Andrew
Active member
I just had a conversation last week with someone who was wearing steel toe hiking boots and I brought up the rumors I had heard of toes being pinched or cut off from extreme impacts on steel toe boots. He replied he had seen a spot on one of those "Myth-buster" shows where they said this was an urban myth and not at all common. The major point being (since the ratings for such boots run a minnimum of 1,000 and up to 2,500 pounds), so I would guess that I might rather risk any outcome from steel boot effects- rather than face the damage an up to 1,000lb object could certainly cause.
Pete_Hickey- you may want to have your son look into some other sources for such boots, as there is a whole breed of new hiking boots that are actually "made for walkin" and have steel toes and are rather comfortable for hiking and well fitted. The logger type boot is very uncomfortable and considered the standard when you think of such a boot, but a boot such as Danners are specific to the agile workers needs. I guess I'm a nobody since I absolutely require them for myself, since with over 20 yrs of nearly weekly trail duties and thousands of hours of trail work, any time I get called out with the chainsaw and have a large log round topple onto my toe- I certainly regret not wearing them. Also running a saw in a tangle, you never know exactly what can happen and your saw-tip sometimes gets a bit closer-than-comfort to the toe. Often a rock you think is gonna roll this a way, instead goes that a way, and I don't seem to enjoy when that way is my toe!
With that said, many of the newer hiker type "steel toe" boots are actually a composite non conductive material (maybe Kevlar?) and probably wont cut off your toe. I do remember a pair I had at a younger age that had a low profile and the boot flexed so much that it caused undo pain that I swore was about to cut my toes off.
As for cotton pants. My suggestion is for an alternative to those who use Carharts as the trail standard- which are many of the crews nowadays. I owned my first pair of these in the early 80's when you could only buy them from a feed store, and only came double layered. They can be restrictrive to movement and the new ones soak water more easily (as also worn- comfortable ones tend also). The Duluth pants I recommended are infinitely more movement conducive, and you can actually hold them under running water and it beads up and rolls off. There is more to textile science than the nature of the material and how the fiber is woven can do miracles.
We all know the dangers of soaked cotton in exposed windy environments, but a day lower down or a good wicking thermal layer underneath can make it no big deal. I don't like the feeling of a large rock scraping against my thighs through wimpy fabrics, or the risk of my pruning saw skipping accross the same thin fabric when I'm sawing like mad close to the ground and the saw slipps the groove and goes where you don't want it. A durable appropriate material is my preference (in winter I use whipcord wool).
Grog is a true trail volunteer who helps out on the trails he loves and I have the highest regard for what he does. I think he actually also really loves the trails so much that he likes to get close to his work!
Pete_Hickey- you may want to have your son look into some other sources for such boots, as there is a whole breed of new hiking boots that are actually "made for walkin" and have steel toes and are rather comfortable for hiking and well fitted. The logger type boot is very uncomfortable and considered the standard when you think of such a boot, but a boot such as Danners are specific to the agile workers needs. I guess I'm a nobody since I absolutely require them for myself, since with over 20 yrs of nearly weekly trail duties and thousands of hours of trail work, any time I get called out with the chainsaw and have a large log round topple onto my toe- I certainly regret not wearing them. Also running a saw in a tangle, you never know exactly what can happen and your saw-tip sometimes gets a bit closer-than-comfort to the toe. Often a rock you think is gonna roll this a way, instead goes that a way, and I don't seem to enjoy when that way is my toe!
With that said, many of the newer hiker type "steel toe" boots are actually a composite non conductive material (maybe Kevlar?) and probably wont cut off your toe. I do remember a pair I had at a younger age that had a low profile and the boot flexed so much that it caused undo pain that I swore was about to cut my toes off.
As for cotton pants. My suggestion is for an alternative to those who use Carharts as the trail standard- which are many of the crews nowadays. I owned my first pair of these in the early 80's when you could only buy them from a feed store, and only came double layered. They can be restrictrive to movement and the new ones soak water more easily (as also worn- comfortable ones tend also). The Duluth pants I recommended are infinitely more movement conducive, and you can actually hold them under running water and it beads up and rolls off. There is more to textile science than the nature of the material and how the fiber is woven can do miracles.
We all know the dangers of soaked cotton in exposed windy environments, but a day lower down or a good wicking thermal layer underneath can make it no big deal. I don't like the feeling of a large rock scraping against my thighs through wimpy fabrics, or the risk of my pruning saw skipping accross the same thin fabric when I'm sawing like mad close to the ground and the saw slipps the groove and goes where you don't want it. A durable appropriate material is my preference (in winter I use whipcord wool).
Grog is a true trail volunteer who helps out on the trails he loves and I have the highest regard for what he does. I think he actually also really loves the trails so much that he likes to get close to his work!
