11]

HAIX Black Eagle Safety 50 Mid

View attachment 328524 View attachment 328525 View attachment 328526 View attachment 328527 View attachment 328528

Wide toe section, toe cap and puncture proof sole - not steel though.
Very thick leather, took 6 shoe cream treatments and 4 weeks of wearing 8+ hours a day to get them soft where it matters.
They now feel almost pleasant to wear, they should settle and adapt to my feet with more wear time.

I have been getting extreme feet pain from the safety shoes that I get at work.
I could feel the steel toe cap throughout the entire work shift.
I now wear these HAIX shoes and it seems my feet are recovering.

HAIX used to be Germany made, not anymore unfortunately.

My BIL introduced me to HAIX safety shoes.
He gave me a pair of "Texas" and "Trekker" and they were the most comfortable work shoes I ever wore.
Steel toe cap and sole inlay.
One were mid the other high.
I loved those!

If you get another pair with that thick leather hit it with a heat gun before oiling. Helps them pores open up and absorb the leather.

 

[Wilhelm]

If you get another pair with that thick leather hit it with a heat gun before oiling. Helps them pores open up and absorb the leather.

I place shoes next to a heat source before and after applying shoe cream, and yes it helps a lot.

 

[Loony661]

Anyone know a decently priced place to send out for resole. ? I’ve done these once. They were wedge originally but got freshened up by a local who retired. He had these soles in stock. They were fine. Anyway I’m not wearing them now nica use I’ve cut them so they have me walking wrong. Love those boots. They’re the red wing heritage

Send them back to Red Wing for them to work over. I have done that multiple times. The boots always come back oiled, with new eyelets, laces, and soles of my choice..

 

[Loony661]

Wore caterpillar Alaska’s in my teens and 20s. Switched to Chippewa 6” leather boots, low heel. Had several pairs, good boots. One steel toe pair fit ok. While back I got some steel toe Chippewa loggers. Recently I got some steel toe “jump boots”. Canvas and leather, low heel. Both boots pairs, mainly on my right foot, crush the ends of my toes in, especially walking on rough terrain. I can’t wear them. It’s like the sole curls up too much and hit my toes, I don’t think it’s the steel toe itself. I have long skinny feet except wide at the front. Any input or ideas? I hate not wearing steel toes for sawing and really should wear them all the time for the stuff I’m always up to. I smashed my toe with a deuce tire tonight…

I like to wear safety toe boots as well. Most boots fit me true to size just fine, but 2 pair I remember that I had to upsize the width to prevent the toe box from being too tight. Maybe just try a wider boot?
I wear Tony Lama steel toe cowboy boots for driving/everyday wear. Red Wing steel toes for in the shop. And Grand Forest kevlar lined, steel toe boots in the woods most often...

 

[Philbert]

HAIX used to be Germany made, not anymore unfortunately.

How ironic: my HAIX boots are made in Croatia!

I wanted their ‘AirPower’ (“Black Eagle’ style), but they were too narrow for my feet, and I kept paying for return shipping costs. Had to go to their heavier ‘Protector’ boots, in a larger size, which feel more like ski boots than work boots to me.

Philbert

 

[Philbert]

Both boots pairs, mainly on my right foot, crush the ends of my toes in, especially walking on rough terrain.

I like the protection of steel toed boots. That said, they are not very forgiving on size. They will not stretch to conform to your foot like an all leather boot will. I have wide feet, and sometimes have trouble getting a good fit.

But what I have found is the enormous difference a good pair of insoles can make in the fit of boots. I have to often have to go to a larger size, in order to get the width I need, but then my foot is swimming around in the larger boots. Well fitting insoles can sometimes stabilize your foot in the boot making it fit much better. can be an inexpensive thing to try.

Philbert

 

[Wilhelm]

How ironic: my HAIX boots are made in Croatia!

I wanted their ‘AirPower’ (“Black Eagle’ style), but they were too narrow for my feet, and I kept paying for return shipping costs. Had to go to their heavier ‘Protector’ boots, in a larger size, which feel more like ski boots than work boots to me.

Philbert

AirPower P6 , safety boots

And, yes they are quite narrow heel to toe.
No returning those for me, I will try and "wear them in".

All three of my HAIX are "Made in Croatia" , unfortunately.

The Black Eagle Safety wore in nicely so far, I am considering to look for another pair in "high".

 

[Wilhelm]

I like the protection of steel toed boots. That said, they are not very forgiving on size. They will not stretch to conform to your foot like an all leather boot will. I have wide feet, and sometimes have trouble getting a good fit.

But what I have found is the enormous difference a good pair of insoles can make in the fit of boots. I have to often have to go to a larger size, in order to get the width I need, but then my foot is swimming around in the larger boots. Well fitting insoles can sometimes stabilize your foot in the boot making it fit much better. can be an inexpensive thing to try.

Philbert

I have realized that for me insoles do not fix bad footwear!
And could it really, the insole manufacturer can not know what the issue is with the customers footwear.

I got SIDAS insoles from my sister to use in my crappy work shoes, and those are expensive insoles.
They made the shoes barely bearable, but they were unable to transform them into good shoes.

A good shoe does not need any insoles, it simply has to fit the foot!

 

[jakethesnake]

I'm not either that's why I'm giving it a go myself. Plus working nights has given me a chunk of free time to mess around.

My local cobbler is $80

How did you get started? YouTube vids? 80$ I’d do on those boots but afraid even sending them back to redwing may be non cost effective.

 

[Woodpecker]

I learned it by watching you.

You must be a pro then. Better be careful you’ll get kicked out of the NSP club