What do you wear on your feet?

[promhandicam]

All this talk of aprons / smocks / flat caps / plus fours / spats etc and no mention of footware! Having recently 'dropped' a rather solid lump of teak on my big toe I think that safety boots / shoes are in order. My last pair I left in Kinshasa and were my last pair that I had from when I was an apprentice (engineering) and we got a free pair once a year. Due to the heat I was only wearing sandles and the lump of teak made direct contact with the nail but I think on reflection having sweaty feet would be preferable to having to a broken toe.

So how many people do regularly wear safety footware at home. I would hope that everyone in the trade wears safety footware although perhaps it is best not to ask :roll:

Cheers, Steve

 

[Matt1245]

I've started wearing safety boots when working at home, after standing on a rusty nail that was poking out of a hardwood pallet i was trying to salvage.

Only problem now is that i drop stuff on top of my foot, just behind the toe caps. :x

Matt.

 

[mr]

Having dropped a 2 x 1 metre ply panel on my sandled toe, it's now steel caps all the way for me.
Mike

 

[Krullebol]

I suppose it comes from working in engineering, but I always wear safety boots in the workshop. At work, we have safety drilled into us, as working with big lumpy things is dangerous.
If I'm wearing normal shoes in the workshop, I just don't feel right. I'd probably feel the same if I took the guard off the tablesaw.

 

[mailee]

I always wear safety shoes at work but hate them as they are so uncomfortable. I take them off as soon as I can and get into my trainers in the workshop. My safety shoes are also trainers but terrible for your feet. Nice pair of comfortable trainers for me in the workshop and I am just careful.

 

[wizer]

any work at home I have done to date has been wearing trainers. I have been thinking about ordering the DeWalt steel toe-capped trainers for the new workshop.

 

[NickWelford]

I've been wearing Doc Martin's safety boots in the home workshop for years. Also whenever I mow the lawn. They are really comfortable and good for peace of mind.

 

[Gill]

In the depths of winter, I'll wear trainers to keep my feet warm. The rest of the time I'm silly and risk flip flops.

When it gets really hot, flip flops are about all I wear in the workshop!

Gill

 

[Anonymous]

I once saw a young lass get stabbed in the foot when a scalpel fell off a bench and landed in her toe just like a dart it went straight through her trainers. :shock:
I'll generally wear steelies of some sort but just put on like slippers not laced up, less faffing about to go indoors for a cuppa or use the toilet etc

 

[Paul Chapman]

Nearly always leather safety boots. Never wear trainers (except for badminton) - can't stand the foot-rot or the smell :wink:

Cheers

Paul

 

[RogerS]

When it gets really hot, flip flops are about all I wear in the workshop!

Gill

Hope the neighbours can't peek in :lol: Might see more than they bargained for :wink:

 

[RogerS]

A month ago, I was helping the builders tidy up in front of the flats. Suddenly one of them said..."I just saw a mouse run down that hole". "That's no mouse" says I "that's a rat". Just then rat no.2 scuttled and hid underneath a scaffold board, tail sticking out. Standing on said tail with my left foot, i proceeded to stamp vigorously on top of the scaffold board with the other foot. Exit one rat. Fifteen minutes later, while manouvreing a large railway sleeper, we dropped it on my little toe, fracturing it. Pure karma.

 

[wrightclan]

Usually safety boots.

About ten years ago, working in my Dad's business (metalworking machinery sales), I was working one day and was going back and forth between the office and warehouse. As I had been in the office more than the warehouse for awhile, I didn't have my steel toecaps on. I had to go out and move some machinery with a forklift. The forklift I usually used was being used by someone else. So I used a small electric one.

I had to move the forks wider, and being used to a heavier one with heavier forks, and a stop at the end of the travel, I pulled the fork with alot of force. Being lighter forks, with no stop, it came right off and landed on my big left toe--shattering the toe bones into hundreds of pieces :shock: I still don't have normal range of motion in my toe and I also have no toenail.

Now, in woodworking we don't usually work with materials or tools likely to do that; but I like to wear them anyway. Of course there are other dangers, as evidenced by earlier posts. A handy use for steel toecaps is to rest heavy materials on. For example, if carrying a heavy cabinet or sheet of ply, and you need to stop for a moment, just rest it on your steel toecaps, and it's easier to get your hands under the item to start off again.

Brad

 

[dedee]

I once saw a young lass get stabbed in the foot when a scalpel fell off a bench and landed in her toe just like a dart it went straight through her trainers.

I've got the tee shirt for that one. A stanley knife right though my brogues while opening boxes in a warehouse a few years back. It fell in between big toe and #2 taking a neat slice of skin with it.
Not all bad as I made a claim and got the shoes replaced.

Andy

 

[Paul Chapman]

About ten years ago, working in my Dad's business (metalworking machinery sales), I was working one day and was going back and forth between the office and warehouse. As I had been in the office more than the warehouse for awhile, I didn't have my steel toecaps on. I had to go out and move some machinery with a forklift. The forklift I usually used was being used by someone else. So I used a small electric one.

I had to move the forks wider, and being used to a heavier one with heavier forks, and a stop at the end of the travel, I pulled the fork with alot of force. Being lighter forks, with no stop, it came right off and landed on my big left toe--shattering the toe bones into hundreds of pieces :shock: I still don't have normal range of motion in my toe and I also have no toenail.

Mention of fork-lift trucks reminds me - please don't ever stand on the fork of a fork-lift truck. In my photographic days I was asked to go to an operating theatre and photograph this bloke's foot just before the surgeon cut it off. He had stood on the fork and got it caught in the mechanism. When I photographed his foot, it looked just like a pound of minced beef, held together with cocktail sticks - not a pretty sight :shock: :shock:

Cheers,

Paul

 

[promhandicam]

Thanks to all who have taken time to reply. So far only about 1/3 of people in the poll wear safety footwear at home but judging by some of the stories of what happens if you don't, it might be time to think again. Having worn Doc Marten steel toecap boots for several year I can concur that once broken in they are quite comfortable even if you are on your feet all day. The only problem with them - and I think it is the case with all safety footware - was when kneeling down, if your toes are flexed the edge of the cap digs in. Other than that they aren't too bad.

Cheers and take care :wink:

Steve

 

[mailee]

Well Steve if sandals were good enough for Jesus the carpenter then what more can I say. :lol:

 

[promhandicam]

Well Steve if sandals were good enough for Jesus the carpenter then what more can I say. :lol:

Yes but in Luke 10 verse 19 Jesus said "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." So here we seem to have the original safety footware :wink:

 

[PowerTool]

Ordinary boots in the workshop,steel-toed riggers when working outside.
Even have steel-toed wellies :wink:

Andrew

 

[mailee]

As a raw apprentice I was issued with a set of steel toe cap boots. One of my first jobs was helping load and unload dustbins full of sand out of a van and you can guess what happened? Yes the bin was planted straight on my foot! Ah lucky I was wearing steel toe caps you might say, but no the rim on the bottom of the bin hit behind the toe cap and straight onto my instep. Most of the guys didn't realise such a young apprentice knew so many colourful words I can tell you! I do still wear them for my full time job but get rid of them as soon as I return from work for something more comfortable in the workshop.....Trainers. Ah heaven! :wink: