felt sole replacement

[osprey]

has anyone ever put new felt on old wading boots? i have a old pair of hodgemans that need resoling. bought a kit but have not had a chance to put them on. looked over the instructions sounded like a pain.

opsrey

[Jimmy Harris]

Osprey,

It's done all the time. I would, however, recommend you take the boots to a shoe repair shop & let them put them on; they can glue & stitch them on for you. Don't know where you live, but the Country Cobbler in Cornelia does an excellent job for under $10.00. You'll find that the aggravation factor is much higher than 10 bucks. I would qualify this statement by suggesting you take them to a cobbler who has done this type of work before. It evidently is not a common request in the shoe repair business & some of them can do a lousy job.

JH

[The Drifter]

Osprey,
I've done it once to a pair of Hodgeman's and it turned out good. Unfortunately the shoes wore out before the second set of felt soles did.

I put the shoes in a vice, and sanded the bottoms with a belt sander loaded with 80 grit sandpaper. Be careful though. The sandpaper will really eat the sole fast! Don't ask me hoe I know ;)

The Drifter

[Mr T1]

Osprey -- I recently converted a pair of Cabela's wading boots to felt soles and it was pretty easy. Used a bench grinder to take the ridges off the bottoms of the boots and to smooth out the surface. Then I used a soft lead pencil to draw an outline of the boots on the felt. Cut the soles out with a NEW packing knife. Then glued the new soles on according to the instructions. Had some very minor finish trimming to do after the glue set.

The whole job was not a big deal. HOWEVER, if I had thought of it, Jimmy Harris' suggestion of taking it to a cobbler is a really good idea if you can get it done for $10. It would have been worth $10 to me to have someone else do it. At $15, I'd do it myself.

Mr. T

[edwin]

Osprey,
I highly recommend going with Jimmy's suggestion that you take your boots to a cobbler. The above-referenced "aggravation factor" is definitely high enough to warrant the comparatively minor expense. However, if you do want to resole the boots yourself, make sure you sand them well, and I recommend using marine epoxy to get the soles to stick. The first pair I resoled, I used the stuff that came with the kit, bad idea. The second pair I resoled with marine epoxy on a tip from a friend, good idea. But then I found out about the cobbler thing and will never go back. Also, if you want to do it yourself, make sure you have the right tools. Anyway, sorry about the long answer, but good luck.