Wolverine’s CarbonMAX Work Boots
By Eric Dykstra
Wearing steel-toed boots can really be a drag. You’re certainly less likely to have your toes severed or crushed, but there’s a price to pay in terms of weight. Steel toed boots are heavy and can suck the warmth right of your feet. But Wolverine now offers CarbonMAX boots — a sturdy work boot with a carbon fiber toe cap that’s just as strong as steel, but only weighs half as much.
The 8″ CarbonMAX is an all-leather boot with a slip resistant sole. The carbon fiber toe cap meets the same ASTM F2413-05 requirements as steel-toes. And the carbon cap’s non conductive nature also lessens the risk of electrical shock in charged environments.
Wolverine also offers thermally-insulated versions. Depending on your chosen retailer, you can have either in the $110 to $130 range.
CarbonMAX Boots [CompositeToeBoots.com]
Street Price [Google Products]
Via Amazon
November 19th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Carbon fiber also wont bend and cut your toes; requiring it be cut off with a cutoff wheel.
A useful advantage there I think.
November 24th, 2007 at 8:45 am
I’m a Telecom Lineman and I wear Timberland Titan shoes. They have a Titanium toe and are the most comfortable boots I’ve ever worn. They are also extremely light. They’re even more comfortable than my sneakers.
November 25th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Well Titanium is about 40% lighter then steel, so if the carbon is half it would still be slightly lighter (~10%). I have to say, if these caps break instead of bending and cutting off your toes under immense loads, then this seems like a much better alternative, not for the weight/warmth but for the safety of having your toes crushed instead of being cut off.
On second thought, I will avoid the need for them as long as possible.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
I would rather have my toes cut off clean with the possibility of reattachment than have them crushed with no option but to cut them off anyway. Just my opinion - I like the boots, though.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
fabulous, very comfortable wolverine work boots!
March 17th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
[...] Trompey’s Diary: 17 March 2008 Man am I ever tired! I finally got around to tromping over to the hardware store for more boots, only to find they were sold out of my size; so I had to tromp back two miles to my apartment. With only my elegant evening wear for foot cover. Talk about embarrassing. I know for a fact that at least one person looked at me funny (and I’m sure it’s not for tromping twice in every sidewalk square: everyone I know does that). What do you want me to do, moron, wear sandals? It’s not like it’s warm in California! Anyways, tonight I packed for my trip to Idaho. I need a bigger suitcase, I was up til one packing. It’s not like it’s easy to fit four watermelons in a suitcase using only your boots. [...]
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
It’s funny that they say carbon fiber is not conductive. I know of at least two accidents that happened because people forgot that carbon fiber was conductive. No serious injuries in either case, but some smoke and damage. It may be that the fibers are sealed in epoxy well enough that it’s hard to make contact to them, but I’m not sure I want to buy my electrical hazard rated boots from a company that doesn’t know that carbon fiber conducts.