Gap Filling

new_look · 17th November 2003, 08:33

Reading on from a post in the mens section by a new lad, and mr fox, i would like to ask for suggestions on how to fill in the gap between the heel and sole, effectively removing the sight that there is a heel from most peoples eyes. Ive seen some shoes for a purchase that i would like to try this with. Any ideas?

daz

Dr. Shoe · 18th November 2003, 23:20

You could use just about anything (unlike building wedges from scratch) because the sole of the shoe is already supported. You could use polystyrene (or any other lightweight material) covered with leather or fabric.

Avoid using anything too heavy as this will make the shoes heavier! (duh! I don't believe I went to the trouble of pointing out the obvious!

)

bigj3650 · 19th November 2003, 01:06

daz, the new lad has a name remeber ;)

well i am not going to try firefox's idea because i dun wanna ruin my shoes JUST yet

J

Ionic · 19th November 2003, 02:18

To help give the filler some support so it doesn't drop out, you might be able to drive some screws into the hidden front face of the heel. They will be safe there, I mean you don't really want any jabbing your feet through the sole do you???

/I

new_look · 19th November 2003, 02:31

sorry john. couldnt remember your name when i was posting.

I will experiment with an old paur, it was just an idea that seemmed ok. wedges are useful discreet tools, but awkward to find in styles or heel heights you want

daz

Dr. Shoe · 20th November 2003, 00:21

Good idea. I don't think that screws are neccessary if you use a lightweight material, as long as you use a Bostik style glue. After all, you don't often see soles attached with screws do you? just rough up the soles a bit first.

Having said that, it was a good idea by Ionic though. :)

Heelfan · 23rd November 2003, 10:16

One moment please folks! Can I just query the wisdom of Daz's suggested "filling-in" of the gap between the heel and the sole completely.

To me, this alteration would make any shoe spotted under men's trousers look like a WEDGE shoe, ie a shoe normally worn only by females, whereas Daz's whole point seems to be to make it look like a more discreet (normal male) shoe.

I think the latter is better achieved by making the visible lower bit of the shoe look like a man's shoe, ie when viewed from the side, leave the heel as a free-standing heel, but if necessary increase the heel's front-to-back thickness to a similar measurement to an ordinary man's heel, still leaving a gap between the heel and the sole.

For example, for "everyday" wear, I have modified three of my pairs of blade heels that way. Say (viewed from the side) the blade heel has a thickness of only 1": I have shaped, drilled and countersunk a 2" wide block of hardwood which I have glued-and-screwed to the front side of the heel, then recovering the enlarged heel with new black skiver (thin) leather using Evostik. This turns the side-view of the heel from a 1" thick heel to a 3" thick heel, but importantly still leaving a gap between the front of the heel and the toe-box, which people expect to see in a normal male shoe.

The other advantage of taking this approach is that it is much easier and more secure to glue-and-screw the additional block into just the one front face of the heel, rather than trying to find a way of sticking a block to the flexing sole as well.

Cheerfully yours, Heelfan