Mythbusters tried to recreate toe crushing and toe severing with steel toed boots and couldn't. I wear steel toed boots working around the horses because it just plain hurts to get your foot stepped on by a hard hoofed 1200 LB animal and my feet get colder with the muck boots I wear after heavy rain or when the snow gets over mid calf deep. The steel cap is sandwiched between 2 layers of leather, so there is a reasonable amount of insulation.
