Shoes For The Shop

I to will vouch for Red Wngs. Since I discovered them 15 years or so back that is al I every buy. Only shoe I know that has a label ASTM F 2892-11EH. These are not steel toe either. Made in USA. Not cheap but worth it. ~$200 for a pair. Last 2-3 years waring them all he time.

All I ever wear are slip on boots.
Well, occasionally sandals to the mail box.
On ambulance I prefer Danners.
In shop I'm wearing through my second pair of Gravel Gear (Northern Tool $90).
Casual boots are low end Red Wing 5years with alot of miles and hiking.
I've made the decision that I'm going to Red Wing for shop boots protective toe, with non slip soles.

Daryl
MN

I've been wearing Red Wings for years, but with my current job have to wear the puncture resistant with steel toe, model 3505. They are overkill for the shop at home, but my employer gives me $150 per year for safety footwear, so I take advantage of it and buy a new pair each year. The pair I am currently wearing is two years old and I have a brand new pair still sitting in the box.

Anyway, these seem to do a pretty good job of rejecting the chips. Since I am moving my shop to the basement, my plan is to have one pair of boots just for in the shop. When I go in, the boots and the safety glasses get put on. When I come out, they get taken off and left in their proper place. That way, even if some chips stick in the soles, they don't get carried out into the rest of the house.

I've got an old pair of sneakers I use almost exclusively in my shop. They used to squeak as I walked with them on so it was a no brainer for me. They WERE decent kicks when I bought them, one day in the gym I heard the familar squeak and as the gentleman walked by I saw he had the exact pair of sneakers on.

When I come in the house through the the cellar they are taken off and placed on a shoe tray.

I warn the students when we are in the shop wprking the equipment about chips embedding in the soles of their shoes, I wonder how many check before they walk into their parents house.

I too use to wear and sell Knapp shoes, It paid to wear them and show off how well they were made. I really liked the models you could get the double cushion in. They had a sole garrantee that couldn't be matched the uppers had to wear out before the soles. Sold lots of those shoes but they were worth the money , like red wings now are worth the money. If your on your feet for eight to twelve hours a day you deserve comfort and good support for your feet. I put a lot of time putting seventy hour weeks in hot and cold shops. never worked in one air condition I now like the six inch farmer style work boots the cork rubber soles do pretty good. Unless the chips are really hot they just seem to roll out of the sole.

I had a problem with red wings soles coming unglued due to coolant getting on them. It took over a year to start though and that was working in them every day. And most home shops won't have coolant all over the place so it shouldn't be a problem at a home shop. Besides that they were pretty good. It was more of a sneaker then boot though.