/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Man, I can't make ANY boot last more than 6 months. I'm three months in on a pair of redwings and they look like they'll need resoled in another month. If my job didn't reimburse me for boots, I'd just buy two pairs of ~$80 boots and alternate daily.

>>1611376
>Should I go back to blue steel?
Yes.

>>1611383
Yeah I am seriously tempted to buy a pair of target boots for 60 bucks. They'll probably last just as long and I won't be bummed out when they break

In volunteer firefighting they gave us boots with a zip in front of the laces. Amazing boots.

These work boots with the side zip are terrible.

Bunch of blokes walking around with rocks in their sloppy boots because the zip worked its way down.

How is the velcro strap supposed to stop the zip from sliding down?

Awful fucking design based around the notion that men dont want to lace up their boots.

Might as well go back to light up velcro kids shoes at this rate.

>>1611383

>>1611386
That "essential Craftsman" guy on yourube swears by Sears "diehard" Moc toes. They're about 80 bucks.

>>1611393
Sears has Cat and DeWalt steel/composite toe boots and shoes for good prices too. They don’t last super long but the few pairs I owned were real comfy for the 3-6 months I wore them them before they were trashed.

>>1611400
Composite toe is a joke imho

Maybe if you're a landscaper or painter

>>1611404
Or if you're required by the NEC and NFPA to wear non steel safety toe. Steel toe is also terrible if you work outdoors in the Winter unless you have an insulated pair.

>>1611431
I live in Australia so I have no appreciation for cold considerations. Never gets below 5 degrees C here.

>>1611404
Have sex

>>1611404
This >>1611486

Also composite makes a huge fucking difference when you’re walking 15k+ steps a day.

>>1611383
Jeez, what do you do? I have a pair of their chink ass settlers, got them in August 2017,and only in the last few months have the soles started to wear, the steel toe show through, and did I burn the laces. Most of that in heavy production,now repair

Bates combat boots. Have had the Marine issue boots for 8 years and wear them 4-5 days a week swapping into my Justin steel toe cowboy boots when I've got light work and want to be comfy. Bates are only composite toe and expensive as shit but they've lasted me 8 years of heavy wear and tear with nothing to show.

>>1612263
This is what I've had

>>1612263
>implying

The first thing you do right out of training is to go to the PX and buy proper boots. Literal dogshit boots

>>1611376
Rocky's
Pic related 12 wide
2 years on masonry and hardcore trail hiking
Supreme durability, water proofing, and ankle support
Product code RKYK076
Own three pairs, one still in box. Never worn a more comfortable boot and I've been doing this shit for 22 years.

>>1612356
2 years on that pair that is. Only issue ever was laces, and my first pair got destroyed at the leather front over the steel toe because of a footing I was doing. This second pair lasted longer and are still kicking. Tread is amazing. Boot may be a bit heavy for some, and they are like 150$. Easily repairable though and literally the best boot I've ever worn hands down
Seriously
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.rockyboots.com/rocky/sale/rocky-elements-dirt-steel-toe-waterproof-work-boot/RKYK076.html&ved=2ahUKEwiIibv3mKTiAhXhTN8KHffbCfsQFjAAegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw0YNDskC7YaMtAZ6hl9kIJH&cshid=1558152166429

>>1611384
I'm a sign guy, we do every fuckin' thing. Concrete, electric, carpentry, metal fab, welding, sheet metal, paint, crane operation, etc.

Right now stuck on a contract to upgrade McDonald's menu boards to digital displays. We decide where we're going to pour the footers and dig out the holes, then dig trenches and run conduit for electric and data, frame and level sono tubes, drop in an anchor bolt cage, then we order some concrete and back them up to the sono tubes and pour and level the footers. Once the concrete has set we pull out the old signs with a knuckle boom crane on a flatbed, and drop in the new signs and wire them up.

