I don't like things I can't repair. One pet hate is those stupid plastics that don't react to any known glue so once broken, can only head towards land-fill.
Another issue is shoes. Occasionally, the sole starts to come unstuck from the top and needs a little glue to fix the join. It was glued originally so repair ought to be easy.
Trouble is, the join has to flex. You can't use epoxy as it's too stiff and after a few feet of walking, starts to break down. Evo Stick, being a rubber glue, ought to be better but never seems strong enough to me. I'll confess that I've even had failures when having repairs professionally carried out. New soles pulling away from perfectly good uppers for example.
A while ago, I bought a tube of Unibond EXTREME glue. It claims strength and flexibility so I gave it a go.
I can report that on one pear of shoes, the join, at the toe, was effective and allowed me to cover many more miles before I wore the soles out. More recently, it's been used to re-fix a boot sole which shows no evidence of glue being involved in the manufacture and this seems OK.
Two tricks: Open the gap with a screwdriver so you can squirt the glue well into the join. Second, a paper towel dampened with white spirit wipes away splurges of glue from the sides, leaving a perfect join.
4 comments:
I've not had a lot of success with rebonding broken shoes. I have used rubber based glues and as you did open up the gap to let it work like a proper contact adhesive. I think the best I've had is an extra month of wear out of them.
Shoes are a special problem and like you, I've struggled to find anything that would do the job, hence this post. The other pair I glued held up perfectly well for over a year with occasional use. Enough for me to take half worn soles to bordarline hole in the bottom.
I love these blogs, so many handy hints throughout the year.
And some are even about model railways :-)
Happy Christmas Phil.
I bought a tube of this and used it to fix two different shoes, one where the side of the sole was starting to lift and the other where almost the entire sole was coming off. So far so good and looks as though it will work. Needs a press or vice to hold in place for 24 hours while it sets.
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