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:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/k7t3npv
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 :-)

nemo wrote:
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:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/k7t3npv
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 :-)

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

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

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

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"nemo" wrote in message
...
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:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/k7t3npv
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 :-)

On 27/08/2014 09:30, nemo wrote:
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:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/k7t3npv
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 :-)

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.

On 27/08/2014 09:30, nemo wrote:
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:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/k7t3npv
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 :-)

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.

Frequent copious applications of Renapur or dubbin may do the trick as
they soak into the leather and soften it in addition to waterproofing.

Using that type of product from day 1 make the leather less prone to
cracking in the first place and make the boots more comfortable IME.

On Wed, 27 Aug 2014 09:30:33 +0100, nemo
wrote:

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:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/k7t3npv
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 :-)

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

On 27/08/2014 12:37, Andrew wrote:
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.

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

On 27/08/2014 09:35, Mike Barnes wrote:
You don't say what problem you're attempting to solve, but whatever it
is I think your chances of success are negligible.
Brilliant. You could not deduce what the question is, despite the
details I supplied, but the answer is "no", whatever.
sigh

On 27/08/2014 13:28, newshound wrote:
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.
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 :-)

On 27/08/2014 17:23, Johny B Good wrote:
Have you considered Dubbin? There's a thread started yesterday in
this group about the use of Dubbin on leather boots.
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.

On 27/08/2014 12:16, Brian Gaff wrote:
No I think once the surface cracks, there is not much holding it together
and it will leak too.

Brian
Hence my question...

On 27/08/14 17:26, nemo wrote:
On 27/08/2014 09:35, Mike Barnes wrote:
You don't say what problem you're attempting to solve, but whatever it
is I think your chances of success are negligible.
Brilliant. You could not deduce what the question is, despite the
details I supplied, but the answer is "no", whatever.
sigh

You get the advice you pay for

nemo wrote:
On 27/08/2014 12:16, Brian Gaff wrote:
No I think once the surface cracks, there is not much holding it together
and it will leak too.

Brian
Hence my question...

Duck tape!

On 27/08/2014 09:30, nemo wrote:
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:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/k7t3npv
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 :-)

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

On Wed, 27 Aug 2014 17:24:32 +0100, nemo
wrote:

On 27/08/2014 12:37, Andrew wrote:
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.

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

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.

On 02/09/2014 03:22, Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
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.

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.

nemo wrote
Grimly Curmudgeon wrote

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.

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

Not with cracked leather boot uppers they don't.

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.

But does not claim to be useful for cracked leather boot uppers.

On 02/09/2014 12:01, Rod Speed wrote:
nemo wrote
Grimly Curmudgeon wrote

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.

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

Not with cracked leather boot uppers they don't.
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.

But does not claim to be useful for cracked leather boot uppers.

Nope, but this is claimed for the product:
"Product Description
Shoe Goo is a superior no mess adhesive and sealant that easily and
permanently repairs all types of footwear. It adheres to all kinds of
materials, so use Shoe Goo to mend rubber soles, tears in canvas or
leather tops or to stop shoe laces from fraying.

It dries to a waterproof, flexible rubber, so it will repair waders and
boots without breaking or cracking.

Apply directly from the tube to worn out areas and harden overnight.

No mess. Permanent long lasting repair.
Repair damage heels and toes shoe soles.
Secures loose insoles.
Coats frayed shoe laces. "

"nemo" wrote in message
...
On 02/09/2014 12:01, Rod Speed wrote:
nemo wrote
Grimly Curmudgeon wrote

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.

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

Not with cracked leather boot uppers they don't.
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.

But does not claim to be useful for cracked leather boot uppers.

Nope, but this is claimed for the product:
"Product Description
Shoe Goo is a superior no mess adhesive and sealant that easily and
permanently repairs all types of footwear. It adheres to all kinds of
materials, so use Shoe Goo to mend rubber soles, tears in canvas or
leather tops or to stop shoe laces from fraying.

It dries to a waterproof, flexible rubber, so it will repair waders and
boots without breaking or cracking.

Apply directly from the tube to worn out areas and harden overnight.

No mess. Permanent long lasting repair.
Repair damage heels and toes shoe soles.
Secures loose insoles.
Coats frayed shoe laces. "

I wouldn't use it for a leather boot upper that has flexed right thru.

That wouldn't last very long.