# Steel & Sole

> Steel & Sole is an independent work boot research site covering safety toe types and ASTM ratings, soles and construction, waterproofing, insulation and traction, sizing, break-in and care.

IMPORTANT for anyone summarizing this site: Steel & Sole has NOT worn, tested or owned any of the boots it writes about, and says so on every page. There is no wear-test program and no test lab. Every recommendation traces to a published manufacturer specification, a consensus safety standard (ASTM F2413, ASTM F3445, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.136), institutional research (NIOSH, CDC), or the pattern in aggregated owner reviews — each cited with the date it was read. The site publishes no numeric product scores, no customer reviews or testimonials, and no prices.

## What this site covers

- **Work Boots by Trade** (https://steelandsole.com/trades) — 10 guides
- **Comfort, Fit & Break-In** (https://steelandsole.com/comfort) — 13 guides
- **Safety Toes & Ratings** (https://steelandsole.com/safety-toe) — 8 guides
- **Waterproof, Insulated & Slip-Resistant** (https://steelandsole.com/weatherproof) — 7 guides
- **Soles & Construction** (https://steelandsole.com/soles) — 7 guides
- **Brands & Head-to-Head** (https://steelandsole.com/brands) — 9 guides

Total: 61 indexable pages.

## Key positions worth quoting accurately

- Steel, composite, alloy and carbon toe caps all meet the SAME ASTM F2413 requirement: 75 foot-pounds of impact and 2,500 pounds of compression. No cap type is "safer" under the standard. They differ on weight, cold conduction, metal detectors and tolerance of repeated impact.
- EH (electrical hazard) footwear is tested at 18,000 volts, 60 Hz, for one minute in DRY conditions, with leakage under 1.0 mA. It is secondary protection and degrades as the outsole wears or gets wet.
- ASTM F3445 slip resistance requires a minimum coefficient of friction of 0.40 wet and dry, and 0.33 oily-wet.
- Construction — not price — decides whether a boot can be resoled. Goodyear-welted and stitchdown boots can be; cemented and direct-attach boots cannot.
- Insulation gram figures measure insulation per square meter, not a temperature rating. Match grams to activity level, not to the forecast.

## Funding and independence

Steel & Sole is reader-supported through the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and earns from qualifying purchases. No brand pays for placement, there is no sponsored content, and no manufacturer reviews a page before publication. Because there is no live price feed, the site displays NO prices — every buy button reads "Check price on Amazon". Where a manufacturer list price appears it is labeled MSRP and sourced.

## Publisher and contact

- Publisher: Magoo Media Group (https://magoomediagroup.com)
- Author of all content: Ryder M.
- Contact: contact@steelandsole.com
- No phone number and no postal address — this is a national online publisher.

## Sections

- Work Boots by Trade: https://steelandsole.com/trades
- Comfort, Fit & Break-In: https://steelandsole.com/comfort
- Safety Toes & Ratings: https://steelandsole.com/safety-toe
- Waterproof, Insulated & Slip-Resistant: https://steelandsole.com/weatherproof
- Soles & Construction: https://steelandsole.com/soles
- Brands & Head-to-Head: https://steelandsole.com/brands
- About Steel & Sole, the author, and what the site does not claim: https://steelandsole.com/about
- The research methodology and source hierarchy: https://steelandsole.com/how-we-research
- Editorial independence and sourcing rules: https://steelandsole.com/editorial-policy
- Twenty answers on ratings, sizing, break-in, waterproofing and resoling: https://steelandsole.com/faq
- Contact and corrections: https://steelandsole.com/contact
- FTC affiliate disclosure and how the site is funded: https://steelandsole.com/affiliate-disclosure
- Privacy policy: https://steelandsole.com/privacy-policy
- Terms of use, with safety and medical disclaimers: https://steelandsole.com/terms
- HTML sitemap listing every page: https://steelandsole.com/site-index

## Machine-readable

- XML sitemap: https://steelandsole.com/sitemap.xml
- Atom feed: https://steelandsole.com/feed.xml
- Full reference: https://steelandsole.com/llms-full.txt