ASOS Chelsea boots

[Puffer]

These ‘ASOS DESIGN heeled chelsea boots in black faux leather with chain detail’ seemed to me to provide the right balance between enjoyment and discretion and I could no longer resist them when a double discount was on offer.   I usually wear a UK11 or 12 and opted for 12 (securing the last pair, it seems) to allow thicker socks if needed.

First impressions were favourable – a 3 5/8” heel, a zipped shaft taller than the online advert implied, and an almond toe.   The fit was good and comfortable indoors.   The ‘round’ heel may not appeal to some, but it is not really noticeable.   Likewise, the gilt chain detail is perhaps rather too ‘blingy’, but could be removed.  

The hollow plastic heels were, as expected, rather noisy – and the plastic top pieces will obviously wear and need replacement.   I decided to modify them before wearing them outdoors.  The top pieces (held by four pegs) were carefully prised off and fitted with discs of 1/4" composition material, glued on.   (I used a hole cutter, without its centre drill, to produce discs just a tad too large, which were then reduced and smoothed on my grinding wheel before glueing.)   To dampen noise, I filled the hollow heels with compacted sawdust, with pieces of crimped drinking straw inserted temporarily into the peg holes to stop sawdust entering.    The top pieces were then pressed in; the fit seems firm enough not to need any adhesive.  The composition layer can of course be removed when worn and replaced.

Adding the extra layer to the top piece has increased the heel height to 3 7/8”.   The balance of the boots has not been affected; indeed, they sit rather better with the extra height.  I wore them outside briefly with thick socks and bootcut jeans and they seem comfortable enough.

The pics show the boots as received, as worn with bootcut jeans, and the stages of heel modification.  

[Shyheels]

Nice styling! And good to see them offered as menswear 

[mlroseplant]

You must have a drill press. Otherwise, I can't see how you were able to use a hole saw without its pilot bit with any accuracy whatsoever. I've learned a few tricks about how to get away with that in a pinch, but it's never pretty. However you did it, nice work out of you!

[at9]

One trick for using a holesaw without the centre bit is to drill a hole in a piece of scrap wood, using the centre bit in the usual way. Then use this as a guide when drilling the wanted item. Ideally clamp the guide and wanted item together. Works perfectly in my experience.

[Puffer]

4 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

You must have a drill press. Otherwise, I can't see how you were able to use a hole saw without its pilot bit with any accuracy whatsoever. I've learned a few tricks about how to get away with that in a pinch, but it's never pretty. However you did it, nice work out of you!

 

4 hours ago, at9 said:

One trick for using a holesaw without the centre bit is to drill a hole in a piece of scrap wood, using the centre bit in the usual way. Then use this as a guide when drilling the wanted item. Ideally clamp the guide and wanted item together. Works perfectly in my experience.

You are both correct!   Yes, I have a vertical drill and it was duly used.   I did prepare a guide by drilling through a piece of 6mm MDF with the holesaw, and then placing this on top of the composition material to 'centre' the holesaw (with its centre drill retracted) before cutting the required disc.   Clamping was not necessary (although it might well be advisable to avoid 'snatching') and a little water was used as a cutting lubricant.

If and when the extra top piece requires replacement, it should be possible to prise this off and simply glue another on.   But, if the original plastic top piece fails (or the extra height created by the composition is unacceptable), I would fill the peg holes with dowel forced in and use brass panel pins to nail the new top piece into the dowels, reinforcing with suitable adhesive.   Adding some wood forced into the hollow void before glueing and nailing would give a stronger job.

[mlroseplant]

On 4/16/2024 at 4:30 AM, at9 said:

One trick for using a holesaw without the centre bit is to drill a hole in a piece of scrap wood, using the centre bit in the usual way. Then use this as a guide when drilling the wanted item. Ideally clamp the guide and wanted item together. Works perfectly in my experience.

I shall have to remember that method the next time I am faced with such a situation. I don't think I've ever run into a situation where I didn't use the pilot bit on purpose, as in @Puffer's project. The usual reason, if not the exclusive reason, is that I need to enlarge an existing hole, and I don't have a knockout punch available to me. Often this happens because somebody selected the wrong size hole saw to create the opening. Sometimes it is an apprentice, and sometimes, though far less often, it is me.

[at9]

A stepped drill or cone cutter is ideal for enlarging existing holes.

[Puffer]

21 hours ago, at9 said:

A stepped drill or cone cutter is ideal for enlarging existing holes.

Agreed, but I doubt that any are large enough to be used effectively (and safely) on holes bigger than about an inch diameter, which is likely to be insufficent for cable or pipe runs.   A solution (at least if drilling through wood) might be to nail a piece of 6mm MDF or simlar board over the existing hole and then drill through that and the underlying substrate with the holesaw (including its pilot) of the correct (larger) size.

[at9]

My stepped drills go up to 32mm which covers a lot of electrical and plumbing applications.

[mlroseplant]

23 hours ago, at9 said:

A stepped drill or cone cutter is ideal for enlarging existing holes.

 

1 hour ago, Puffer said:

Agreed, but I doubt that any are large enough to be used effectively (and safely) on holes bigger than about an inch diameter, which is likely to be insufficient for cable or pipe runs.   A solution (at least if drilling through wood) might be to nail a piece of 6mm MDF or similar board over the existing hole and then drill through that and the underlying substrate with the holesaw (including its pilot) of the correct (larger) size.

Now it is your turn to both be correct. When I was talking about woes with a hole saw, I was mainly referring to trade sizes between 1 1/4" and 2", which in reality are each about 3/8" bigger than that. Smaller than that, we will tend to use a unibit, step bit, cobra bit, Christmas tree bit, whatever you want to call it. Larger than that, we will tend to use a knockout punch, both for practical and safety reasons. For smaller holes, it just doesn't seem worth it to drag out that 50 pound suitcase worth of tool and dies/cutters.

In any case, should the situation come up, I'll have to try the "wooden guide" method next time, just to see if it's practical for my purposes. Just to be clear, when there is a problem enlarging a hole in my trade, I'm talking about cutting through substantial sheet metal, perhaps 1.5 mm in thickness. And, typically it needs to be enlarged eccentrically, rather than concentrically, which merely adds to the challenge. The MDF thing might be just the ticket, if there's room to fit it in and clamp it somehow.

Weren't we talking about boots or something?