Shoes For The Shop

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Grandpop

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Read the swarth thread with interst, but didn't want to hijack it.

Some background. 20 years ago I was a 4th generation tool & die maker, worked in shops 20 years before leaving the field. Back then everyone wore Knapp shoes, they had soles that hardly ever had the chips imbed to where you needed something to pull them out. Knapp is long out ofbuisness today.

Today I have a hobby shop in garage attached to house. I had a pair of new Knapp shoes saved all these years just in case, but the soles had dissentegrated, so mostly wear casual shoes with soft soles or old dress shoes in the shop. Other night I was milling up a riser block after welding. The carbide cutter made a lot of chips on the floor, which stuck in soles of shoes especially bad. Took about 1/2 hour to get them all out.

So was wondering what kind of shop shoe, or what kind of sole you have found to work well today wehen walking or standing on chips?
 
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My old Red Wing boots served me well. They had a relatively smooth hard sole which resisted embedding or trapping chips and wiped clean when leaving the shop. The 10" uppers protected my feet and ankles from those hot bits when my jeans are pulled over (many years ago , I used to tuck them in and I found out that doesn't work when welding metal). I have been wearing the same style for more than forty years. Unfortunately, the boot that I bought is no longer available in black. It still is in tan though; their model 1155.
 
I like the Navy surplus boots. Hard oil resistant soles, no tight tread to pickup chips. They have multiple options on height and fastening. You can even get liquid oxygen boots (LOX) like a big fancy slipper.
 
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I'm wearing a pair of trendy style safety boots lable'd up as stirling (think it a generic brand) they are quite comfy, their substantially lighter than my brother Dikies safety boots which I quite like but the fabric nature of them is probably less hard wearing than the leather ones.

It's handy when I drop stuff on my toes :)

Stuart
 
I've been wearing Red Wings for years also, but the lace up style for ankle support. I've tried a couple of different sole materials, but only one of theirs is one they will recommend for machine shop. Model number is 2238. I have them on right now. They are steel toed, and not cheap unless you consider how long they last. Then they are very reasonable.
 
Tony Wells said:
I've been wearing Red Wings for years also, but the lace up style for ankle support. I've tried a couple of different sole materials, but only one of theirs is one they will recommend for machine shop. Model number is 2238. I have them on right now. They are steel toed, and not cheap unless you consider how long they last. Then they are very reasonable.
Click to expand...

Them Red Wing boots look nice(just had a google) loads of them came up as non metallic safety boots, hows that work? (what is it insted)

I was recently doing some work in the Netherlands and was trying to convince my colleagues that we should start wearing clogs as our official company safety boots. (clogs are safety rated) :) they weren't having it unfortunately. booo.

Stuart
 
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Wear a pair of Rocky chucka boots in the winter. My old work Sketcher shoes when warmer. No problems with chips making it in the house. Happy wife . . . .

Bruce
 
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Non metallic toes work great. They are noticeably lighter, but still pass OSHA requirements. Not sure the exact composition, but seems like some kind of carbon fiber material. You can get sneakers with it and mess with the HSE people on the jobsites too, but you better have some documents with ya.
 
I have a pair of hard, rubber-soled shoes I have dedicated to the shop. I don't even like entering the shop with any other shoes (even though I am pretty OCD about sweeping and keeping the place clean). One thing you do not want to wear when chips are flying is a pair of crocs - holes in the top and rubber that acts like a chip magnet. Not a good combination :)
 
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