Shoe resoles

[alh2411]

I am currently living in the gorge and looking for someone that resoles shoes. I am very interested in learning how the process goes so that I can pick it up. If anyone knows of anyone that is/has done any resoling that would be interested in sharing their wealth of knowledge it would be greatly appreciated! send me a pm or post here.

[Clevis Hitch]

I spent a good deal of time and effort to try and learn the craft. If you think that youre going to be able to come up with a commercial process that would stand up to market place scrutiny you are wasting your time and money. If you are living in the gorge then you probably dont have the resources to waste on this project. The biggest problem that I ran in to was getting a chemical bond and not just a mechanical bond. How to pre-treat the rubber to break the cross-linking (temporarily) and then to catalyze(?) a bond with the new material. The best retail glue that I could come up with that would offer a good mechanical bond was "Shoe Goo". The aplication was some what hit and miss. That was the least volitile glue I experimented with. I also worked with sulfuric acid to break the cross linking but I think the best would have been nitric acid. fairly dangerous. Also if you buy nitric acid you will have the ATF knocking on the door.

[clif]

i don't think nitric acid is a controlled substance, but i don't think it would matter- if i recall the chemistry of vulcanized rubber and disulfide bonds, which is why tires are seen burning in massive piles out in the wastes of texas... but i could be thinking of perms?

just reading up a little. climbing shoes probably don't use 'vulcanized' rubber-less sticky? there was also an article on a [EDIT: fungus, NOT bacteria] that reduces the sulfur crosslinking bonds in [vulcanized] rubber, which is totally cool.

[kato]

Barge cement is what manufacturers recommend for resoling their own shoes. I've done it and you could do it in your tent if you have a couple tools and an electrical outlet to plug in a heat gun. There are a few critical things to learn, and if you get those down, the rest is just good craftsmanship. Take the old soles off by heating them up with the heat gun. The cement is heat sensitive, this softens it up. First important thing: clean the surfaces that you are gluing. Do they look clean? Doesn't matter. Clean them again, use alcohol. Whether the new soles stick or not will depend on whether they are really clean. Now I cut a piece of plywood in the shape of a foot, to stick in the shoe. Sand it smooth and make sure it is an accurate fit for the shoe size. If you are clever you can flip it over for the other shoe. Stuff the rest of the shoe with rice. Get a couple old bike tire tubes and have them ready. Coat the bottom of the shoe and the top of the new sole with Barge cement. It can skin over, this is OK. Use the heat gun to warm it up and this will reactivate it. When you know where you want it, slap it on. There will be no readjustment, as soon as they contact they will be permanently stuck together- don't screw it up. Now before the glue cools, wrap the tire tubes around the shoe as tight as you can. It is vitally important that the edges are sealed tight against the shoe or it will start peeling very soon. Let it dry, then shape the edge with a belt sander. Piece o' cake.

[toad857]

yeah.. OR:

1.) send your shoes to yosemitebum.com, and
2.) spend your time doing something else

[LK Day]

I never paid all that close attention, but I used to visit with Doug Snively at Komito Boots while he resoled shoes. Seems that a big serious floor mounted belt sander, Barge Cement, a steel last and a hammer were critical to the process. Roughly, it went like this - heat old sole, grab it wit a funny looking set of pliers and rip it off, clean all surfaces, apply Barge to shoe and new sole and let both pieces skin over (pretty damned dry, actually), place shoe over steel last, lay on new sole and hammer them together (makes an awesome bond) grind sole to shape. Hmmm, Doug may have employed a floor mounted disc grinder as well for the final shaping. Good luck.

[TradMike]

That would explain why I lost a sole in Cochise Stronghold - melted off due to heat.