[TheForge] [OT] Cobbler tool for blacksmiths

[Ron Swisher]

Mike...that there is a huge amount of ah ah ah ah creativity.  I really enjoy your forays into the unknown.

Ron 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mike Spencer 
  To: theforge at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 10:28 PM
  Subject: [TheForge] [OT] Cobbler tool for blacksmiths



  Marrin Fleet <mtfleet at gmail.com> wrote:

  > Tell me Mike, how does one find out more about the Mark V Hydraulic
  > toe cap expander?  I haven't been able to buy steel toed boots that
  > fit my feet (11 1/2 5E).  If it works, maybe you are on to
  > something.

  Problem arose when Goodhue dropped the model of boot I've been buying
  in size 12 for over 20 years.  My boot guy said,  "I know, I know, I
  sold them for years. But I can't get them.  And the company's
  changed.  Their products are now for shit and the company's gone down
  hill.  I won't carry their products any more."

  But I importuned him to get me a pair of their boots anyhow, size
  12, somewhat similar to the discontinued ones and recommended to me
  by the company rep. Boot Guy ordered them, grudgingly but with good grace.

  Tried on, they felt fine.  So I drilled out most of the eyelets and
  replaced them with hooks from old boots (never throw anything away.)
  Andnnnnnnnnddddd...

  Worn for more than 20 minutes, they painfully pinched my little
  toes.  Utterly useless, 200 bucks worth of doggie chew toy.

  Now I happen to own a porta-power.  You know, a manual hydraulic pump
  with a piston on the end of a hose, for straightening truck frames,
  nudging heavy stuff and the like.  And it has an attachment, sort of
  like a giant steel alligator clip, held closed with a spring.
  Attached to the porta-power pump in place of the usual piston, it can
  be forced open with hydraulic pressure.  But by itself, it's too big
  and awkward.  Open a can of Stubborn, add a shot of Pigheaded and
  commence:

      + Replace the hydraulic connector on the attachment with a very
        short nipple and elbow.  Screw the connector onto the elbow. Now
        it will fit into a boot with the action of the "alligator jaws"
        going sideways if you orient the elbow right.

      + Weld up a device: two short pieces of 1/4x1 flat bar welded to a
        1" piece sawn off a small, cheap butt hinge.  Heat the free ends
        of the 1/4x1 and bend inward -- toward each other -- about 1/2"
        of the stock.  You now have a pair of very crude, short tongs or
        forceps, right?

      + Saw off about 3/4" of (nominal) 3/4" black pipe and saw it in
        half the long way, making two hemicylinders.  Weld the
        hemicylinders to the 1/4x1 arms of the tongs.  Just where you do
        this matters.  Has to be such that, when the device is inserted,
        hinge forward, all the way into the toe of the boot, the bosses
        created by the pieces of pipe are just forward of the aft edge
        of the steel toe cap.  Measure, eyeball, model, do whatever to
        get that right.

      + Flap-wheel all sharp edges and corners to help avoid tearing the
        boot lining.  Everything all nice and roundy?  Good.

      + Insert the device all the way forward into the toe of the boot.
        and open it on the hinge as far as it will go.  Insert the
        porta-power spreader into the boot, tips of the spreader
        attachment between the jaws of the device.

      + Jack the porta-power pump until the toe cap spreads and strains
        the leather as much as you thing it will stand without
        rupturing.  Slack off and compare to the other boot with
        calipers.

      + Repeat two or three times.

  If you don't succeed in gaining some width, consider reshaping the
  device to get more travel in the right place.  If jacking the pump
  produces distortion in the wrong place -- say, the porta-power
  attachment itself starts poking up aft of the toecap -- reshape the
  device.  Trial and error.  Took me five tries.

  There may be some risk of cracking the toe cap.  If there's a
  significant probability that Large Objects will fall on your foot (or
  if you, your work, your boots, insurance companies and their lawyers
  are all intimately related) this may be a bad idea.

  Or maybe you can get your modified boots X-rayed to check for cracks.

  I dunno if this qualifies as OnTopic or not but it was all done in a
  blacksmith shop so it's at least arguable.


  - Mike

  -- 
  Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                             /V\ 
  mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
  http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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