Resole Shoes

[Fifty150]

I went to a local cobbler to get a quote on resoling my Stacy Adams Madison boots. Heels were worn down. The soles are worn down. Now was a good time to fix them, before they got worse and needed more work.

The quote was for "$$$". The shoe repair guy said that he would grind off and sand down the leather sole, then glue on a piece of rubber, and replace the heel block. He shows me a plastic heel block which was stamped "Taiwan", and a sheet of rubber which is usually used as a "sole saver". I could literally save money by buying another pair. I blurted out, "that's a hack job!"


After thinking it over, I decided to do it myself. I decided on Vibram Christy soles. I have other boots which came with Christy soles, and I really like them.

I removed the heel, cut off the nails, and sanded everything down. Next step is glueing on the new soles. How hard can this be?

 

[Fifty150]

As I expected. A cardboard heel. Sad that even the very expensive shoes are using cardboard these days.

 

[Fifty150]

I toyed around with the idea of just sanding down the worn portion of the leather, then adding a sole saver. It would have been easy enough to do that, then pretend that I completed the job. In the end, I decided to do a little bit more work. Now I have the experience to add a simple sole saver to another pair of shoes. Save a few dollars by doing it myself.

So far, I haven't bought any special tools. I've used a screwdriver, and an oscillating tool. I used a bi-metal plunge blade to cut off the nails and clean off cardboard still stuck to the heel base. The oscillating tool also has a sandpaper attachment.

 

[Fifty150]

Not every shoe can be repaired. Some shoes have to be thrown away.

To be fair, the price was low, it was immediately comfortable without having to break it in, and it held up for several decades.

All the stitching was decorative. Only glue was holding the shoe together. The bottom of the shoe was paper and cardboard. Even the welt, was fake. The shank was plastic, and about as rigid as a gift card.

Nothing wrong with buying cheap shoes. Just know what you are getting when you buy cheap shoes.

 

[Fifty150]

I installed Vibram sole saver. An amatuer hack job. Because I'm an amatuer. Not a pro. I'm doing this at home, and improvising with hand tools.

 

[Fifty150]

IF I had a shop and supplies, this would go a lot faster. But I'm just doing it in my living room. As time permits. And slowly ordering supplies as needed. No retailers sell shoe making supplies. Shoe repair guys aren't giving you great deals on over-counter-pricing on parts, as they want to also charge you for the service.

I just ordered a Soletech 1743. It looks like something that would work for walking around in The City. Concrete sidewalks, metal sewer drain grates, dirty bar room floors, worn filthy carpets in bordellos, marble floors of the banks you're trying to rob, then running from the police.

Right or wrong? I don't know. I wanted to preserve as much of the factory build as possible. I added a thin piece of leather on top of the OEM leather sole. It will sort of be like a sandwich layer, which could be sacrificed if need be, if the shoe needs to be torn down again. Hopefully, the extra leather and cement will fill some of the gaps like the worn down toe area. The rubber sole will attach to it.

 

[Fifty150]

While looking around on Amazon, I noticed that the sheets of rubber were also available from "not a brand name" sellers. Since I had some old boots that I wouldn't cry over, I bought the lowest priced rubber sheet.

Again, not a professional job. DIY with minimal hand tools, no training or experience, and a 6 pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon. But it will work. Good enough for the price.

QUOTE REPLY

 

[Fifty150]

So here is what I have learned.

I do not have any way of stitching. My Singer sewing machine is not able to repair shoes. The best that I could do, if I need to attach a leather midsole to the welt, would be to do it by hand. Not impossible. An awl, or even a very small drill bit could make the holes. Although they won't be straight, or evenly spaced stitches.

I don't have a hydraulic or pneumatic press. Attaching a sole to a midsole will not be a clean job. But the contact cement is strong, and will hold.

I do not have any way of pressing the edges together for a clean seal. I tried using tongue and groove pliers. But it is not even close to what cobblers do with that machine that presses and trims the edges.

I have no way of trimming off the extra parts. I have hand tools. A box cutter and a pocketknife will take off extra rubber and leather. But not leave a clean cut.

I don't have an foot shaped anvil. I tried putting my hand in the shoe, then hitting it with a hammer. But that does not work. Without one of those, it's not easy to put nails in the shoe.



I ended up with Vibram Christy soles. I have them on other shoes. They feel good for standing, walking, and running. They grip well. And they're thick. It will take a very long time to wear through those wedge soles.

10 minutes to brush on the glue. 10 minutes for the glue to dry. 10 minutes to attach the soles crooked.

The glue job looks bad. The cuts are crooked, and all over the place. A hand held sander will not fix the bad cutting. It looks like 5h!t.

But it does work. The soles are bonded to the shoe. They won't fall off as I'm running for the bus. If I don't look at them, they're fine.



Not everyone can afford to buy $500 shoes, then spend $200 to resole them. A guy like me, washing dishes at Panda Express, has to wear $70 shoes. Vibram Christy soles are about $40 retail. I'm poor. I'm the guy who can't afford the high price call girls. Instead, I go to the Oriental Spa for a rub'n'tug.

 

[Fifty150]

Not exactly a resole. Just a preemptive strike. I decided to add lug soles before the shoe needed a resole. Hopefully, the shoe will last a lot longer and won't need a resole until much further down the line. The rubber should be much more durable than the factory leather sole. Far from perfect. An amateur hack job. But it is functional.

 

[Woodtroll]

I think these turned out well for a home project. I don’t mind paying craftsmen, but it’s hard to find anyone that is willing to FIX things any more, and when you do they’re usually terribly backlogged and expensive. So I do a lot of these things for myself too. The results aren’t always perfect (almost never, to be honest) but it beats the alternative of throwing away reasonably good things just to buy new replacements. I applaud your self-sufficiency!

 

[Fifty150]

I don’t mind paying craftsmen, but it’s hard to find anyone that is willing to FIX things any more, and when you do they’re usually terribly backlogged and expensive.

I'm fortunate. In my area, there is a halfway competent cobbler. I say "halfway competent" because he is old, works slow, and he is easily confused. A few times, I had to remind him that I had not paid yet. Then he insisted that he had already collected payment when I dropped off the shoes. At the end of the day, I left the $50 in the tip jar. Yes. He has a tip jar. He owns the shop, and he wants tips.

Our most recent transaction was a pair of brand new shoes that I dropped off for sole protectors. Usually about $20 to $30 for a cobbler to glue on a piece of rubber. Amazon has the Vibram sole protector for about $15. 3 months later, I went back to see if the shoes were ready. It took him 30 minutes to find the shoes. He already started work on them. He took the heels off. Why did he take heels off for a sole protector? He made a mistake. He was flustered and apologetic. I told him it was okay, and that mistakes happened. I told him that I had other shoes to wear, to take his time, and just to call me whenever he got done. Miraculously, he called the next day and said the shoes were all fixed. He hands me my shoes. They now had Vibram lug soles. Perfect job. Beautiful. Only these were dress shoes, now they are combat boots. He looks at the ticket, cross references it to his ledger, looks up, "sole protectors, $30".

Although he's not one of those "artisan shoe guys" on the internet. He has been in business close to 50 years. His approach is a little different than what YouTube cobblers do. His philosophy is to keep as much of the original shoe build as possible, and to keep as many of the original parts as possible. He will not be the guy who deconstructs the entire shoe bottom, hand sews a new welt using the original stitch holes in the uppers, refills the shoe with hot cork, et cetera. His approach is more along the lines of sand down the worn parts of the shoe sole, then glue on a new piece of rubber. You had full leather soles? Now you have rubber half soles.

He's a shoe mender. Not a shoe crafter. He says that he fixes shoes so that you can keep wearing them, and does it within a certain budget. After all, how many people are willing to spend upwards of $250 to $300 to recraft shoes that cost less than $200? The way he explains it, most of his customers are people who have $100 to $200 shoes. People who don't have the money to buy expensive shoes, and the only reason they are willing to spend $100 to fix old shoes, is because they don't have $200 for a new pair of shoes. And usually when someone comes to the shop with Alden, Allen Edmonds, Red Wings, Danners, or a Pacific NorthWest boot, he tells them that the factory can do a recraft better than he could. Then maybe about half of those customers decide to let him do some glued on heels and half soles, as opposed to sending them back to the factory.

His son is taking over the shop. The shop is no longer "cash only". Now there is a text message communication when your shoes are ready. And the new shop hours are noon until 8 in the evening, so that people can actually go there after work. The son is much younger, and every bit as competent with the actual craft. I'm trying to talk him into doing recrafts on shoes. Maybe convince him that he could do the more expensive rebuilding jobs on request, insteading of just referring the customers to send the shoes back to the factory.

