How long do y'all usually get out of a pair till you need to replace them ? Looking at about 3-5 months for mine till they get to the point I have to replace them per company policy the non skid surface on these barges eat the treads pretty quick or wears out the leather on top of the steel toe ...always a fun feeling dropping right at $200 on a pair of work boots, and these are the cheaper ones and according to everyone no point in getting anything past what you like because they all wear out about the same.


Also side note I gotta say, I though people where wussy when they complained about breaking in work boots. Always wore steel toe army mechanics boots and they broke in pretty easy, yeah I take back my insults because these slip on kinda suck to break in for the first 3-4 days

Double h last the longest for me

I get about two years out of my American-made Red Wings. I put Gorilla Guard Toe Protectors on them to keep the toes from wearing through.

Required work boots are tax deductible items. Keep your records.

Ding ding ding!!!

These are good.Remeber you get what you pay for and the boots you pictured do not seem correct for your job.

https://whitesboots.com/

The mines buy ours every 6 months, We all bought Matterhorns knee length. get about a year out of them. Still have 9 pair in the closet still in boxes.

I used to wear redwings

Most recent pair for my son and I are Carolina

I have always done 8 inch lace up my current pair are not steel toe as I don't work in a shop that requires it but I have a hard time finding much else in the way of a boot than a work boot in 15EE

about a year wearing them 40+ a week

you might want to bring 2 pair and rotate to give them a better chance to dry out , then also always have a backup pair.

I've tried them all, from Red Wings down to the Wally World blue light specials, NOTHING last's in a machine shop environment because all the razor sharp chips and crap on the floor eats them thru pretty quick. I would go with the cheapest steel toe boot I could find, and buy all they had in my size.

I remember one guy was so pleased with himself for finding a super cheap pair of VINYL boots. Till he got some solvent on them and they swole up and literally dissolved off his feet. LOL

USA made Justins were a better boot than any i tried

Working 32 years in manufacturing on concrete is not to skimp on your footwear. The best value and longest lasting hands down for me has been Thorogood (spelling is off). I would get a year at best out of Justin, Wolverine, danner, etc. the last 2 pair of Thorogood have gone 3+ years.

Disclaimer, I have not tried White’s but hear they are excellent but costly.

Thorogood

Used to buy redwings and could get maybe 18 months switched to the PNW brands such as jk and get at least 5 years it only hurts once to spend the money and get something decent

If they require you to get new ones after 5 months, they should buy them for you. Rule of thumb.

I get a $100 bonus every 3 months for boots. So basically get them for half off

So for this wondering, the main deal is the barges and boat decks have non skid surfaces which a legit just crushed glass painted over. And they just plain eat boots. For my company your required to have good tread on your boots along with now exposed steel toe and a few other things. If your boots get checked and you have non sufficient tread that's a write up. If you fall over or slip and fall the first thing they check is your boots. Insufficient tread = write up or possible termination. And after talking with dozens of guys who have been out here 15-20+ years the common consensus is find a brand you like that's no crazy expensive because you gonna have to replace them a few times a year regardless

I'll post a pic of the tread of the ones I got in November when I get som better service

Those are mighty fancy to wear to work unless you work with a lot of ladies.

Dang you got little feet

X2 used to wear redwings, never again

In defense of Red Wing, I did say I bought the made in America models. I've been buying the 402's about every other year for at least thirty years now. I also buy the 1411's for winter wear. I think they are now Model 1412.

I know Red Wing came out with a "Worx" line some years ago that is made overseas and many of their other models have also started being made overseas. The manufacturing of their Irish Setter line was shipped over seas probably twenty years ago.

As expected, quality took a dive. I've never owned foreign-made Red Wings but have heard lots of guys complain about them.

I know the last pair of Irish Setters I bought were made-in-China, they sucked. Supposedly waterproof, my feet got wet in heavy dew.

It's a a shame, the older Irish Setters were some of the warmest, driest, most comfortable boots I've ever owned.

As long as the Red Wing 402's continue to be made in America I'll keep buying them. They are a very durable boot that is fairly comfortable after a break-in period.

When in the smelter boots lasted maybe 3 months and I had 2 pair rotation every other Day so they could dry out. They were kevlar stitched electrical hazard boots. I saw where a guy stept off in a pot of liquid aluminum in them and all he had to do was change boots and go back to work. The smelter was the hardest think I have ever seen on boots they burnt up fast

Now I'm operating heavy equipment at work they get replaces in a little over a year. They get worn 95% of the time on the farm also. They could go longer most of the time but the insides start breaking down and getting uncomfortable. A pair of insoles would likely fix that but all I need is a paper from the boss and a drive to the company store for some new ones. Honestly I have swapped then out when the laces started breaking also after the 2nd time.

Another vote for Thorogood.

In my former life I wore Whites. I liked the 14 inch rough out elk hide. I would get 2-3 summers out of them. The thing with Whites is that they will rebuild them for far less than a new pair. Resole them, new lowers, whatever you needed. Quality isn't cheap and cheap isn't quality.

Just tried a $500 pair of Royer climbing boots. Rigid, and great for climbing but too heavy. Most comfortable I’ve owned were Red Wings. Bit of mink oil and I’d wear them to weddings. We got really good coverage for boots. $250 a year or carry over a year for $500. No reason for us not to buy a good boot.

i was wonder how he stayed upright on that small of a base,,,,,especially on a boat...

they were looking for a crew mate with a peg leg , they decided a pair of 6.5s that could cook was close enough

Redwings here...get about a year out of them....before my legs tell me I need a new pair

On concrete all day long

Over 35 years with red wings and a solid insole from my foot doctor.

Keen or danner

There is your answer. Check them out.

