Hey folks, I'm still kinda new around here, and in the process of putting together my first Officer uniform.
I haven't seen this posted anywhere, and didn't know if it was of any use to anyone, but I figured I would share it with the masses.
First a little back story....
I have had a hell of a time finding a set of boots that didn't break the bank, and would still fit my Mens 10.5 foot. I finally came across a pair on Ebay, and lucky me, I won the auction.
Then the fact of patiently awaiting for them to arrive, constantly checking tracking numbers, etc.
The fateful day arrived, I took them out of the box (they were used and broken in), and I grabbed the pull straps and.....
Well, lets just say, they don't make English riding boots for men with calves larger than a tennis ball, let alone the size of my softball sized ones... I wasn't able to pull them up even to my calves, let alone see if the foot area was too tight on my feet. I estimated that the boots probably needed about 2 inches of stretching.
Depression ensued and despondent, I started my research. I know they cannot have visible zippers, cannot have any other adornments/straps, etc.
Two different cobblers wouldn't even touch em, one even stated, "you should have inquired about them before purchasing them"....Jerk....Neither of them had anything to stretch out the calf, just the shoe area.
A third cobbler wanted to just cut them down the side and add in a "modesty" piece of leather....yeah, right.
So I came home...started reading forums and watching youtubes about stretching boots....
So instead of using a ziplock bag full of water and placing the boot in the freezer as posted on some sites...(No way it would stretch enough)...I came up with my own solution...
I started with two deflated footballs...stuck them down into the neck of the boot, with the ability to still get to the inflation port, and break out the compressor.
Fill them up until they were "reasonably" full, and then submerged the boots in a cooler of water upside down. I kept the shoe and sole portion out of the water.
The water soaked into the leather over the next hour under water and I was able to inflate the footballs a little more...hence more stretching.
After about 3 hours of soaking, I removed the boots from the water, and hung them up near the clothes dryer to dry out over the weekend.
Sunday I came home to nicely stretched boots, but it wasn't enough...the neck was just about wide enough, but the calf area, further down the boot was now slightly tapered.
I removed the footballs from the neck, and now inserted two soccerballs further down into the boot and proceeded to inflate them...the inflation port is pointed out of the neck of the boot, so you can likely get it down as far as you need it into the boot. With another hour or so of soaking in water, and a quick inflation to further the stretching, I set them out to dry last night.
I came home tonight and I am almost home free. I was able to finally fit a boot on (albeit, still slightly tight), but I now know it will fit my foot comfortably. A bit more stretching in my home made apparatus, and I should be all set to get them a good leather treatment, and polishing.
I hope this helps someone else, if not gives you a little chuckle at my plight....
Enjoy! and Troop On!
An ingenious way of doing stretching. And im actually suprised you have been able to stretch them that much. Well done and hopefully they turn out fitting well for you.
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