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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Author
stretching shoes
rockranga
15-Sep-2011
1:02:48 PM
hi all,

Just wondering if anyone knows a trick or two for speeding up the stretching of a new pair of shoes? I bought some Scarpa Thunders and need to stretch them out a little as they hurt quite badly, the sizing is right (i think, maybe) so yeah, any advice would be welcome.

Thanks guys and girls :)

ajfclark
15-Sep-2011
1:06:47 PM
I spent last week's TV watching sessions wearing my new shoes till they hurt too much, then waiting a bit and then putting them back on again... By the time I actually got to climbing in them this week I could do a few pitches without too much discomfort.

phillipivan
15-Sep-2011
1:06:53 PM
Getting them wet whilst wearing them seems to work for some folk.
Wendy
15-Sep-2011
1:13:22 PM
I have 2 strategies. Option one is sit on couch with beer and book or tv wearing shoes, possibly only one at a time if they are really bad. About 3 sessions of this breaks a pair of moccasyms from needing plastic bags to get on to reasonably bearable. This is followed by enforced wearing actually climbing. Another 3 days of this gets them to really bearable and 3 weeks to completely perfect. This all needs to happen in close succession or it will take more suffering as they seem to go backwards if you stare trepidously at them on the shelf.

Option 2 is take them to Phil and get him to stretch them. Think it's $25 for the pair and he will give them a second for that price if needed.

The advantage of the suffering option (other than getting to feel all self righteous about it) is that the shoes stretch to exactly the shape of your feet and henceforth fit like gloves. Phil's stretching leaves the shoes with a few baggy patches is you don't happen to have the same shape foot as his wooden foot thing.

Sabu
15-Sep-2011
1:13:39 PM
If you're willing to pay, Phil in natimuk has a shoe stretching machine and can do it for you.

I would've thought the only other alternative is to just wear them in.
mikllaw
15-Sep-2011
1:36:10 PM
The basics:-
leather stretches, more quickly if wet, and mostly stays stretched. Rubber springs back to where it started.

Wetting the boots and wearing them stretches the leather bits only.

The rubber bits are best dealt with by lightly removing the rubber. Grinding or fine knife slashes work well. It's irreversible so wet and wear the boots first before resorting to this. Do a little at a time.

If the slingshot at the back is too tight the boots will always be tight unless you cut/grind the slingshot.

Or just buy the right size. I don't know why people buy tight shoes any more, the last hard face route climbed in Australia was probbaly mid 1980's.
simey
15-Sep-2011
1:42:27 PM
On 15/09/2011 mikllaw wrote:
>Or just buy the right size. I don't know why people buy tight shoes any more, the last hard face route climbed in Australia was probbaly mid 1980's.

I agree. Overly tight shoes are painful, a distraction to climb in and terrible for smearing.
Wendy
15-Sep-2011
1:55:01 PM
On 15/09/2011 simey wrote:
>On 15/09/2011 mikllaw wrote:
>>Or just buy the right size. I don't know why people buy tight shoes any
>more, the last hard face route climbed in Australia was probbaly mid 1980's.
>
>I agree. Overly tight shoes are painful, a distraction to climb in and
>terrible for smearing.
>
It does depend on the shoe. If you are buy a relatively solid, lined, lace up shoe, then snug but not stupidly tight is good. If you have a strange obsession with one of the softest slippers on the market, you need to buy them so they are desperate to get on at first or they will be galoshes comparable to Sarah's in a matter of weeks.
rockranga
15-Sep-2011
2:27:47 PM
sweet - thanks everyone for the tips, will try to stretch them out at home and if no luck you may see a cheap pair of thunders on here soon.

Thanks everyone again, been a great help!! :)
hipdos
15-Sep-2011
2:49:31 PM
I've always used the wear them in the shower method. Just a normal shower once seems to do the trick. I've got wide feet so if the leather stretches then I am sorted. If the shoe is too short then the shower won't help so much. Totally agree that you should buy the right size, but they always feel right in the shop!
Will_P
15-Sep-2011
4:25:53 PM
I went for a combination of the most commonly mentioned methods above - wore them at dinner (at home) / while reading for a week but having wet them with warm water first. A week of that made 7.5 velcro Anasazis fit like a 9. Painful for a few hours but worth it for the low price I paid for the shoes and the great fit now.
gfdonc
15-Sep-2011
4:57:15 PM
I made up some shoe stretchers out of blocks of pine and a bolt. Does work pretty well.

They're currently sitting on the floor in a pair of 38 Scarpa's trying to make them fit like a 38 Sportiva. If you're in Melbourne I could loan them to you sometime.

There are 12 messages in this topic.

 

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