There were multiple reasons for purchasing the boots. I was having a problem with ants and spiders getting in my shoes when i walked through the tall grass and i worried ticks and scorpions would soon join the list as the months passed. I also dropped a very heavy box, shipped ups freight, on my tennis shoe, crushing a couple toes, which made the whole “steel toe” idea sound pretty nifty. So i bought myself some tall, lace-up, steel-toe work boots and had them shipped to me in the mail (my feet are small so i usually have to buy online). I did not take to them right away. Boots with steel in them are heavy. I felt like my feet were strapped to blocks of lead. It did not suit my preferred speed in life. In the beginning i rejected them and set them in the cabinet. They were too stiff. They didn’t bend when i walked. They were insanely heavy. I was not immediately fond of them. It would be months before i figured out what i had done wrong. There was nothing the matter with the boots. I just didn’t know what to do with them.