McDonald's has requested we keep one lane open at all times. You can imagine what a giant clusterfuck it is trying to accomplish this without getting ran over by a retard. It sucks so much ass and the contract isn't anywhere near close to being completed.

>>1612424
When you say 1 lane open you mean the only lane right? McD drive through dosent have multiple lanes in america right?

>>1612546
A lot of fast food joints have 2 lanes, and they work a lot better than you would think.

>>1612424
Can't you swap over to night shift. Less people at 2 am

>proper fitting boots (tries sizes upper/lower, both too tight/too big)
>broke them in over weekend
>this still happens by the end of the week
How can I prevent this from happened again? Also, how do I make this heal in 2 days? Despite the relatively minor injury, it's some of the most excruciating pain I've ever experience - I can barely walk even with double socks + bandaids.

>>1612617
They make clear stick-on bandages you can get at a medical supply store, they're great.

You're getting that from "heel slip". Your boots are a little too big maybe. Double up on your socks. Maybe buy an ace bandage and wrap your heel.

Also lol good job, you're a trooper, that's pretty bad.

When I'm breaking in "real" boots, I'll often wear them at home for an hour an evening for a couple weeks until they're broken in.

>>1612617
Try to ask for "Solutio Novikov" in your pharmacy. It is a stuff of miracles. It is gonna hurt like fuck, but it will help tremendously. It creates a green artificial scab and kills bacteria and fungi. If you can't get it, rub out the wound with alcohol (enjoy the pain) and then apply something with chamomile. Gently clean with water after a few hours and apply chamomile again.

>>1612622
He's going to think this is a troll, but it's an old restaurant trick for burns.

Throw about a teaspoon of salt on a hard flat surface and use the back of a spoon to crush it into an even finer powder, then lightly moisten your scan and liberally apply the salt.

It's going to burn like hell for a minute, but then it goes away. Within 6 hours it'll be all dry and crusty and won't hurt anymore. Plus the salt is antiseptic.

>>1612621
I should have been more aware of the heel slip. As the boots broke in over the first work day, they got progressively looser and looser and that's where the most damaged happened. I guess bandaging is all I can do at this point.
>>1612622
>chamomile
The only study I could find on wound healing says chamomile is "statistically significant". Might as well be nothing.

>>1612617
We had this stuff in the Army for this called moleskin. It was basically a cuttable sticker that you put over the blister after cleaning, and the outside allowed your heel to slip without rubbing the crap out of the skin on your heel.

In basic training, we didn't have moleskin available, so what we would do for ruck marches was put the black dress socks on before the green boot socks, and the smooth black socks sort of imitated moleskin.

I would suggest replacing the insole with something that makes the boot a tighter fit on your foot and lace up nice and tight. In the future, go for a size of boot that is a bit tighter than you think it should be, because as it breaks in the boot will get more roomier inside.

Red Wing/Irish Setter Ely
me and my dad both use these and we love them. he's in industrial maintenance and i'm a welder. gotten almost three years out of mine and they're still going great. he used a pair for 5-6 years i think before he just got a new pair from work free. comfiest fuckin boot you can imagine too, feel way better than the Wolverines i used to wear. the nylon patch on the side can catch on fire and melt if your pants catch, but it's cheap to just have it patched over with leather if/when that happens.

>>1613519
comes in steel toe and soft toe too

>>1611383
My mate had Redwings fall apart after 4 months and when he complained they gave him a new pair for free.

>>1613519
Irish setter is good redwings suck and so does Georgia boot

tfw no custom nicks loggers (or mayb franks or jk) with roughout and double sole

>>1612617
You can actually repair the reinforcement behind the foot inside the boot (or shoe) with a patch of fabric and a strong wire (reinforced sewing wire or dental floss works) , you gotta make sure not to double the wire and make tiny knots as to not make a bump in the back of your foot. The patchwork can make any footwear last at least twice as long for me as the back of my shoe or boot is always the part that breaks first and start making blisters.