Heat moulding boots

A snowHead

I just went to a london based outdoor shop to have my Lange XC 120 (2016) boots punched out (not my best decision ever) and instead they stuck them in an oven, and my liners (foam injected) on some sort of heater.

Not only do i think it was totally ineffective, but as far as i can tell from some researching, the boots aren't heat mouldable. I'm worried now that the boots and liners might be compromised/unsafe.

Is my concern warranted?

A snowHead

The boots are very unlikely to be compromised. What is almost certain is that the process was totally ineffective in increasing volume or adapting the shell to your foot (refund request?). Polyether lower shells are difficult to punch (it does tend to rebound if stretched) but it is perfectly possible to do in the hands of a good fitter … eg CEM in Bicester, Simon in Dry Drayton or a similar professional ….this is a good thread:

https://www.skitalk.com/threads/do-lange-and-other-polyether-boots-require-a-different-approach-when-trying-to-gain-volume.4949/

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@vandarle, putting a shell in an oven id not generally going to cause a problem, it is fine to "contour" a shell but it won't give you a precise stretch of any size in a given area, (it will do that on certain shell plastics but on everything)

unless melted it is not likely to compromise safety, but on certain older plastics has been known to cause flex differences

as for warming the liners, again unlikely to cause damage but will give a sensation of creating general space, unlikely to get much change at all in an injected liner especially after having been skied in

ovens are useful in boot fitting but they are not a substitute for assessment, correct shell selection, adequate foot support, tools and knowledge, unfortuneatley there is a new breed of shops where all they have is an oven and maybe a basic stretcher..... what you have experienced is plain good old fashioned lazy boot "fitting" and a lot of the reason people think that boot fitters don't have any idea about what they are doing

You need to Login to know who's really who.

We put around 70% of our boots in the oven, due to Nylon 12's low working temperature being 85°, not sure that makes us a "new breed of shop" though. Super effective tool and process in our opinion.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Well - I took the plunge and just did a DIY punch of the heel-pockets on my Dynafit Hoji Free 110s (...before the keyboard warriors attack: it's been a success, and no kittens died snowHead

)

Plenty of YouTube videos out there of DIY punching, particularly the one by Eric Hjorleifson (Hoji) himself doing exactly what I needed on some Hoji 130s ... video link below

I luckily had an old welding clamp which I used to make a punch-tool, from a roll-on cap & some car-filler.

I protected the rest of the shell/cuff with thick cardboard and used a temp. adjustable hot-air gun for about 4mins, checking the plastic temperature with an infra-red thermometer as Pebax can quickly melt if too hot.

Seems to have worked... Toofy Grin

http://youtube.com/v/41euycYDT_s

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@geoffers, good work Toofy Grin

After all it is free

@geoffers, nice work but will you now ski like Hoji?

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Heat moulding boots

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