chefskitty Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 Hi everyone! I just bought theseT.U.K. boots: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-11/888778/tukboot.JPG I absolutely love them, but the soles are rather thick and clunky. More so than one can tell from the picture. I have 2 questions: Would it be possible to take that sole off and attach a thick heeled and/or platform-ish sole to it? And if not, would it be possible to shave off the 1/2" of rubber sole that extends out around the perimeter to make it more streamlined? BTW, the screws are only decoration. They don't actually keep the sole attached. I have a pair of boots that have the sole I want to attach: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-11/888778/armyboot.JPG Would this be possible? And I have seen posts about not being able to increase heel height much more than 3/4" depending on the shoe, but isn't there a way to cut excess leather after removal of the sole to create curvature for a higher heel?
Dr. Shoe Posted June 6, 2005 Posted June 6, 2005 No there isn't. If you trim them down, you won't have enough leather left across the instep to remake the boot. The best you can do is to build up the sole to make a platform. Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects.
hart88 Posted June 10, 2005 Posted June 10, 2005 hi there, Is the question you would like a sole siimilar to the army boot to be put on the Tuck boot? It looks like the tuck boot has a welt...If it is a real welt, you could remove the original sole, and build up from there. ( a welt is the leather strip that is sewn to the shoe or boot. It is either leather or rubber, and that is what a sole is stitched to. some of these boots are made with a fake welt, that is just glued or tacked to the boot) (If you wanted to make the welt more tighter to the shoe (less wide) it would depend upon where the stitch line is. You can't make it narrower than the stitch line. If the welt is a fake, you could remove it and install a midsole, which could be trimmed to the width of the shoe, and then build up from that point. We have orthopedic foam crepe that is very light weight and you could easily build up even 2 inches and not be very heavy. It could be shaped to make it like the army boot. After the platform is made, you could have a light weight lug sole material glued onto the platform to make it look rugged. The price would could be expensive, depending on who does it. Some shoe repairs treat this like an orthopedic build up, and will charge alot for it. It depends on who you have do the job. Below, see a picture on my website of a pair of harness style boots that came with a glued on molded sole that I removed, stitched on a midsole, and then installed a real leather heel block and a leather filler midsole, then put a small Vibram lug sole on top. This made it a suitable boot for motocycle application, instead of just street use to accomplish what you are asking, I would do the same kind of procedure except I would make it higher like you asked.
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