A clever idea for dressing the ends of childeren's shoelaces at home

[Dr. Emily Sockerill]

Do you have a clever trick for dressing children's shoelaces?

My son loosely ties tennis shoe laces such that they always fray even after I put glue on the ends, melt them, or knot the ends.

Here is a picture of his shoes that I'm dealing with now:

Whatever (patent pending?) solution you provide has to have the hard dressing because he often pulls the laces out of the eyelets.

New shoelaces aren't necessarily the best answer because they too will fray. Neither is simply scissoring the ends (it's not repeatable).

What I need is a repeatably cheap method to prevent fraying and to harden the tips for lacing that can be applied at home as a DIY to make my child's sneaker shoelaces last longer.

Do you have a clever idea for inexpensively repeatedly dressing shoelace ends that you can share with the world?

[Rock]

Dr. Emily Sockerill wrote on Wed, 21 Nov 2012 18:03:57 +0000,

I snip the ends, dab with white glue, and then strangle about a half inch from the end with a few loops of common thread.

After the glue dries, I smear the half inch end with Crest toothpaste.

That hardens into a usable shoelace tip.

[Danny D.]

It's not cheap but heat shrink tubing works well.

Someone out there may know of a source for inexpensive heatshrink tubing perhaps?

[John Keiser]

The end is called an "aglet." 40 years ago, the high-end shoe store I worked at still had an old hand held device to replace aglets. This site has several ideas, including the shrink tubing:

"Dr. Emily Sockerill" wrote in message news:k8j52d$mvp$ [e-mail]...

[Vic Smith]

Steel won't fray.

[Danny D.]

Interesting.

That aglet web page gives me an idea which isn't listed.

I'm going to try this "Brush-On Electrical Tape" right now on my current pair of New Balance running shoes as shown below:

Note: The New Balance running shoes only seem to last a few months before they're run ragged in the California chaparral! :(

For my hiking boots, I bought a hundred feet of 1,000 pound test (IIRC) parachute cord from the Army Navy Surplus Store for a couple of bucks and painstakingly sewed a web pattern on the ends (and melted the tips) as shown in this photo below:

The problem with that parachute cord is that, for some strange reason, parachute cord (whatever it's actually used for) acts like a horrible magnet for thorns, burrs, and many other unwanted bristley thorney grassey chaparral objects.

So if you guys know of a BETTER wide-lace alternative to this parachute cord for Raichle hiking boots, please let me know as I go through those rather long shoelaces at the rate of a pair a year or so, hiking in the California chaparral.

[Stormin Mormon]

Freight to the rescue.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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It's not cheap but heat shrink tubing works well.

Someone out there may know of a source for inexpensive heatshrink tubing perhaps?

[dadiOH]

1. taper the ends a bit
2. dip the ends in super glue

I doubt you will have to do it again.

[notbob]

Kinda makes ya' wonder exactly what it is that kids DO to a shoelace to wreak such havoc on them. I know I did, as a kid, but then I haven't had a shoelace tip fray on me in 50 yrs. Go figure.

nb

[David L. Martel]

I'd go with metal by crimping on an appropiate butt splice connector from the local hardware store.

Dave M.

[nestork]

I think if it were me, I would dip the ends of the shoe laces in a liquid that would harden as it dries before shrinking some heat shrink tubing on the ends to make aglets. I expect that something like boiled linseed oil, or polyurethane would work OK.

Just dip the shoe lace ends several times, squeezing the lace ends after each dipping to ensure the cotton is saturated with the BLO or PU.

Then, heat shrink some tubing onto the lace ends, and the BLO or PU will gradually cure inside that tubing as O2 from the air gradually cause the BLO or PU to cure.

That way, even if the heat shrink aglet comes off, the cured oil will keep the end of the lace in a deformed and hardened state so it wouldn't fray even without the heat shrink aglet in place.

[gazillion44]

That sounds like a good idea, but for the low cost of shoe laces, I think I'd just buy new ones. The materails to make ends probably cost more than replacement laces.

[Robert Green]

I use adhesive lined heat shrink tubing because the regular stuff tends to slide off eventually. Alternatively you can put a little hot melt glue on the shoelace end, let it cool, slide the heat shrink tubing on and reactivate the hot glue when you heat the tubing to shrink it.

-- Bobby G.

[Dr. Emily Sockerill]

The replacement laces would just fray in no time and you'd be back where you started. Plus there's nothing wrong with the lace except the aglet so why NOT fix them?

Replacement laces aren't cheap either, BTW.

I did write to Ian Fieggen who kindly responded saying he had read this thread and he would try the methods suggested to add to his aglet web site.

[The Daring Dufas]

The Internet still amazes me after all these years with the websites that exist. Who'd have thunk there was a shoelace webpage? Just for the heck of it I searched for another mundane item item and wasn't surprised when I found "Toothpick World". I needed a good laugh today. ^_^

TDD

[Art Todesco]

Google 'replacing aglets'. I was surprised at the number of ways to do it and the fact that they show up on so many sites. Many were discussed in this thread.

[John Keiser]

[Rock]

Art Todesco wrote on Thu, 22 Nov 2012 09:07:21 -0500,

The real problem is that the original manufacturer cheaped out by putting lousy aglets on in the first place.

[gazillion44]

In that case, there's some stuff that you can buy to put a rubber-like coating on the handles of tools. It's costly, but should last a long time for your needs. Unfortunately I dont know the name of this product.

[Sta No]

Nestor, thanks for the carpet 101. I know your response was intended for Gordon. However, I found it very educational with specific information.