Shoe Damage... The Bad Kind - Page 2

+1 with taking it to a cobbler and letting him know what you want.

I asked about glue for sole leather awhile back:
http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=133119

Hi tjc4golf, yes the reason I advised the contact cement is because I have been down this road myself several times. First time I tried exactly this type of repair I also did the crazy glue and it soaked enough into the leather flap that the flap crumbled because of the glue.
Later experiences I used regular Contact Cement in a small tube, available in any hardware store.
I used a toothpick to apply a tiny bit of the cement in a very thin coating on both the leather flap
and also the sopt on the shoe where the flap will cover. Very little was needed. I let the cement dry and with tweezers, I re-positioned the flap back over the hole, then pressed very hard, then, using the back of a spoon I 'rolled' the spoon over the area to further smooth out the repaired area.
Then I also worked the spoon over the raised 'scratches', again, trying to smooth them. Then polished and buffed normally.
As to the example you gave on that link, there are many different brands of contact cement.
I am not a cobbler by trade, but I myself used brand X from my local hardware store.
For a repair this small I'm fairly certain that any contact cement will do.
Nice thing about contact cement is if any excess pokes out of the repair seam,
it can be rubbed off with your finger or a clean cloth, whereas crazy glue cannot be rubbed off.
With the contact cement you may even get a second or third chance if the first attempt fails.
If you have some scrap piece of leather there, try slicing a flap on it and doing a test until you build confidence to do the shoe. It's not hard to do.

from my experience, i've never been able to glue it back properly. Because of that i cut out the pice and then use a very soft sand-paper to even the area, i.e soften the angles of the hole and then redye, recream an repolish.........

You've gotten a lot of pretty complicated advice in this thread.

Have you considered never turning around so that no one ever sees the back of the shoe?

My shoe guy recommends Barge contact cement for shoe repairs like this. I could see the superglue soaking through the leather, so maybe not a bad idea. It's just that contact cement is a little trickier for such a small repair.

I would follow ThinkDerm's steps to the letter except for step 1. Use Barge Cement, not Crazy Glue.

Crazy Glue is acrylic based and will become stiff and hard. Barge Cement will flex with the leather.

Putting leather conditioner on the shoe will help the leather try to repair itself. Lexol is a good brand of conditioner and can be purchased any number of places, including from your cobbler (he probably has Barge Cement as well).

An addendum to the recommendation of Barge/contact cement: use it sparingly by applying as thin as possible layer to each side of what you're going to stick. The more you use, the less likely the leather is going to sit flush to the rest of the shoe and the more likely you're going to get bubbles in the glue - the vapors produced by the drying glue need to be able to escape. I'd apply the glue with a toothpick. I'd then press the flap down with something not too hard - like the side of a wooden spoon.

thanks to all those who gave my post respeck. do not leave out the champagne step tjc!

^ you did a good job with those.

Nice outcome.

I think the outcome is as well as could be expected, and the shoes look fine.

That was a great thread! Thanks for sharing.

I think you can wax and polish some more.