breaking in safety boots.

[soundman]

I baught myself a new pair of safety boots recently as the old pair were looking decidedly uggly.
Now this is the third pair I'v had of this brand.... but they didnt seem to be breaking in as easily as I remember tha last pair.
The right toe particularly seemd to be copping a hammering..... it was like the boots were trying to break my toe off.

after some looking I surmised that the leather near the ball of my foot was too stiff and causing the problem.

So I tried all the old tricks
wear the boots wet
heat the boots with a hair drier and work em over with a screwdriver handle
give em heaps of leather dressing
put parafin oil on em
and
just toughing it out.

nup.... still trying to break my toes off.


so I got this idea


tennis balls
I got some tennis balls and stuffed em into the boots..... one right up against the steel cap and over against the side near the big toe area and another in beside wedging in against the other side.

left em there overnight

hmmm better

wore the boots all day... still hard on the feet

stuffed the balls in while the botts were still warm & left em in overnight

hmm better but still a bit rough

stuffed the balls in again & left em a few days.


AHH now much better
The soles are other parts will still need some wearing in till they are properly coumfy.... but they arent trying to break my toes off any more.


so if your steel caps are giving you a pain......... BALLS

cheers

[Wood Borer]

Thanks for the tip Soundman.

How did you get the odour out of the tennis balls?

[rrich]

Thanks for the tip Soundman.

How did you get the odour out of the tennis balls?

[Wood Butcher]

I recently went to talk to a podiatrist due to foot problems and he said that if you need to "break in" a pair of shoes then they are not the right shoes for you. Shoes should be comfortable form the moment you out them on. Apparently it is often the case that the shoe is not deforming as much as you think but you foot conforming to the shoe!!

[bitingmidge]

I lay awake all night trying to think of a smartie pants reply, and all I could think of was what Wood Butcher wrote!

I don't know what all the fuss is about, if God had wanted us to wear steel caps, he wouldn't have given us toenails!

P

[silentC]

Yeah I was going to say that I just pull those uncomfortable steel packers out of the toes of mine and they're fine.

But seriously, I found the solution to this was to change boot brand. I used to wear Blundstones all the time, but they gave me a lot of grief for the first couple of weeks. I have a big foot and they fold right in the middle when you walk - the crease would press into the top of my foot. One day I tried on a pair of Redbacks and I've never looked back.

[soundman]

The question isn't how you get the smell out of the balls......... it is how do you get the dog slobber off your socks

shoes should be comfortable from day 1......... yeh right..... that was obviously someone who has never worn any form of leather boot.

And seriouly how much choice do you realy have in steel cap boots.

I can remember the boots we were all lumberd with 20 years ago..... the modern steel caps are much better in the decent brands.

these are redbacks...... the last 2 pairs were no where near as hard breaking in as these.

yep the problem was the leather inverting & pressing down on my big toe.
the tennis ball stretches the leather and makes that leather bulge out rather than in...... which is what the old boots do.

all much better now..... just went for a morning walk 3.5 Km over rough ground up & down hills........ not quite in the properly comfy stage yet.... but tolerable........ tried that a couple of weeks ago and my toe ached for days afterward.


cheers

[silentC]

shoes should be comfortable from day 1......... yeh right..... that was obviously someone who has never worn any form of leather boot.

That's my point. The Redbacks are. For me. They are comfortable from day one, although I don't wear steel toe caps - no need. That's why I changed from the Blunnies.

[Waldo]

I bought a pair of Blundstones, steel cap and the full job that go past your ankles and comfy, pure heaven, so much so that I wore them everywhere until they started to look like work boots and I got told off by SWMBO.

They were similar to this one.

I should've bought two pairs at the time as they were heavily reduced because they were old stock and cheaper than the run of the mill ones you see the tradies wearing - missed opportunities, hindsight is a horrible thing.

[soundman]

I remember one of the blokes in my intake when i was an apprentice was finding wearing in his boots a bit.......tedious...... untill one day he was helping his father in his mechanical business on the weekend & steped both feet up to his anckles into a pan of sump oil when he wasn"t watching where he was going...... for some reason he wasn't able to clean his boots off straight away...... hmm something to do with a gearbox.

he reconed that that was the turning point toward comfortable boots.

cheers

[woodcutta]

I used to buy steel caps made by Rivers and they were the best - comfortable from day 1, but they stopped producing them. I now wear Steel Blues and they are almost as comfortable as the Rivers.

One thing that annoys me is taking off steels caps when going through Airport metal detectors, but some company is now producing Safety boots with Kevlar caps and plastic eyelets which make them airport friendly so I might try them next time.

woodcutta

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Wearing boots wet? That might stretch 'em a bit in places, but it makes the leather stiffer and decreases their comfort.

I've always just wadded up some paper towels, given 'em a liberal splash of Neatsfoot Oil and stuffed the boots with them to soak overnight. Repeated once or twice, if needed. It not only increases the waterproofing w/out damaging the exterior, but also softens the leather. I reckon it works a treat, provided you remember to wipe out any excess oil and only wear ratty socks for the first few days... (but any sock becomes ratty after a single day in my work boots. )

Joseph Lyddy makes the stuff I use... available at any good saddlery.

[glock40sw]

I live in my Redback elastic side steel cap boots. 7 days a week.
Wear them to work all week and go shooting in them of a weekend.

I wear woolen socks imported from NZ. I got a relly over there that sends them to me. I have not found any socks here in OZ worth wearing.

I have found that comfortable boots starts with good quality woolen socks.

[silentC]

Holeproof Explorers mate. Can't be beat. But not cheap, about $15 a pair.

[glock40sw]

Holeproof Explorers mate. Can't be beat. But not cheap, about $15 a pair.

G'day Silent.
For me, the Holeproof Explorers don't cut it. They are too short in the leg. My Kiwi socks are longer in the leg due to being woolen hiking/ bushwalking socks. This allows them to be turned down over the top of my boots, thus acting like crap-catchers, boot savers or whatever they are called in your area.