Replacing the insole in a riding boot.

[Mulesaw]

I got hugely inspired by @Tastech to do some more serious repair work on a riding boot this time home.

Our oldest son works full time as a rider at a jumping stable, and his old daily boots had come apart. The glues outsole had loosened completely, my guess is that it happened since the insole was only made of some pressed cardboard like material, and the uppers were only glued to the underside of it, so at some point everything started to loosen and the boot was damaged.

I took off the outsole and inspected the boot. The midsole was also some cardboard like material, and that was removed as well. 

I made a new insole from a piece of veg tan leather, tracing the remains of the original insole and guessing how the tip should look. 
The new insole was glued in place and I used a curved awl with a hook on it to make a lock stich to attach the uppers to the insole. Since the original sole didn't have a sewing channel, I thought that I'd better not change the design too much and that's why I chose the lock stitching method. 

When the insole was in place, I glued the sole stiffener in. I didn't have any cork filler, and I had too little patience to get some. So I tried to make my own filler from latex paint, sawdust and PVA glue. It looked all right, but I after letting it dry I as afraid that it would not hold up to the job, so I removed it all again. I didn't want to risk that the sole came off because of my homemade filler.

After spending a lot of time removing the sawdust paint filler, I decided to fill in the voids with some scraps of veg tan instead. That went surprisingly well, and after attaching the mid sole, I rigged up an old round sanding wheel, and roughed up the bottom and shaped it to correspond to the inside of the sole.

After one failed glue attempt where I had placed the sole too far back, I managed to get a decent positioning and everything was hammered tight. I don't have a heel press at the moment, but hammering seemed to do the trick.

I didn't time myself for the repair job, but given that a set of boots like those will most likely set you back around 600 US$, it is still worth spending a couple of hours doing it plus the added benefit that it is an interesting job and I like to learn something new.
The biggest surprise for me was that the original insole and midsole were of such a crappy quality. And also that the upper and the insole/sole only relied on glue to hold it together. Aside from that, it was daunting at first to separate the boot, but once I got started it all seemed fairly logical. And given that the boot was so damaged that Gustav originally wanted to throw it away, I didn't risk much except investing a bit of time and learning something in the case that I hadn't been able to repair it.

Damaged Cavallo riding boot.

Close up of the damaged part of the boot.

Sole, inner lining, midsole, insole with stiffener on it.

The new insole is glued in place prior to stitching.

Wavy stitching, done with a hook-awl, it doesn't look pretty, but I think it holds better than no sewing.

The white stuff is the remains of the homemade paint/glue/sawdust filler. Now the voids have been filled with veg tan that is glued in place.

New midsole installed and the underside has been shaped on the sanding wheel.

The sole is glued on again and the boot should hopefully hold up for a bit more use.

 

[PurpleBronc]

Thanks for putting up the photos.  I  will be having to do this to my riding boots when I get the time, so it's good to see how you did it.

If you had to use sole leather to replace the soles, and you needed to make holes for sewing, what would you use to make them? I'm scared to break my awl, because that sole leather is quite thick and hard.

Thanks!

[Mulesaw]

21 minutes ago, PurpleBronc said:

Thanks for putting up the photos.  I  will be having to do this to my riding boots when I get the time, so it's good to see how you did it.

If you had to use sole leather to replace the soles, and you needed to make holes for sewing, what would you use to make them? I'm scared to break my awl, because that sole leather is quite thick and hard.

Thanks!

Glad to be able to inspire a little :-)

I think I would use a regular diamond shaped awl if I had to make holes in leather soles. But I'd make sure that it was well sharpened before using it. So a bit of sharpening and stropping should help I think.
The hook-awl I used for attaching the uppers to the insole was a cheap one I got form the Internet (TEMU), it was not at all sharp when I got it, so I started by making it nice and sharp. And like in woodworking: Sharp fixes everything.

If you have leather soles, I think it also depends on if they are sewn along the edges (Goodyear welt as far as I have understood), or if they are sewn from the inside (McKay stitching I think it is called). 
I don't think you can do the inside stitching without a McKay stitcher which is a big sewing machine. But if it is a Goodyear welt, you can do it with hand tools.

  @Tastech is a pro, so if he chimes in with advice, I'd 100% go with what he suggests. This is my first attempt on this type of repair. If you needed advice on replacing zippers in riding boots, I'd be much more comfortable giving advice since I have done that a lot.

brgds Jonas