I really like wearing my cork (caulked) Viking Timberwolf boots. They have served me well and increase safety a lot. Steel toe and Class 3 chainsaw rating With the corks preventing me from slipping on the wet material on the forest floor I don't really know how I survived before with normal Vibram sole safety boots in wet weather. Of course wet weather is 8 plus months out of the year up here.
I always bought the VW69-1 model from Madsens and when I looked for my replacement set I found they were no longer available. Was told they were no longer made. Went on line and found multiple places that listed them until you tried to order and then it stated they were no longer available. Talked to the importer for the US for Viking products and they said they were not available in the US anymore. Well our Canadian brothers still had them in their stores and online presence so what was the deal?
I was told by every US dealer that the VW65 was the same boot except for chainsaw protection. Well then it is not the same boot at all. With the OSHA police we have here in the US you would have thought that the US would have the safest boot available but that is not the case. On top of that I read reports from others that wear this type footwear a lot, that the VW65 were not easy on the feet. Exact words were: "after a full day your feet hurt due to lack of support."
I, being the frugal person that I am, was afraid what the CBP folks would put on as an import duty and did not want to have my boots result in a price that was doubled by the import duty imposed by CBP.
I kept looking and had almost decided to try the VW 64 model as they seemed to have better support than the VW65 but they still did not have the class 3 rating.
I had replaced the corks in mine I don't know how many times but with the boots coming apart it was time.
Finally decided I had to do something as my boots had totally given up the ghost.
Well the real rational behind this post/soliloquy is to let folks know that you can order this type of stuff from Canada without getting hit with a tariff/duty on the import. The Canadian dealer I dealt with said that they had no idea if the US would charge a duty but the boots came through without any issue.
You may not be able to buy the best safety equipment here in the US but you can get it shipped in from Canada without paying duty.
At least this time I was able.