Ideas for making metal toe caps

[Mr.Friske]

I am looking for some way to make metal toe caps for a pair of my wife's court/pumps. I want to copy the ones like the those pictured. 

[SMDave]

This is kinda late, but it might be useful to others. The way to go is electroforming. Make a wax blank (maybe cast from the original, or carve the wax to suit) then electroplate with nickel to the desired thickness. Melt out the wax, and voila! There are many places that will do this for you, you just provide the wax blank.

[CrushedVamp]

If you are trying to do what you think you are trying to do, which is make lower heeled court shoes into higher heels by adding metal tips, I think it might be possible.

 

If I was to do it in a homemade, use-what-I-have-for-tools sort of way, I would use a drill clamped into a vice spinning the stainless rod and use a file or grinder to rough out some tapered heel tips.

 

After you get the taper you want, you can shine them to a mirror finish using sandpaper going from 100 grit on up to 1200 grit. Jewelers rouge will make the stainless steel reflect like a mirror if you spend enough time sanding and polishing them, but is not needed. Auto wax paste will get the cloudiness out too. To attach the heel tips to the court shoes, careful drilling, adding a steel pin, and using epoxy will secure them.

 

You can find the Stainless Steel 316L rod cut to short lengths you will need from Metal Supermarket which is an online cut-to-length metal store, and those higher sandpaper grits can be found in auto parts stores since they use them for autobody work. Epoxy can be found at any hardware store. Total cost might be $25.

 

I do have two concerns though. In taking what is an 1-1/2 inch high heel, to say a 3 inch high heel, will the extra heel height throw the sole of the shoe off from being flat to the walking surface? This is just a question and honestly may not matter? My other concern is how strong the added heel tips will be, and if the pressure of walking in them might snap the connection? But you never know until you try it.

 

Good luck. It seems like a fun cobbling project!

[Puffer]

On 11/29/2024 at 6:42 AM, CrushedVamp said:

If you are trying to do what you think you are trying to do, which is make lower heeled court shoes into higher heels by adding metal tips, I think it might be possible.

...

I... My other concern is how strong the added heel tips will be, and if the pressure of walking in them might snap the connection? But you never know until you try it.

Good luck. It seems like a fun cobbling project!

No, it seems quite clear that Mr Friske was wishing to make toe caps (not heel taps) similar to those on the blue shoes.   SMDave's solution is worth considering, although I question whether direct nickel plating is the usual process; starting with copper seems more normal, then nickel or brass depending upon the chosen appearance.

As to the concept of increasing the height of a heel by adding an extension, this is very likely to upset both the balance and the appearance of the shoe as the higher heel will naturally tend to lean, which in turn will threaten its strength and attachment.   But it can be done for a small increase (say up to 0.5") especially on a thicker heel.   

I have added 0.25" composition heel 'pads' to the existing (and almost impossible to replace) plastic top pieces on a couple of pairs of boots, mainly to improve the durability of the heel rather than to add height.   That sort of increase does not harm the balance or boot structure.   See here for details: https://hhplace.org/topic/25644-asos-chelsea-boots/