Toes cut off by steel-toed boots

[snopes]

Comment: Supposedly a railroader proud of his new steel toed boots told a
coworker to take a whack at them with a sledgehammer and when he did the
steel bent down and cut off all his toes.

[Arriah]

Don't these people watch Mythbusters! They did a pretty good job on this one I thought.

[WildaBeast]

Originally Posted by Arriah

Don't these people watch Mythbusters! They did a pretty good job on this one I thought.

The one thing I about the Mythbusters episode is that they only tested the highest rated ANSI 75 (as I recall) steel caps. The steel toed shoes I was given at work have "light duty" steel caps. I wonder how those would perform in the same tests? For that matter, my sister has a pair of Doc Martins with steel caps that are purely for fashion; they come with a warning that they are not to be used as protective footwear.

[CSGirl]

Ooh ooh I just saw this Mythbusters yesterday. Basically, they decided steel toed boots are actually much safer, although not foolproof. In their test, anything falling on them (they used a sharp edge which would be like an axe, with a lot of force-more than a human's, although I don't remember how much) would actually glance off the steel, slide, and just land further back towards the foot. They couldn't get the metal to bend, or to actually damage the toes.

ETA: Semi spanked, but I explained it.

[DemonWolf]

In the Mythbusters episode they determined that the amount of force needed to bend the steel would have caused so much damage to the toes in a non-steel toed boot that the toes would have been lost anyway.

[hambubba]

Reading this made me flex my toes to feel there the steel caps end...

Some of my toes are not under the cap. I would probably have to have a special shoe made to get a proper fit, but I would MUCH rather be wearing them than not. I have had heavy stuff fall on them that would have caused me much... discomfort if they hadn't been there.

[tribrats]

My Dad had a tractor's trailer that was fully loaded within ounces of the limit of logs roll over his foot. Not sure what a fully loaded semi and trailer weighs but I do know Dad owes his foot to the toe cap in his boot. Not only did it save the foot but it held the tire up just enough where it missed to keep it from crushing the foot where the cap didn't cover.

Dad showed us the boot where the tire did smush the cap down some. The sides were slightly bowed and diagonally pushed from the way the tire rolled over it but considering the alternative, he says he will keep wearing the caps.

ETA: Dad's bent more from the extreme pressure than a sudden hit I think though.

[Morrigan]

Regular semi can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. I'm not sure if logging trucks can weigh more, though.

Morrigan

[tribrats]

I knew you would know that!

I don't know if they can or not but still... Even though I know it wouldn't be the whole amount because of dividing it between the fifth-wheel and other tires and all, that's a lot more weight than I would want on my foot.

ETA: They do have logging trucks to bring the logs in but it was a regular trailer that had chopped wood that ran over his foot.