Shoe Laces

[Rhyd6]

Why oh why oh why do they have to be so long????? After lacing up my new walking boots I'm left with about a yard of surplus lace on each end. I've cut them off and tied a knot in the end to stop them fraying but it means I've lost the aglets and the knotted ends look untidy.

R6

[swill453]

I would have cut a section out of the middle and put a single knot at the bottom of the eyelets.

Scott.

[Dod101]

Surely you can buy some shorter ones?

Dod

[madhatter]

Surely you can buy some shorter ones?

I bought a pair of shoes a few weeks ago but would have been more than a bit miffed had the laces that came with them not been a sensible length. I had the impression from the OP that the exceedingly long laces were the ones with which the boots were supplied.

Good idea about cutting the extra from the middle though.

Could try making a new aglet (good word that, I’d probably have said ferrule but realised it was not quite right) possibly using glue to hold the fraying, though over time it might snap the lace at that point.

[bungeejumper]

Oh goodness, don't shorten them. Your shoelaces are an essential part of your outdoor survival kit. Some day you'll be stuck out in the wilds and you'll have fought off a rabid wolf and knocked it unconscious, and then what are you going to use to tie it up with so that it can't run off and fetch reinforcements? Mark my words, you'll be sorry you ventured out into the woods with girly little laces that weren't up to the job.

Some day you'll come across an injured walker out on the cliffs who can only be saved by an immediate leg amputation, and what are you going to use for a tourniquet, eh? Not that pathetic little bit of cotton twine that now adorns your boots. They'll laugh at you as soon as you drag your victim down to A&E, you mark my words. And then where will you be?

And what else will you use to restrain the rampaging bull that's broken through the barbed wire fence and is now heading down toward the primary school with murder in its heart? Not those pathetic little stringlets that are all you've got left. All right, I suppose you might be able to lasso its private parts if your timing's good, but is that going to leave you with enough spare cord to give it a good yank and bring it to a halt?

Honestly, some people are their own worst enemies. Shouldn't be allowed out onto the hills on their own.

BJ

[stevensfo]

What laces?

All my shoe fastenings are either zip-up, slip-on or velcro.

Laces are so 1970s.


Steve

[swill453]

What laces?

All my shoe fastenings are either zip-up, slip-on or velcro.

Laces are so 1970s.

Do you have walking boots, as per the OP? Not sure I've seen walking boots without laces.

Scott.

[bungeejumper]

What laces? All my shoe fastenings are either zip-up, slip-on or velcro. Laces are so 1970s.

Do you have walking boots, as per the OP? Not sure I've seen walking boots without laces.

That'll be the Italian influence, then. All flash and no durability. (No, not you, Stevensfo.) It's hard to imagine proper country types yomping up and down rockfaces in slip-on boots with twinkydoo Velcro fasteners. Dammit, your life can depend on that firm foothold. I bet proper Italian countrymen wear laces.

BJ

[swill453]

There are some great Italian walking boots, AKU, Zamberlan etc. All very stylish too. But with laces of course.

Scott.

[stevensfo]

Italians don't have to climb. We have things called helicopters and cable cars.

That'll be the Italian influence, then. All flash and no durability. (No, not you, Stevensfo.) It's hard to imagine proper country types yomping up and down rockfaces in slip-on boots with twinkydoo Velcro fasteners. Dammit, your life can depend on that firm foothold. I bet proper Italian countrymen wear laces.

Yes of course they do. They all wear laces. Excellent laces.

Just that some of us are not very good at tying laces. That's all.

Don't worry. My Mum gave me a note!

Steve

[bungeejumper]

Yes of course they do. They all wear laces. Excellent laces.

Just that some of us are not very good at tying laces. That's all.

[TedSwippet]

Just that some of us are not very good at tying laces.

The 'Ian Knot'. Changed my life.

[panamagold]

]Why oh why oh why do they have to be so long????? After lacing up my new walking boots I'm left with about a yard of surplus lace on each end. I've cut them off and tied a knot in the end to stop them fraying but it means I've lost the aglets and the knotted ends look untidy.

R6

Confronted with a similar situation I put a couple of turns of electrical tape carefully around the the lace just below where i wanted to cut them. Once cut, the laces then had replicated aglets which could be threaded.

[Watis]

Heat-shrink tubing would make a good aglet, too.

Watis

[Rhyd6]

PG and Watis, thank you for your sensible suggestions re home made aglets. As for you BJ I'm a Girl Guide, and once a Guide always a Guide. I have a stout walking pole with which to repel wolves and other such creatures, a faithful hound who will do to death any who dare threaten me and a husband who can keep the enemy occupied whilst I scarper what else would a girl need. I have also sent for some shorter laces.

R6

[AleisterCrowley]

stout walking pole with which to repel wolves and other such creatures

We do get wolves in Berkshire occasionally. Looks like a nice doggie actually
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-42730984

[bungeejumper]

PG and Watis, thank you for your sensible suggestions re home made aglets. As for you BJ I'm a Girl Guide, and once a Guide always a Guide.

You're one ahead of me, then. I was thrown out of the cubs at age nine for persistently failing to learn which way up the Union Jack goes. Although I could make a sheet bend or a clove hitch, and although my firelighting skills were second to none, I was pitched out of the conventional order for no better reason than that I couldn't have told you whether Horatio Nelson had been sending me a congratulatory salute or a distress signal. Just think how useful that would have been if I'd met him.

There was nothing left in life but me and my lonely woggle. I can tell you, my disgrace pitched me into a vortex of failure, desolation and low self-worth that persisted until the day when I discovered loud music, motorbikes and girls, in that order. At which point I stopped wearing laces and donned a pair of biker boots with huge zips. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Akela.

BJ

[AleisterCrowley]

Just that some of us are not very good at tying laces.

The 'Ian Knot'. Changed my life.

He's using X-lacing, which is what I use on all my boots .Nice and easy to tighten symmetrically

[UncleEbenezer]

stout walking pole with which to repel wolves and other such creatures

We do get wolves in Berkshire occasionally. Looks like a nice doggie actually
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-42730984

I'm sure the reporter's Berks is worse than anyone's bite.