 

[Fifty150]

Our most recent transaction was a pair of brand new shoes that I dropped off for sole protectors. Usually about $20 to $30 for a cobbler to glue on a piece of rubber. Amazon has the Vibram sole protector for about $15. 3 months later, I went back to see if the shoes were ready. It took him 30 minutes to find the shoes. He already started work on them. He took the heels off. Why did he take heels off for a sole protector? He made a mistake. He was flustered and apologetic. I told him it was okay, and that mistakes happened. I told him that I had other shoes to wear, to take his time, and just to call me whenever he got done. Miraculously, he called the next day and said the shoes were all fixed. He hands me my shoes. They now had Vibram lug soles. Perfect job. Beautiful. Only these were dress shoes, now they are combat boots. He looks at the ticket, cross references it to his ledger, looks up, "sole protectors, $30".

These reminded me of Disco dancing shoes from The 70's. On sale from Amazon with 1970's pricing.

 

[Fifty150]

Inspired by what my professional cobbler did...... I did my own hack job on some old boots. Ugly. Looks like 5h!t. They look terrible. But it works. The old heels were worn down. The textured sole protectors were worn smooth. Now I have lug soles. And the bullhide skin should last until I die. These boots are older than my girlfriend, and I can walk in these boots again. As long as nobody is staring down at the floor, nobody will know.

 

[Woodtroll]

If you're going to do many resoles, you may consider buying a $15 angle grinder and a $5 80 or 100-grit flap wheel from Harbor Freight. I know that's $20 for tools that you may not use for much of anything else, but that combination is relatively cheap compared to a professional repair, is easy to use for this purpose, and does a good job. With a gentle hand you can grind the new rubber right down to the existing sole line and make a nice clean edge. I've been very pleased with this method on the resoles I've done for myself, and have even cleaned up a couple of pair of new boots that weren't very evenly ground.

Just a suggestion for your consideration, of course. Good luck!

 

[belfastboy]

I'm fortunate. In my area, there is a halfway competent cobbler. I say "halfway competent" because he is old, works slow, and he is easily confused. A few times, I had to remind him that I had not paid yet. Then he insisted that he had already collected payment when I dropped off the shoes. At the end of the day, I left the $50 in the tip jar. Yes. He has a tip jar. He owns the shop, and he wants tips.

Our most recent transaction was a pair of brand new shoes that I dropped off for sole protectors. Usually about $20 to $30 for a cobbler to glue on a piece of rubber. Amazon has the Vibram sole protector for about $15. 3 months later, I went back to see if the shoes were ready. It took him 30 minutes to find the shoes. He already started work on them. He took the heels off. Why did he take heels off for a sole protector? He made a mistake. He was flustered and apologetic. I told him it was okay, and that mistakes happened. I told him that I had other shoes to wear, to take his time, and just to call me whenever he got done. Miraculously, he called the next day and said the shoes were all fixed. He hands me my shoes. They now had Vibram lug soles. Perfect job. Beautiful. Only these were dress shoes, now they are combat boots. He looks at the ticket, cross references it to his ledger, looks up, "sole protectors, $30".

Although he's not one of those "artisan shoe guys" on the internet. He has been in business close to 50 years. His approach is a little different than what YouTube cobblers do. His philosophy is to keep as much of the original shoe build as possible, and to keep as many of the original parts as possible. He will not be the guy who deconstructs the entire shoe bottom, hand sews a new welt using the original stitch holes in the uppers, refills the shoe with hot cork, et cetera. His approach is more along the lines of sand down the worn parts of the shoe sole, then glue on a new piece of rubber. You had full leather soles? Now you have rubber half soles.

He's a shoe mender. Not a shoe crafter. He says that he fixes shoes so that you can keep wearing them, and does it within a certain budget. After all, how many people are willing to spend upwards of $250 to $300 to recraft shoes that cost less than $200? The way he explains it, most of his customers are people who have $100 to $200 shoes. People who don't have the money to buy expensive shoes, and the only reason they are willing to spend $100 to fix old shoes, is because they don't have $200 for a new pair of shoes. And usually when someone comes to the shop with Alden, Allen Edmonds, Red Wings, Danners, or a Pacific NorthWest boot, he tells them that the factory can do a recraft better than he could. Then maybe about half of those customers decide to let him do some glued on heels and half soles, as opposed to sending them back to the factory.

