**The Official Shoe Care Thread: Tutorials, Photos, etc.**

[TheChihuahua]

In here lawyers do not have to pass through the detectors.

Yeah, I have practiced where we used to use the bar card to get us through. Unfortunately that’s not the case here.
but the local courthouse they don’t make me take my shoes off. Just do the wand. I usually forget to take the cell phone or EarPods or pen out of the pocket anyway so the alarm goes off every time anyway.

 

[CWV]

Yeah, I have practiced where we used to use the bar card to get us through. Unfortunately that’s not the case here.
but the local courthouse they don’t make me take my shoes off. Just do the wand. I usually forget to take the cell phone or EarPods or pen out of the pocket anyway so the alarm goes off every time anyway.

Lol

 

[Chowkin]

Curious if/how anyone breaks in leather soles before wearing for the first time. I have smooth slippery flooring at working and I’d slip with brand new leather soles. Wondering if anyone has tried sandpaper or other techniques.

This:

 

[willyto]

This:

I'm not doing that to my leather soles

 

[JFWR]

This:

Please do not do this.

 

[JUAN MANUEL]

Please do not do this.

Indeed

 

[TheChihuahua]

Curious if/how anyone breaks in leather soles before wearing for the first time. I have smooth slippery flooring at working and I’d slip with brand new leather soles. Wondering if anyone has tried sandpaper or other techniques.

It’s not complicated. Go outside and walk around. They will scuff sufficiently enough within 5 minutes. You don’t even have to try to scuff them, it will happen.

 

[JFWR]

It’s not complicated. Go outside and walk around. They will scuff sufficiently enough within 5 minutes. You don’t even have to try to scuff them, it will happen.

Yeah, it really is that simple.

Walk on some hard surfaces (gravel, concrete, etc) and let the soles get scuffed up. At that point, they will become nice and grippy. If you need more grip, walk a bit more.

I find that a 20 minute walk on the street is more than sufficient to give your leather soles excellent grip.

DON'T. CUT. YOUR. SOLES. STEVE. HARVEY. IS. AN. IDIOT.

 

[nevaeh]

Yeah, it really is that simple.

Walk on some hard surfaces (gravel, concrete, etc) and let the soles get scuffed up. At that point, they will become nice and grippy. If you need more grip, walk a bit more.

I find that a 20 minute walk on the street is more than sufficient to give your leather soles excellent grip.

DON'T. CUT. YOUR. SOLES. STEVE. HARVEY. IS. AN. IDIOT.

Agreed with @TheChihuahua and @JFWR. Walking on a concrete sidewalk for around 20–30 minutes has always been sufficient for me.

My process: on a dry day, walk carefully from house to sidewalk. Continue walking on that sidewalk for 20–30 minutes. Walk into office, some store, back home—still careful, but slightly less so.

Cutting into the sole seems silly, dangerous, and damaging.

If the original poster is really concerned, have a cobbler add a rubber sole protector.

 

[JFWR]

Agreed with @TheChihuahua and @JFWR. Walking on a concrete sidewalk for around 15–20 minutes has always been sufficient for me.

My process: on a dry day, walk carefully from house to sidewalk, paying attention so I don’t slip. Continue walking on that sidewalk for 20–30 minutes. Soles are now ready for general use. Walk into office, some store, back home—still careful, but slightly less so.

Cutting into the sole seems completely silly—probably expected to cause more long-term damage to the sole than provide short-term slip resistance.

If you are really concerned, have a cobbler add a rubber sole protector.

The problem with cutting the soles, I'd imagine, is that you are going to wear down the fibers a lot more as the cuts are going to be substantially deeper than what is necessary to get it grippy. All that is necessary is getting a rough surface, not that there should be gouges within it. The loss of structural integrity is going to cause problems in the long run, and the deep groves will allow water to penetrate the leather much more. Especially as the fiber structure of good, oak-tanned leather soles (like JR) is meant to resist wear by its strength, breaking this structure so harshly is only going to cause bad things to happen.

I generally think that once you get used to wearing leather soles, they usually are just as good as rubber soles on most surfaces. Where you can get in trouble is on wet tile, marble, and ice. Meanwhile, leather soles grip fine in the wet, but getting leather soles excessively wet can often lead to premature degradation of the leather.

I think you're absolutely right that if you just can't seem to get enough grip, then have a cobbler glue on a rubber topy. I personally prefer to avoid this, but it works for many gentlemen, and also does increase the life of a sole substantially.

 

[willyto]

My worse experience with wet floor has been with dainite. That stuff is dangerous when the streets are wet. I don't know why Dainite is a thing.

 

[JFWR]

My worse experience with wet floor has been with dainite. That stuff is dangerous when the streets are wet. I don't know why Dainite is a thing.

Can't say I've had the same experience. Dainite works very well in the rain for me.

 

[Boggis]

In the wet on smooth hard floors like marble or tile I find Dainite to be pretty slippy. Not sure if it gets better as the studs wear down and you have more sole in contact with the ground, but from a Physics perspective it stands to reason that if the studs are keeping enough of the surface of the sole off the ground you'll have less traction.
Conversely on lawns (which I understand Dainite was originally designed for) they've great traction...

 

[JFWR]

In the wet on smooth hard floors like marble or tile I find Dainite to be pretty slippy. Not sure if it gets better as the studs wear down and you have more sole in contact with the ground, but from a Physics perspective it stands to reason that if the studs are keeping enough of the surface of the sole off the ground you'll have less traction.
Conversely on lawns (which I understand Dainite was originally designed for) they've great traction...

The studs wore down pretty fast for me.

 

[Mercurio]

In the wet on smooth hard floors like marble or tile I find Dainite to be pretty slippy. Not sure if it gets better as the studs wear down and you have more sole in contact with the ground, but from a Physics perspective it stands to reason that if the studs are keeping enough of the surface of the sole off the ground you'll have less traction.
Conversely on lawns (which I understand Dainite was originally designed for) they've great traction...

I have got the same experience with all my Dainite soles...