Shoe Stretching. Part one

hoverfly · 4th April 2002, 07:00

Ok so I had nothing better else to do. About a year ago I discovered Firefoxe's web page Aesthetic High Heels Men's Fashion. Under the Modify / Repair section http://freespace.virgin.net/firey.fox/stretch.htm he has a section on constructing some shoe stretchers. So when I got laid off recently and with time on my hands I set up my work shop for some projects to keep my self out of harms way. Hehe, yeah right!! One was to build my R/C airplanes, and two, build some shoe stretchers.

Some of the boots and shoes that I bought over the past year were a bit tight in some places. So I put them aside for when I had to time to experiment in stretching them. Also I needed to address the fact that finding any thing above a size 11 U.S. was going to be a constant problem. Payless has up to a 13 but starting at size 9 options available in stiles start to shrink. So when I decided what kind of foot wear I would like to wear in public, boots with no pointed toe boxes were decided upon. Half of the problem was solved. Boots generally run a bit big and ones with a square toes tend to have a clown shoe effect. So there is plenty of room length wise in smaller sizes but width needed some work. Even if I find a wide width they will also need some work done.

When I constructed my shoe stretchers I first used them on 4 pairs of boots one size 12 U.S. mid calf with a 2” chunky heel. Another is a 12W bellow the ankle “ bootie” (that’s what Payless called it) with a 4.5” chunky heel and a .5” plat. The third one was an ankle boot with a just under a 3” chunky heel. All three were 100 percent man made materials I had good results with all three except the top of the foot is still a bit tight on the mid calf and ankle. But after a couple of tweaks I created the desired width for my foot. I haven’t addressed the problem with the top of my foot still being tight but I think I can stretch it enough by hand or modify the foot stretchers to be a little more thicker where needed. Now you properly noticed that I only mentioned 3 of the 4 boots. Well……. Lets just say at the moment the 4th one did not make through it's transformation in one peace.

Now I had the same two problems as Firefox did as described on his web sight with the foot stretchers. One was more of a problem for me then it was for him. The toe box around the foot after stretching was much more distorted that I wanted it to be. I will discuss this in this part. The other was the difficultly stretching of man-made materials; this will be discussed latter in part two.

Now if you take a look at the picture below (this is boot # 3). You will notice that the boot on the right is distorted badly around the toe box area. (Before) The inserts are an out line of my foot, so when the boot got stretched the first time around, it left a bulge big enough to make the boot unattractive. So I decided that if I could stretch to accommodate a bigger foot I most certainly stretch the upper most part of the toe box to blend in with the bulge. See the boot on the left; also take notice to the smaller toe box on the right at the very top as well. (After)

http://theforumisdown.com/uploadfile.../hoverfly1.jpg

Now the second picture shows the shoe stretchers. The one to the right is just the out line of my foot; the one on the left is a little bigger for final tweaking for the width and the desired shape of the toe box. The out line on the left shoe stretcher shows the original out line of my left foot. Now you can make two sets, but for me it worked out fine in just swapping the toe box area of the first one for the one that is going to give the boot it’s final shape. Just make sure you round of any sharp corners of the stretchers including the ones between the joints. This is where the 4th pair of boots comes in.

http://theforumisdown.com/uploadfile.../hoverfly3.jpg

The 4th pair was size 11 U.S. soft leather ankle boots with a 3” chunky heel. I did not use the whole stretcher just a wedge to form the toe box. Leather is easy to stretch. But…. If you don’t keep some kind of device in to keep the desired shape around the rest of the boot, leather can shrink just all most as good as it can stretch. After I let the boot dry over night (I use water to help the stretching processes) the leather that was not being stretched, shrank around the wedge making it a problem to remove. After I realized I had one problem I discovered another. The backside of the wedge had corners that were digging in to the sides of the boot. When I attempted to remove the wedge they were acting like barbs on a fish hook!!! I am not going in to details what methods I tried in order to remove the wedge but after awhile I decided it was all or nothing. I used a pair of vice grips to get a firm hold on the wedge and just used brute force. As I was pulling really hard to get the wedge out, all of a sudden Rrrrrrrrrrrrrip!!! I put a very, very big tear across the top middle part of the boot!!! Oh well. At least I got the wedge out. Any way I got the desired effect I wanted and I was able to wear the boot to see how was the fit. Being satisfied with the end results (except the tear) I took boots off and put them in a closet. Then making a mental note to use them for future experiments and parts.