His son is taking over the shop. The shop is no longer "cash only". Now there is a text message communication when your shoes are ready. And the new shop hours are noon until 8 in the evening, so that people can actually go there after work. The son is much younger, and every bit as competent with the actual craft. I'm trying to talk him into doing recrafts on shoes. Maybe convince him that he could do the more expensive rebuilding jobs on request, insteading of just referring the customers to send the shoes back to the factory.

My cobbler, too an old guy...older than me even....charges $70 (Canadian $) for Topy sole protectors. He recrafted my Meindal walking shoes for $100 and did an excellent job but I fear he will be closing up shop soon and he is one of the last good cobblers in the area.

 

[Fifty150]

you may consider buying a $15 angle grinder and a $5 80 or 100-grit flap wheel

Funny that you should mention that. I already had the tool and attachment in my garage.

With a gentle hand

I don't have a gentle hand. It didn't work out well for me. The ground off rubber was everywhere. On the shoe. On my hands. On my clothes. All over the work area. In my nostrils and in my mouth. It appeared to be going okay..... until I ground into the leather part of the shoe.

A lesson learned. If I attempt this again, it will be with a belt sander. Wen has an inexpensive model which should work.

Although that would be a tool which I don't have the space for, nor any other use for. If I truly needed a belt sander in my life, I would already have one by now.

charges $70 (Canadian $) for Topy sole protectors

Wow. That is expensive. The actual part costs very little. You're paying for his glue, his shop, his experience and labor.

 

[Woodtroll]

Yes, it's a messy job, but the dust cleans off fairly easily. I always thought the leather edges were fairly easy to touch up, but then I keep a few different things on hand for boot care already.

The problem I have with trying to use a belt sander is that you're working blind - it's really hard to actually see the edge you're sanding and how close you're getting to the leather, so it's that much easier to make a mistake. And yes, I've done that too!

 

[belfastboy]

I have the tools in my shop but one thing I have learned over my many years (most through learning what not to do) is to focus on what I am good at and turn over projects to the folks with the expertise where getting a great outcome is desired. If I have the inclination I will take on things to explore and challenge me (such as hat making) but episodic things like shoe repair I am content to turn over to a professional.

 

[Fifty150]

The problem I have with trying to use a belt sander is that you're working blind - it's really hard to actually see the edge you're sanding and how close you're getting to the leather, so it's that much easier to make a mistake.

My handheld oscillating tool with a sanding attachment is okay. But my tool is one of the old versions, with a weaker motor and very low oscillations per minute. Newer versions of the tool are slimmer, lighter, easier to handle, have more power, and the power is adjustable for different jobs.

I have found a small spindle which could work.

I will take on things to explore and challenge me (such as hat making) but episodic things like shoe repair I am content to turn over to a professional.

For me, this adventure has been a challenge. Now I know what I can't do, can do, and at what cost. I'm now certain that I can apply a sole protector. I also know that I could do better, if I had the right tools. Not that I could do a professional job. If I were completely desperate, I could perform a very poor quality repair. The shoes will look like they were dipped and rolled in fecal matter; but I will be able to walk on them. A temporary mend, until I can get a professional rebuild. Sort of like the guy who fills his own car dent with Bondo, then spray paints it with Krylon. Just good enough until a real body shop does the job right.

 

[belfastboy]

My handheld oscillating tool with a sanding attachment is okay. But my tool is one of the old versions, with a weaker motor and very low oscillations per minute. Newer versions of the tool are slimmer, lighter, easier to handle, have more power, and the power is adjustable for different jobs.

I have found a small spindle which could work.

View attachment 551072




For me, this adventure has been a challenge. Now I know what I can't do, can do, and at what cost. I'm now certain that I can apply a sole protector. I also know that I could do better, if I had the right tools. Not that I could do a professional job. If I were completely desperate, I could perform a very poor quality repair. The shoes will look like they were dipped and rolled in fecal matter; but I will be able to walk on them. A temporary mend, until I can get a professional rebuild. Sort of like the guy who fills his own car dent with Bondo, then spray paints it with Krylon. Just good enough until a real body shop does the job right.

My issue for a long time was not knowing what I could or couldn't do. My modus operandi was to say yes, and then have the thought WTF have I done. But none has killed me so it wasn't all that bad and I have had many an interesting ventures and learned a lot of things.......a lot of -"won't do that again." Now in my dotage I am more discerning about what I yes to.