Replacing felt soles

[pigpen]

The toe end of my soles have come loose. Tried to remove the entire sole but the heel end is very firmly attached. Do I pry this off, wash it, and reattach with Aquaseal or Shoe Goo? I was advised to wash, dry, then reglue the sole. What's the best way to repair this problem?

[Mato Kuwapi]

If the felts are getting worn, I'd take it to a shoe repair shop and let them to it. They have better adhesives and clamps to do the job right. Just go to the a shop that sells the felts first and pick up what you want.

If you are trying to revive your current felts, I'd probably do the same thing but I don't really know how to remove them without damaging them from the boot. ...but my suggestion remains the same...let the pro do it.

[Marco]

Hey there Mato, ( sure gonna ask ya bout that at the Fish-In)

A few months ago I was killing time at a local sporting goods store and ran across a felt sole replacement kit at 50% off. Being thrifty and needing a replacement of soles, I jumped at the deal. Got home and started to remove the old soles. Well FEGGETABOUDIT!!!. Ain't NO way those old soles were coming off without major machinery. I left rubber skid marks on my driveway speeding back to the store to return this "deal". Subsequently I offer this advice to all " Don't try this at home". Leave this one to the pros or buy a new pair. In fact I maintain, this CANNOT be done at home.


Mark:

PS: oops, Mato, I thought YOU initiated this post.

[Avalon]

Dear pigpen,

It's kind of hard to get new glue to stick to old glue but you could give it a try.

Make sure the boots and felt soles are 100 percent dry and stuff the boot with old newspaper until you can't put anymore in. Scrape the old glue off the felt and the boot bottom and apply a liberal coating of Barge Cement or Aquaseal using a popsicle stick or something simlar. Let it sit for a few minutes until it is tacky. Press the felt to the boot bottom, wrap everything tightly with Saran wrap, and then wrap everything extra tightly with duct tape.

Set it aside for 48 hours to dry and cut the duct tape off. If you cleaned enough of the old glue off it should hold just fine.

Doing a complete replacement is pretty easy too. You need an X-acto knife to cut the old sole off and a cordless drill or variable speed drill with a wire wheel to clean the old glue off the boot bottom. Then just stuff the boot full of newspaper, coat the bottom of the boot with cement and the new felt sole with cement and let them sit until they are tacky to the touch. Slap them together and wrap them with Saran wrap and then duct tape them firmly and set aside for 48 hours.

It helps if you trace the shape of the boot onto the new felt and trim it to rough shape before you glue things together. You can do your final trimming with an X-acto knife.

If the soles are stitched on the boots you will do better by taking the boots and the new felts to a shoemaker. He will be able to duplicate the process that the manufacturer of the wading boots used, and they generally don't charge all that much to do it.

Best Wishes,
Avalon

[jdub04]

Pretty much what Avalon said.... definitely use barge cement. You can get the soles off, stitched or not, with a sharp knife and/or a heat gun. What I usually do is to use the old pair(Western Rivers) after resoling and use screw studs(sheet metal screws) to attach the soles to the boot. Buy a new pair and then you have studded and non for any situation( drift boat or bank). If not, trace the outline of the boot on the new sole and cut it an 1/8" over, follow the directions above for glueing, and use a sanding wheel to shape the sole to the boot. I have done this on several pairs of boots and always get a few more seasons out of them as well as having a backup pair.

[ducksterman]

I too have used the screws....if you don't mind the screws ...you can easily salvage the current sole by applying some contact cement or goop...compressing as mentioned and then placing screws in the toe end....or you can place the screws in the whole sole and have a completely studded sole....

[rickie]

As long as the soles are glued on, you can replace them. However, the aggravation and time to replace the soles may suggest that it is cheaper to buy a new pair of shoes.

If the soles are stitched, forget about it. Last summer during run-off I went to a local bootery in Billings to resole my Simms Freestones (you'd think they would last longer than 5 seasons of tough use) as the soles were just about gone. A couple of local flyshops recommended the place as he used to resole wading shoes. The guy said he could do it for about $70. Well, Freestones originally cost $79 (and still do) so I figured one more season and I'd get another pair. Yes, I bought a new pair recently.

[kengore]

Felt soles are easily removed with the aid of a heat gun, the adhesive will yeild easily with enough heat. It takes time for the heat to penetrate the thick felt, so be patient.

To re-attach I recommend 'barge cement' or 'Plio-bond' these are heavy duty contact cements. Clean both surfaces, the boots are best cleaned by heating and scraping with a putty knife, or try some sand paper when very cool. Apply glue to both surfaces, it may take several coats on the porous felt. Let the layers dry completly between coats, when the adhesive forms a nice even layer with no blotches you have enough. It will take a fair bit of cement, more than the little tubes that come with a re-sole kit.

Finally apply a thin coat to each surface an let it dry until it is not tacky, about 5 min. Press both surfaces together
fir an instant permanent bond. Pounding the soles with a rubber mallet will insure good contact.

It's not all that difficult if you know how to do it....

[Mato Kuwapi]

When you mentioned using heat to remove the old felt sole...a light bulb went on in my head.

That would suggest to all that leaving one's wading boots in the car or trunk may not be a very good idea in the first place.

[Canoeman1947]

At least a couple of people have mentioned using a heat gun. The last time I had to remove felt soles, the instructions that came with the new soles said to place the boots in a pan of water and heat on the stove. After a few minutes in hot water, I was able to remove the felt soles fairly easily with a pair of pliers.

Larry Compton