How to Widen Steel Toe Boots? 9 Easiest Ways

Are your steel toe boots too tight? Do you know! How to widen steel toe boots? If no, you don’t have to worry anymore, as this article will share all the best and effective methods to widen steel toe boots. Steel toe boots are great for the protection of toes. Many heavy-duty workers use these boots to protect their feet. Examples of such boots/shoes include logger boots, work boots, and warehouse shoes. They provide an extra layer of protection that regular boots can’t provide.

The problem arises when these boots are too tight that they start making you uncomfortable. You may not like to wear boots if they are too tight, even if they provide an extra protection layer because comfort is the first priority for many people. If your steel toe boots are also tight, you don’t have to throw them out, as we share effective methods like using a broomstick, shoe stretcher, or boot stretching sprays, etc., that will help you widen these boots. This article is not limited to only these three methods; we will share nine different methods that you can use for this purpose. After following any of these methods, you will be able to make your boots wide enough to start feeling comfortable in your boots. Before following these methods, we recommend you to clean your boots.

9 Methods to widen or stretch steel toe boots

1^st Method – Freeze Ice Inside boots

It is one of the effective ways that you can use to widen your steel toe boots.  The good thing about this method is, it is inexpensive, and you don’t have to be an expert to perform this method. You just need two resealable bags and water. However, this method takes some time

How to perform this method?

1. Take resealable bags, and fill them up with water. Make sure bags are not easy to leak.
2. Seal the bags, make sure no air is left inside the bags. Also, ensure the water is not leaking out of the bags.
3. Now place each bag inside of each boot—place in the toe areas of boots. Push the bags with your hand if it is required, but make sure the bags are perfectly placed in the toe section of the boots.
4. Now place your boots inside the freezer, and take a rest. Leave your boots inside the freezer for one night or at least eight hours.

How will this method work? Do you remember the laws of physics? When the water freezes, it expands. Exactly that’s how it will work. When it expands, it will widen your steel toe boots.

Next day or after 8 hours, take your boots out of the freezer. Don’t rush removing the ice bags from the boots, or you will damage your boots. Place the boots in the warm room and wait for 25-30 minutes. You can also place the boots in front of the heating vent if you want to remove ice bags quickly. When you notice the ice has become soft, you can remove the bags out of both boots.

2^nd Method – Use a broomstick to stretch your steel toe boots

It is another inexpensive method that you can use, as you don’t have to bring anything from the market. A broomstick is usually available in the house. If you don’t have any broomstick, you can use any kind of stick for this purpose, as you have to loosen the tight area of boots with the help of a stick.

How to perform this method?

1. First of all, point the tight area of your boots that you want to make loose.
2. Now insert the stick inside your boots one by one. Insert through the opening area of boots.
3. You can perform this method in two ways; in one way, the boot should place on the floor, and you have to press with a stick downward. In another way, the opening of boots should face the ground, in this way, you have to push the stick upward to loosen the boots’ tight area.
4. Just insert the one end of the stick in the toe area of your boots and push the boots’ tight area. In each push, you have to hold the stick for 15-20 seconds. Push several times until you notice the spot is loose enough. This process takes several minutes, but in the end, you will get a positive result.

3^rd Method – Heat up the boots

This is a quick and easy method; however, you have to some precautionary measures to perform this method. You can use any heating device like a hairdryer to perform this method. We recommend you to wear a pair of thick socks if you want to widen your steel toe boots with this method. Socks are necessary for the protection of your feet.

How to perform this method?

1. Wear a pair of thick socks. Thick socks will serve two purposes; they will protect your feet and help to extra widen the boots.
2. Heat the outside of your boots with a hairdryer. Use the low or medium settings of a blow-dryer. Try to focus more on the tight area of boots. Keep heating each tight spot for 30 seconds; after that, heat another spot. Maintain a distance of at least 3 inches between boots and the hairdryer. The heat will soften the boots, especially the leather boots.
3. Now wear the boots, as you are wearing thick socks, so you don’t have to worry about heat, as the heat won’t damage your feet. You can also push inside of boots with your feet. Keep wearing boots until they become cool. Your boots must have become wide enough, but if you feel that the boots haven’t become wide enough, you can repeat the process to widen them to your desired size.
4. Once you are done with widening the boots, apply a leather conditioner on your boots. As heat is the enemy of leather, it can cause the leather to become dry. Leather conditioner will help to restore the look of your boots. Remember, applying the leather conditioner also stretches the leather, so keep this step optional. In the end, the boots should fit accurately, don’t loosen them too much.

4^th Method – Use steel shoe stretchers

This is one of the most effective methods that you can use to widen your steel toe boots. If you want the best result, then use this method. However, you have to spend some money to perform this method, as you have to buy steel shoe stretchers and a leather conditioner (if boots are leather made) to perform this method. Why are we asking you to get the steel shoe stretcher instead of a wooden shoe stretcher? Because they are more solidly built than wooden stretchers, they will help you get better results. If boots are made with non-leather, then just buy shoe stretchers. We believe the result of this method makes money completely worth it.

