Just a quick follow-up on my previous post regarding Steel Toe Skechers.
First, I finally bought a pair, and they rock. Really comfortable once I added one of those memory foam Dr. Scholl’s insoles, and other than looking slightly bigger than a standard sneaker if you really take the time to look closely, they look like any other sneaker.
On another note, a comment was made about the safety of steel toes vs. composite toes, and mention was made of the Mythbusters episode testing the steel toes. Well, I finally saw the episode. End result was that not only were steel toes safer than regular shoes in any situation they could test, by a long shot, in the ONE situation in which the steel toe caused significant damage, it was actually only a contributing factor, not the direct cause of the loss of the toe, and (although they don’t explicitly mention this), a composite toe would cause the same exact damage for the same exact reason.
For those interested, the Discovery Channel is rerunning that particular episode this coming Wednesday at 8p eastern.
–A
I’m doing research on steel-toe vs. composite. I am currently a fan of steel-toe boots, having had them save my toes when a stagehand dropped a steel barricade on them during a concert load in. I’ve always maintained that any accident bad enough to bend the steel, thereby damaging my toes, would only do that much worse if I weren’t wearing the steel in the first place. But, I’m searching for a new pair of boots, since my current pair are wearing out, and all the styles that I can find that I like seem to be composite toe. So, do you know, or can you point me towards, the functional differences and similarities between steel versus composite?
Hey Joreth,
Sorry for the delay; for some reason the site hasn’t been notifying me of new comments lately, I need to sort that out. Anyway, I haven’t really heard much about composites vs steel. As best I know the protection is similar. I at first expected the composites to be lighter, but the guy at the Red Wing store I was asking about them said that they are thicker to provide the same protection, so the weight about evens out.
–A