Credit:
Reviewed / TJ Donegan
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Credit:
Reviewed / TJ Donegan
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One of the most important pieces of equipment to help make it through long, hard days is footwear. The boots you wear can be the difference between finishing the job or crying with your feet up when you get home. For anyone doing manual labor, whether for their job or at home, a quality pair of work boots is a must-have investment. Work boots should be comfortable, supportive, and durable—with all necessary safety features to keep your feet healthy.
To find the best work boots for men, we tested nine of the most popular work boots available. After stress testing and wearing each for multiple days of yard work and in my woodshop, the Chippewa 55025 Hador Steel Toe Boots (available at Amazon) emerged as the clear winner. They look and feel great, and offer the protection and traction that you need to make it through a full day’s work.
If you’re a more occasional-use wearer with a limited budget and no need for steel toes, then the Ever Boots Tank Men’s Soft Toe Work Boots (available at Amazon) are our pick for Best Value. These comfortable work boots are perfect for being out in the yard all day.
The Chippewa 55025 Hador Steel Toe Boots topped all our tests.
The Ever Boots Tank Soft Toe Boots offer great performance at a low price, becoming our best value pick.
To find the best work boots we put each pair of boots through a series of safety and performance tests.
I’m Jean Levasseur, a former conveyor mechanic, property manager, and hobbyist woodworker, in addition to being a writing instructor at a local university. I come from a family of tool-users—my grandfather was a carpenter, my father owned an excavation company, and my mother was a mechanic. Between growing up working for my family’s businesses and then moving onto my own projects, I’ve used most tools you’ve heard of and quite a few that you haven’t. I spend a lot of time out in the yard maintaining my landscaping or on my feet down in my shop woodworking.
The first step was to break in and assess the comfort and fit of each boot. There are many strategies for breaking in boots, but we went with a tried-and-true method: wearing them. I tried to wear each pair of boots for five days, starting with an hour or two the first day, and then ending with some kind of multi-hour working session either out in the yard or down in the shop. As I wore them, I looked at overall fit, breathability, and support, as well as signs that the durability wasn’t up to snuff, such as leather peeling or stitches pulling.
Once we had finished the wearing phase, we put each pair of boots through a series of safety and performance tests. The first was around traction. I built a 45-degree small ramp with asphalt shingles to mimic a 12-pitch roof, which is fairly steep. From there, I tried to stand up on the ramp in each pair of boots. We sorted each pair into one of three categories. Lowest was if I couldn’t actually get enough traction to stand on the ramp without holding on. Second was if I could step up onto the ramp unaided but then slip down a few seconds later. Highest was if I could stand on the ramp and stay put.
Our next test was a drop test. We filled the toe of each of the boots with modeling clay, and then dropped a 40-pound weight onto the toe from 22.5-inches in the air. This gave us the energy impact equivalent to the ASTM 175 safety standards, which is the highest impact rating in the U.S. Not surprisingly, all of the steel toe boots passed this test with flying colors. Also not surprisingly, this test showed the importance of not dropping 40-pound weights on your feet without steel toes.
Our final test was to see how rugged the sole of each boot was. I drove a nail through a piece of wood, and then tried to force that nail by hand through the sole of each pair of boots. Again, we separated each pair of boots into three categories: whether this was easy, intermediate, or difficult to accomplish. Here I was pleasantly surprised at how hard it was to drive the nail through any of the boots by hand.
Quality footwear is critical to keeping you on your feet until the job is done. If you’re doing any kind of manual labor, the right work boots will keep you safe, supported, and comfortable.
First and foremost, work boots need to give you the protection you need. However, not everyone needs the same level of protection. Higher-end boots will include features like steel toes to protect against drops and electrical resistance to protect you on job sites with potential electrical hazards. Those are both critical safety features for a lot of workers, and are well worth the extra cost and weight that go along with them—if you need them, don’t skip them.
However, if you’re just looking for a pair of boots to mow the lawn on the weekend, then these safety features may not be necessary. A lighter, more flexible pair might be the best option for you.
Safety is what keeps your feet intact. Fit is what keeps you on your feet. Quality, durability, and safety don’t mean anything if your feet slide around inside the boots.
Properly fitted boots should be snug around the heel so that your foot doesn’t move side to side. Your ankle and calf should be supported, but still able to move and bend as you walk. You don’t want boots to change your gait or put strain on your knees. And you certainly don’t want the collar of the boot to cut off circulation
The toe box should have enough extra space that you can wiggle your toes. This will again allow circulation through your foot, and allow your toes the movement and flexibility needed to keep you balanced.
Finally, pay attention to the arches. Do you need a high arch for support? Or do you need something a little bit flatter? You can purchase new insoles to provide a different level of arch support if you need.
Above all, you want to walk naturally in your new boots. Anything else is going to drain your energy and leave you with sore legs and feet day after day.
Most of the time boots (especially those with natural material like leather) come out of the box stiff. If you try to wear them for eight or ten hours on day one, you’re going to wind up with blisters and sore feet. It’s well worth taking the time to break in a pair of boots before you start to use them in your regular day-to-day.
People swear by different methods to break in boots. Conditioning the leather with a product like mink oil is a great option. Simply folding, bending, and massaging the leather can soften it up, particularly around the ankle and toes where the boot needs to flex the most. But the most reliable way to break in boots is to wear them gradually. Start with an hour, then two, then a few more, building up over the course of several days or a week. This allows the boots to stretch and form around the shape of your foot, which is the ultimate goal anyway.
Don’t be afraid to wear band-aids or fabric tape during the breaking-in period in places where it feels like blisters might form. And don’t think that uncomfortable boots will suddenly become comfortable after breaking in. If they’re not at all comfortable in the store, then they won’t be comfortable at home. Stiff boots will loosen up—painful boots probably won’t stop being painful.
Good safety features
Comfortable
Made of quality materials
None that we could find
High quality, rugged construction
Lots of safety features
Excellent traction
Stiff collar
Less comfortable over time
High quality, rugged construction
Lots of safety features
Excellent traction
Collar digs into calf
Less comfortable over time
Lots of safety features
Waterproof exterior
Not durable
No long-term comfort
Strong steel toe
Uncomfortable
Jean Levasseur
Contributor
Jean Levasseur became a professional writer over a decade-long career in marketing, public relations, and technical writing. After leaving that career to stay home to care for his twin boys, Jean has continued to write in a variety of freelance roles, as well as teaching academic writing at a local university. When he's not reviewing tools or chasing toddlers around the house, he's also an avid fiction writer and a growing woodworker.
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