So what did I learn so far? One, make sure you use the whole shoe stretcher right down to creating the final shape. This makes easier to pull it out and to prevent shrinkages where you don’t want it. Two, don’t just use a wedge to form the toe box , it can be difficult to pull out. Three, when you put a larger piece on the shoe stretcher like I did for the toe box. Round off any corners that might get caught in the material. This way it will slide out easer with out getting caught.

(Edit By Firefox: To get the pics to display, you need to give the pic name and it's file type extension when specifying a URL eg hoverfly1.jpg, not just hoverfly1 )

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: hoverfly on 2002-04-05 01:48 ]</font>

Firefox · 4th April 2002, 18:06

Good to see you made use of some of my ideas there Hfly. I find the width stretchers useful as I have a size 41 width and a size 40 length, so the fashion toe boxes often need some work, but if I buy the bigger size boots then they slip at the back, so I prefer to get a custom fit. I'll post some photos of my GRP last as used for stretching.

hoverfly · 4th April 2002, 18:46

I find that a size 12 U.S. is a bit lose in the back of the shoe. 11's seem to be good enough for a snug fit. I don't know about a size 10 and above a 10 there is no half sizes. My wife wears a 10 and some of her boots seems to have enough length. But if I am going to stretch a 10 then I need them to be leather.

Firefox:
Thank you. For your help with the pictures.

Dr. Shoe · 7th April 2002, 22:15

You can stretch plastic as most kinds (PVC and PU) tend to hold a stretch shape quite well. Some plastics though such as PCP (polychlorateplastomer) are a form of synthetic rubber so will just spring back as will neoprene.

Firefox · 8th April 2002, 00:43

Agree Dr Shoe. I do find that even PU does not strecth and mould as well as leather. Another reason for buying leather.

hoverfly · 8th April 2002, 04:01

Ahhhhh but there might be a solution. I haven’t not gotten to part two yet.

Arctic · 15th April 2002, 01:51

Something which I have been about to try now for a while already is heating them up... Would some moderate amount of heat not make plastics more likely to take a new shape?

Bert

Firefox · 15th April 2002, 02:13

You'll have to be careful with that. Some plastics can shrink with heat, but I think moderate amounts of heat up to 100C may work. To this end, immersing in hot water and then wearing could be OK (I haven't tried this, it was only a thought!)

hoverfly · 15th April 2002, 04:01

Bingo that's part two!!! However I been busy and had not a whole lot of time to write this one out yet. Warm weather is here and things need to be done around the house. Also I start my new job tomorrow. My method has been done only on a heavy material. I used the boots in part one. But some parts of that boot have a stretchy material around the ankle so I had to be careful. Using heat and the width stretchers I was able to get what I wanted. I used a heat gun that is used for striping paint. It only has two heat settings. The best way to control the heat in this case was to hold the gun about 8" to 10" form the boot and constantly keep the gun moving around the area to be winded/shaped. Then after a while I shut the gun off and worked the stretchers in a little bit at a time. I applied more heat when needed until I got the stretchers in completely. After I got the stretchers in I applied more heat to make it easier for the material to stretch around the stretchers and take permanent form of its new shape. Then I let the boots cool at room temperature before removing the stretchers. Slow cooling less shrinkage. Now how did I figure in the ideal stretching temperature? Well if it doesn’t produce a strong smell then you are fine. I did TLAR (That Looks About Right) the glue will go first if you are working around the front of the toe box. That can be repaired easily with some glue. All you want to do is to soften the material enough so it will stretch. This is going to have to be done a little bit at time until you figure an ideal duration and temperature. Also the stretching temperature of this cretin material was very hot. I say it would burn you in seconds. Be careful!!!

_________________
Hello, my name is Hoverfly. I am a high heel addict…. Weeeeeeeeeee!!!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: hoverfly on 2002-04-15 05:06 ]</font>

terayon · 17th April 2002, 03:07

i may try this sometime...not on my good boots though...dont wanna wreck em