I have tried keens because they fit so well , they just do not hold up for me 4 pair

where the the boot flexes at the ball , it would split about 5 months in

Just a little comparison got these in November honestly should have replaced them a little sooner but yeah incest the tread gets like this they gotta go. And with it getting hot barges are gonna be eathing them worse. 100° average heat index will have these barges surface temp going like 130-150° . Know my uncle works for a different company with asphalt heater barges. Those are heated to internal temp of at least 200° if I remember right, decks say a good 150° says hes gonna though a few different brands and nothing lasts very long at all

Are you just eating up the soles? I always bought boots that you could re sole. Saves in the long run. Some I had done 5 of so times.

I always bought Danners Acadias but my last pair fit weird. And Danners run narrow unless you get the wides.. Of course they are over $400 now.

Buddy is a bush fire fighter in Alaska. He only buys Kenetrek now. Says its the only boot he'll wear as he's always walking on fire and other boots die fast in that environment. Same price range or more, though.

Gotta pay to play, I guess. But as stated, Boots are a write off.

How about these? They got cleated soles.

White boots are darn good Wesco boots maybe better when I can't get my whites rebuilt I'm going to try the Wesco boots next Obermyer boot wax is your friend way better than mink oil and it won't rot out the stitching on your boots .

If they wear out that fast go to walmart and buy the cheapest steel toes they have. They ought to last 2-3 months. Save the pretty boots for dancing on friday night.

I like Keens as well, the Targhee model. Really comfortable and waterproof. But they are not durable. I don't wear them for work or I'd be going through them every three months. I wear them when I'm not working and get about a year or so out of them.

They were having issues with the soles separating, using crappy glue. I complained several times. It seems they have fixed that issue.

I have had red wings that were hard to break in and red wings that fit like a glove on day 1 but these carolina work boots i got this last time are some of the best boots I've ever owned. No break in, comfy, steel toe, and I wear them to everything. I bought these and started throwing my other shoes away. If you are on your feet all day find a sole with no heel. These are flat on the bottom, give you more surface area of contact to the things you are trying not to fall off of, and support you better. Its what the steel workers wear to walk on the beams.

5 months with any shoe with my feet and you will want a new pair......

Another vote for Whites, I never tried them when I was drilling rock, which would have been the closest parrallel to your work, but I never had a pair of boots last six months there. When I went to work surveying, kicking out clean outs to set the instrument up, had to kick down to all solid ground, I was getting maybe six months out of a pair of boots, switched to Whites and with one rebuild I could get four years out of them, and rebuilds are a lot cheaper than new boots. They offer quite a few different options in soles, don't know what would work best for you, I have only used their caulked soles and their Vibram soles. Go with rough cut leather, at least on the bottom, it holds up to wear better.

I am currently wearing Schnees for guiding and love them, but I don't think their soles would hold up well to your work, I still have a pair of Whites I use for certain jobs. I've tried a lot of brands over the years for different things, but those are the best I've come up with. Kennetreks are the most comfortable boot I've ever put on, but only about fifty percent of them are waterproof and I'm not spending that kind of money for a boot that I don't know if it will leak or not.

Walmart on line. If they last half as long as 200 dollar boots, even more money if they can be resoled, your money ahead. I doubt you can get a pair resoled for that.

Where's all the Southern guys .... noticing a trend here

Put some viaga on them little toes and us Northern guys can help........

\

that is interesting

VA, TX and MO the only south to weigh in on boots

GA and NC weighed in on getting the boss or tax deduction to buy them



what do other guys on the boats you're on wear?
the guys who have been at it a bunch of years?

Worked in the Gulf of Mexico as a diver and on deck as a tender from 2012 to 2019 all I wore were red wings and the white steel toe shrimp boots from amazon I would normally get about two years out of red wings and that was mainly because I didn't oil them. we had guys try everythingg from doc martens to those muck boots ariats twisted x they couldn't get a year out of them. I work in a machine shop now and I currently have some Irish setters but that's only because when I went to the redwing store they had them on sale for $70 in my size so I couldn't pass it up. I will say the Irish setter will probably make a year and a half if I'm lucky. There not the same quality as the red wings.

I used to wear 6" Redwings all the time. The last pair I bought, I couldn't break in. They're like wearing a concrete block. I tried and tried to make them wearable. No dice.
They have been setting in the corner for years now. Every once in a while I'll get them out but just can't wear them for very long.

The Redwing 402's I've been buying for about thirty years now definitely have a break-in period. You wouldn't want to wear them a whole day at work right out of the box, your feet would be pretty sore if you did.

I get new ones while my old ones still have some life left in them. Then I wear the new ones a few hours at a time until they start to break in.

A newly broken in pair of Redwing 402’s ready for all day wear.

This is an older pic.

I wouldn't want to wear those in a magnet factory.

Why not?

Well, only if they were aluminum toed.

Those would be a good deal if you were on your knees a lot. He said the boat was painted with a non-skid paint. That abrasive paint would eat right through the leather and expose the steel toe cup.

Thoroughgood boots are the best I've found for a work boot. A little pricey but I've had pairs that have been resoled 3 times. After that 3rd time they are looking pretty ratty though.

I thought that might be what you meant. That model Redwing is not a steel-toed boot.

I used to do quite a bit of roofing while wearing those boots. They have a softer sole that is pretty grippy.

They would probably not hold up well on the non-skid boat decks Wolf has to walk on.

The gorilla guards keep the toes from wearing through, even when being abraded by shingles.

If those are the lil hook keepers for the laces in the side those arnt allowed for us

Yeah, they are.

Don't let that hold you up if you find something you like- any boot/shoe shop can change out those hooks for eyes quick.

I have wore red wings and the ones I wear now are OK.. the last througood I wore open up and split.