Popular Mechanics - USA (2019-09)

around did not cross it. If he were
to wear sandals, the second toe
would wiggle in freedom and feel
no pain. If he were to wear regular
non-steel-toe work boots that he
could cut and alter, would not the
second toe be accommodated? But
he needed the safety of steel.
One fall day, when he had lost
all hope, he drove his pickup truck
to Farm and Barn to search a final
time for a boot that would not
cause him agony. He tried on one
steel-toe after another—from the
most expensive to the cheapest—
and his second toe smushed into
the toe box every time.
At last, he pulled a pair of
AdTec insulated logging boots
from the shelf. They were inex-
pensive, about 60 bucks, but when
he pulled them on and stood, the
Cinderella aspects of his heart
raced with joy! A miracle! A
dream had come true! The toe
box was super-wide and the length
perfect, and the boot keep the foot
from sliding forward.
He wore these boots home from
Farm and Barn and went straight
to work in the woods on his prop-
erty—running the chainsaw,
splitting logs, and stacking the
firewood—and after that, he dis-
tributed 10 tons of gravel from a
pile in his driveway to his land-
scaping beds. He could not stop
smiling. He was free, finally, to
revel in the invention of the steel-
toed work boot, to marvel at it,
how something as simple as a
cocoon of steel would preserve his
feet when, as occasionally hap-
pened, he dropped a log on them
or a rock or a sledgehammer. The
steel toe, he knew, allowed him to
do more with his strong back—to
work harder and without fear—
and the more he could do, the
merrier he became.

Mike Magnuson, the author of Lummox,
The Right Man for the Job, and Heft on
Wheels, lives in Menasha, Wisconsin, on
the shore of Lake Winnebago.

Keen

$125

$84

$190

Thorogood

American

Heritage

$230

8-inch boot

is made with

a fiberglass

footbed, and

Red Wing

Classic Moc

$300

This popular boot

has remained

basically

unchanged over

60 years, with

oil-tanned leather

that is water-

resistant, and soft

rubber soles.

$155

COURTESY

Work

Wear

10 More Boots for Getting Things Done

14

84 September 2019