How to perform this method?

1. Apply the leather conditioner on your boots; It will help make boots soft, which will easily help stretch boots. Apply conditioner on all the exterior of both boots.
2. Now insert the steel shoe stretchers inside both boots, and start rotating the stretchers anti-clockwise. Keep rotating until you feel the stretcher is completely fit inside the boots. If you feel uncomfortable on your feet’ bunions and want to widen that area more, you can insert bunion plugs into the stretchers’ holes. It will help to make that are wider.
3. Once the steel stretchers completely fit the inside of boots, rotate them three times more to make that area of boots wide.
4. Once you have stretched the shoe stretcher enough, don’t rush in removing the shoe stretcher. Otherwise, the boots will come back to their original size. They need time to get wide permanently. That’s why leave the stretchers inside the boots for at least 24 hours. After that, you can remove the stretchers and enjoy wearing your widen steel toe boots.
5. After that, wear boots to check if they are wide enough. If you feel that your boots still need to get more wide, you can repeat this process to get your desired result.

5^th Method – Use stretching Spray

It is another effective way, but you have to spend some money on this method as well. They are not too expensive, but still, you have to spend few dollars on this item. This method is easy to perform; you just need a boot stretching spray and nothing else. Boot stretching spray helps loosens up the leather fibers, which helps to widen the steel toe boots. The best thing about this method is, you don’t have to make any extra effort; you just have to spray on your boots and nothing else. You can perform this method without disturbing your work.

How to perform this method?

1. Spray on your entire boots or on that specific spot that you want to make wide.
2. Now wear the boots and go to your work, your boots will get wide on their own.

6^th Method – Use mink oil

It is another simplest method to perform. Even a layperson can perform this method. You just need a mink oil and a soft cloth to perform this method. Mink oil is easily available in the market or at online stores; you can get it from anywhere you want.

How to perform this method?

1. Apply mink oil on a soft cloth and start rubbing it on the exterior of your boots. Make sure to apply it on all exterior parts of your boots. If you want to widen a specific area, then you can apply only to that area.
2. Now leave the boots overnight.
3. The next morning rub the excessive oil from the exterior of the boots. The mink oil will make the leather of boots so soft that you will feel comfortable wearing them
4. If you still feel that boots are still tight, you can repeat the process to get your desired result.

7^th Method – Widen your steel toe boots with a rubber hammer, baseball, and mink oil

This method may seem difficult to perform, but it’s not that difficult if you follow the instructions carefully. Instead, it is easy to perform. However, you may have to spend money on this method if you don’t have these items at home. You need two baseballs, which you can get from any kid store, a hammer, two pieces of leather, and mink oil.

How to perform this method?

1. First of all, take small pieces of leather, which can easily fit inside the boots.
2. Double the leather pieces and insert them inside of each boot.
3. Now insert the baseballs in your boots; the area which you want to make wide.
4. Now hit your boots with the rubber hammer. Hit on both sides of each boot. You have to hit at least 30-40 times on each side.
5. Leave the boots overnight. Next morning, remove the baseballs from your boots and enjoy wearing boots.
6. If you still feel that your boots need to get more wide, you can repeat the process.

Are you still confused? Don’t worry; we have got the video to help you understand and perform this method easily. Just watch this video and perform this method.

8^th Method – Wearing two pairs of thick socks

We understand, this method may make you feel a bit uncomfortable, as it is a long process than all other methods. Still, it can help to widen your steel toe boots. The only good thing about this method is that it is a cheap method. This method is almost the same as the stretching spray method; however, in this method, you have to wear thick socks as well to make boots extra wide.

How to perform this method?

1. Spray boot stretching spray on your boots. It will help speed up the process.
2. Now wear two pairs of thick socks, and then wear boots.
3. This method may take 5-6 days to make boots wide.

9^th Method – Use a wet towel to widen your steel toe boots

You need a boot stretching spray and a wet towel to perform this method. The purpose of using a wet towel is to make boots soft from the inside so that it will help in soaking the stretching spray more to make steel toe boots wider.

How to perform this method?

1. Spray the boot stretching spray outside the boots.
2. Insert the wet towel inside the boots.
3. Now let the towel get dry. Once it gets dry, it will widen the steel toe boots from inside. The spray will make boots wide from the outside.

Why do you need to widen your steel toe boots?

Because if your boots are too tight, they create discomfort and even can cause severe pain to your feet. You may experience blisters and foot aches etc. It happens if you have wide feet. Moreover, it also affects work productivity. You won’t focus on your work if you are feet are uncomfortable are experiencing pain. If you want to get rid of this discomfort, you have to widen your steel toe boots. Widening the boots make your feet feel comfortable, and you will get rid of the pain. It will also positively affect your work performance. You will focus on your work more if you are feeling comfortable.

The Bottom Line

We hope all these methods to widen the steel toe boots will be a great help for you. All these methods are easy to perform, we have written this article considering the regular audience in our minds. You don’t have to be a professional to perform these methods. All these methods are really effective; you can follow any of the above methods that you like. We hope you will easily make your tight boots wide by following these methods.