I've tried stretching boots multiple times because of the often mentioned pinky toe issues but it's never really worked in my favor. The toe area seems especially hard to stretch. It's better to go up in width or length, but beware that you may end up with extra space in the rest of the boot so you might want to look at insoles or kilties.
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Boot Stretcher
- Thread starter Trouser Bark
- Start date
pillepalle123
Familiar Face
- Messages
- 93
Not sure how you guys did it, but many years ago I sometimes worked at a cobbler shop during the holidays.
We stretched shoes and boots nearly every day.
Stretching the width was never a problem, not sure if we stretched from D to E (propably not, we refused extreme stretchings anyways) but 99% of customers were satisfied.
Pinky toe are was even less of a problem, just add a little metal knob to the stretcher and go for it.
Lots of diluted alcohol or stretcher solution on outer leather and lining and 2-3 days of stretching, doing it faster can be risky depending on how much it needed to be stretched.
Today I am a hobby cobbler and succesfully stretched at least 30% of my boot collection in the pinky toe area.
Heavier boots just need more time and heavier duty equipment.
We stretched shoes and boots nearly every day.
Stretching the width was never a problem, not sure if we stretched from D to E (propably not, we refused extreme stretchings anyways) but 99% of customers were satisfied.
Pinky toe are was even less of a problem, just add a little metal knob to the stretcher and go for it.
Lots of diluted alcohol or stretcher solution on outer leather and lining and 2-3 days of stretching, doing it faster can be risky depending on how much it needed to be stretched.
Today I am a hobby cobbler and succesfully stretched at least 30% of my boot collection in the pinky toe area.
Heavier boots just need more time and heavier duty equipment.
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Trouser Bark
Banned
- Messages
- 640
- Location
- Your Cerebral Cortex
I've rec'd the boot stretcher previously mentioned and have had the chance to give it a good test.
The answer is yes; it works great and at a single revolution of the crank every few days I'm now wearing a pair of boots that are roughly 50 years old and up until recently were rarely worn because they were strikingly uncomfortable. They are a little uncomfortable now too, but for a different reason.
Anything to be aware of? Yes...
- When you change the size and shape of the boot you'll need to break them in again, and
- As long as you take your time you don't need alcohol solutions to help stretch the leather.
This is the only one I've ever used and my experience has been xlnt. This particular stretcher has a heavy duty feel to it and is likely to last longer than I will. Can't picture needing it longer than that.
The answer is yes; it works great and at a single revolution of the crank every few days I'm now wearing a pair of boots that are roughly 50 years old and up until recently were rarely worn because they were strikingly uncomfortable. They are a little uncomfortable now too, but for a different reason.
Anything to be aware of? Yes...
- When you change the size and shape of the boot you'll need to break them in again, and
- As long as you take your time you don't need alcohol solutions to help stretch the leather.
This is the only one I've ever used and my experience has been xlnt. This particular stretcher has a heavy duty feel to it and is likely to last longer than I will. Can't picture needing it longer than that.
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