Leather boot repairs

[nemo]

I'm looking for a way to treat cracked leather.

The leather uppers of my Scarpa hiking boots are starting to develop cracks at the sides, where the toes hinge. This is despite regular treatment with Nikwax-type products.

Googling returns leather repair products, such as this: Most products seem to be aimed at upholstery repairs and user feedback is mainly about cosmetic aspects rather than durability.

The boots have completed around 1400 miles over rough terrain in nearly

3 years and the soles are fairly worn. I think they're usable for a while longer, so I'm looking to eke out a few more miles, but expensive repairs would be uneconomic.

Any thoughts/experiences/recommendations for a repair e.g. filler or coating product, whether specifically designed for leather or other? Car body filler probably wouldn't flex enough :-)

[Mike Barnes]

You don't say what problem you're attempting to solve, but whatever it is I think your chances of success are negligible.

[Brian Gaff]

No I think once the surface cracks, there is not much holding it together and it will leak too.

Brian

[Andrew]

I'm afraid this sounds like the classic tale of asking directions in Ireland (no insult implied). Sometimes the reply would be 'you need to start from somewhere else, to get to where you are going'.

So it is with leather boots. It sounds like they have got well soaked and either been dried too quickly or worn again before they have dried naturally. This combined with inadequate treatment of the dry leather with conditioner first, then re-waterproofing, has caused the leather to crack.

[newshound]

To disagree with other posters, Shoe Goo will bond to leather which is not too greasy. It won't look pretty but may give you some extra miles. I have used it for leather to sole repairs on old boots.

[Johny B Good]

Have you considered Dubbin? There's a thread started yesterday in this group about the use of Dubbin on leather boots.

[nemo]

Thanks for your response. Your suppositions are incorrect and unhelpful in answering my request.

[nemo]

Brilliant. You could not deduce what the question is, despite the details I supplied, but the answer is "no", whatever.

[nemo]

Thanks, that product looks promising so I've ordered a tube. Worth a punt for £8.50.

Prettiness isn't important, I don't wear them for best :-)

[nemo]

No, but I'm trying out a similar product - Granger's G-wax. Seems to work well for keeping the wet out of the cracks, but I was hoping to find a flexible filler product to give a more permanent fix.

[nemo]

Hence my question...

[Tim Watts]

You get the advice you pay for :)

[Capitol]

Duck tape!

[Allan]

I have it happen on my Zamberlans (and other makes as well). I understand it may be to do with the volume of your feet (don't laugh). They make boots a certain size/shape, and if you have skinny feet, the foot does not fill the boot and the leather folds (on the toe flexion point, as it should) but the wrong way, and cracks. Possible ideas:

• make sure the leather is very supple (lots of wax, cream etc) so that when it does flex, it flexes the right way (never really worked for me: it may put off the evil day of cracking a bit longer, but it usually cracks)

• find a pair of boots that match your feet

• fill out the boot e.g. with an extra pair of socks (but this may affect the dynamic of the boot & foot in other ways and make it uncomfortable)

HTH

Allan

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Once you've cracked the leather the fibres are all torn and nothing is going to fix that. There is no cure in a bottle. Perhaps that's incorrect and unhelpful, but tough.

[nemo]

The same could be said of anything that is broken or split, yet there are adhesives, glues and filler compounds that work.

You may be right that a perfect cure is unlikely, but it seems reasonable to me that a fix may be possible, albeit not necessarily elegant or invisible. Currently trialling Shoe Goo which is (allegedly) both a glue and a filler.