Shoe String rant

I have been wearing Wolverine 8' Trapper boots for years well they stopped making them switched to Red Wings nice boots a little heavy and harder to break in but why is it the shoestrings, lacings, bootstrings whatever they are called never last long anymore. It seems like every few months I have to find new strings. anybody have a solution. How about rawhide strings?
 
I had to kind of laugh at myself when I saw that subject line. I've been wearing cowboy boots and engineer boots for so long,I honestly don't know if I could tie a shoe string anymore. That thought hit me the other night when I saw a kid trying to tie her shoes on TV.
 
I cant find a shoe that has laces that will stay tied. Double and triple knots dont help. Even my red wings wont stay tied. Grrrrr!
 
Lots of rawhide laces on ebay, probably Amazon and maybe Hobby Lobby or other craft store.

I agree with the woven laces being garbage.

It will be wonderful when I can wear my boots again.
 
Rawhide last longer, but they also come untied quicker. I make a knot, make a bow, then knot the bow and they still come untied.

Goes to prove, they don't make things like they used too. I think that could be said about many things. As a result of the sad fact I've decided to throw out all the good things I know about products made in the past and look for products with a lifetime warranty. Rawhide should last a lifetime of the shoes.

Sadly what are we going to do when the company goes belly up? Warranty will still be a lifetime, lifetime of the place that sold it.

Hope I don't make your post go sideways.
geo
 
I have had good luck with my red wing shoe strings. I would say at least a year or better. The red wing store is suppose to offer free laces for their boots just take them in.

I have noticed though the eyelets wear and get sharp corners on them so with a pliers or maybe your fingers you can turn them in the leather so the sharp edge stays away from the laces.
 

I think that laces last as long as they should, but twenty years or so ago I came up with a solution to broken boot laces. I put my boots on sitting at my place on the sofa in the living room. I keep spare laces in the drawer of the table right next to me. When one breaks the replacement is right there.
 
Local trading post in town sells lots of war surplus stuff. Parachute cord lasts a long time. I double tie it and never have it come undone.
Richard in NW SC
 
I wear Skechers and those strings stay tied tight and as my feet swell I have to loosen them up myself.
 
I had a college roommate that played lacrosse and we would use the string used to weave the pocket of the stick for shoelaces. Tough stuff, made to hold its shape, and perfect for shoelaces, though it required a double bow to stay tied. Link is just the first thing I found on Amazon, but a good sports store might also have it. I believe there are different sizes available--never really researched it, just used what he handed me.
Lacrosse stick pocket string
 
The Redwing store here will replace worn laces and turn worn eyelets 180 deg. as a free service. After the eyelets have been turned, it's a job for a shoe shop to replace them. The fire crews around here use laces made of Kevlar. I've tried them and they last a long time.
 
When the laces that comes with boots ware out I replace them with rawhide strings. Rawhide shoe string will out last the majority of the shoe strings out there on the market. You do have to keep them treated so the rawhide stays soft. I have no trouble keeping them tied but I do double knot them.
 
Somewhere, a few years back, I learned the trick of making one extra turn when tying a bow. Just start the usual way and go around the loop one more time. It is the same knot, and just takes a bit more pull to untie, but it stays tied much better.
 
Just a funny, I remember years ago my brother was in a hurry and needed a shoestring to replace a broken one. Our dad who was always a kidder held one up and said do you need one this long? My brother looked at it and nodded yes, then dad said or do you need one this long and stretched it out an extra foot or so. It was an elastic one. My brother wasnt too happy. I can still see dad doing that and it is still funny lol.
 
I was expecting a different rant. Mine is recent years they make laces long enough to put the foot of an elephant in a shoe tie it. I have to tie the loops in another knot to keep from stepping on them.
 
I had a neighbor, sort of like Titus Canby from the comic strip. Went to the local shoemaker to ask him to stitch his torn shoelace. Lloyd said, sure, I can stitch it for 25 cents, but I sell new ones for 20!
 
When you first start the bow knot go around twice before you do the bow.
Keep doing what you are doing after you make the bow.
 
Not sure exactly what you are talking about, but I'm open to trying anything with the bow. Thanks geo.
 
The eyelets on my boots are made from such soft metal that they misshapen and develop a sharp edge which eats the lace. I dremeled the eyelets.

The other thing I do is buy parachute cord in bulk. You can get quite a few boot laces from your average $3 pack of chute cord.
 
(quoted from post at 05:43:57 05/27/16) I cant find a shoe that has laces that will stay tied. Double and triple knots dont help. Even my red wings wont stay tied. Grrrrr!

Get rawhide strings and somebody to teach you how to tie the 'Polish bow knot'. There is another name for it but I dis-remember what it is. :?
 
I use raw hide laces. I get mine from White's Boots, because they are a lot thicker. They wont last forever, but they last a long time. They also don't wear the eyelets out as fast as the nylon ones. To make them stay tied, soak them in boot oil, wipe the excess off, then lace them up. I know, that sounds like it should make them come untied easier, but it works. I use beeswax oil, but I guess it would work the same with other kinds.
 
I get about a year out of the stock shoestrings. They make Kevlar boot strings for welders, that might be your answer. I reckon you could find them on the web somewhere. JB
 

years ago a friend taught me the military boot lace knot. Soldiers can't be successful at what they do with boots untied. All you do is at the point where you bring the lace through to make your second loop, instead of pulling it out, you just bring it around and through again, and then pull them both out. This knot will stay tied.
 
I use leather. Hook into the hooks, but dont go all the way to the top hook. Then I wrap the lace around the boot top twice, tie it in a square knot, then tuck the ends of the lace in the wrapped area. I never have a boot come untied.

Gene
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top