[TheForge] [OT] Cobbler tool for blacksmiths

Wed Mar 23 18:19:14 EDT 2011

forget the hydraulic toe expander and fill (Okay partly fill!) a balloon 
with water and put it in the freezer. It may take more than on application 
but it's really easy.

Jer
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 2:28 AM
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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