Answer:
Here's a suggestion:
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Find a dowel
that will slide into the tube.
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Take some
thread off the stitcher (the thread you cut
off after sewing on a sole) and lay the
thread over the hole. Sometimes you have to
double the thread.
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Lightly tap
the replacement heel in just before you are
ready to seat the dowel.
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Snip the
thread off as close to the dowel as
possible.
This makes a tight
fit. The thread works like a shim. It takes a
little practice to get it right, but it works.
Check the heel and make sure it will not turn.
If it does, you need to pull the heel and use
another layer of thread.
Cookie
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Answer:
Another way to attach the dowel, is to take a
used Auto-Soler Cinderella nail and flatten it ,
makes a better shim.
Cobbler Dick
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Answer: With the short dowels, I also
have used a staple from my Swingline paper
stapler.
Sometimes you need
just the smallest of shims. I cut off one of the
"legs" of the staple, leaving an L shape upside
down. I let the L side sit on the heel block so
it doesn't go any farther. If I need just a bit
more, then I use the entire staple and fold an L
into it, so I have a double shim.
In some cases
where there is enough of the heel block
extending beyond the metal pin, I have used a
toplift hand nail on one of the inside corners.
You should preset a starter hole, so the nail
doesn't go out one of the sides of the heel.
Gene Hartsock
Hartland Shoe Repair Co.
St. Paul, Minnesota
