# Re-Lacing Boat Shoes?



## ada8356 (Dec 14, 2007)

How hard is it?

Tips/Tricks?

I'd like to give my laces a nice dose of Obenauf's leather oil, but it looks like a serious pain to re-lace these things.


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## bd79cc (Dec 20, 2006)

It's not that hard. Use an ice pick to slide the lacing from hole to hole. Just make sure to bend the shoe you're working on so that its lace (and the ice pick) has a straight path to follow.


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## godan (Feb 10, 2010)

bd79cc's method is pretty good. Another way is to tie a strong string to the existing lace. I used a form of strangle knot, just to keep the bulk down, but that may not be an issue in some shoes. Pull the lace out and pull the string behind it, basically creating a temporary string lace. Then, tie the new lace to the string and pull it through. It is best done in stages, and there is usually some fussing and poking around tight curves, but it worked the total of two times I tried it in the past fifteen years.


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## Oldsarge (Feb 20, 2011)

I've used the ice pick method. It's slow but it works.


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## Mad Hatter (Jul 13, 2008)

I've done like godan has, but using a long piece of wire through a hole in the end of the old lace. I made knots on both sides and "flossed" the channel to make the pull easier.


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## ada8356 (Dec 14, 2007)

Yeah. Sounds like a big pain. I think I'll just try to treat what parts of the exposed laces that I can.


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## Trip English (Dec 22, 2008)

Hopefully we're talking about one of those highfalutin boat shoes. Hardly seems worth it on a pair of topsiders. By the time they need to be re-laced they're probably past the point of re-lacing.


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## RM Bantista (May 30, 2009)

Gentlemen,

One might also consider taking them to a cobbler. Some people still do provide such service. This may be useful particularly when the lace has broken.

rudy


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## Nick V (May 8, 2007)

Mad Hatter said:


> I've done like godan has, but using a long piece of wire through a hole in the end of the old lace. I made knots on both sides and "flossed" the channel to make the pull easier.


This.


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## ada8356 (Dec 14, 2007)

> Hardly seems worth it on a pair of topsiders. By the time they need to be re-laced they're probably past the point of re-lacing.


It is a pair of Topsiders that I picked up yesterday. They are the originals, and I was considering treating the laces with Obenaufs to darken them a bit... but it certainly isn't worth the hassel of re-lacing them.


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## Mad Hatter (Jul 13, 2008)

ada8356 said:


> It is a pair of Topsiders that I picked up yesterday. They are the originals, and I was considering treating the laces with Obenaufs to darken them a bit... but it certainly isn't worth the hassel of re-lacing them.


If you're gonna throw them away, you might as well give it a try (for no more than a bit of time and a pair of laces). It's a bit painstaking, but not difficult. The worst part is the heel; if you pull some slack in the old laces between eyelets and floss back-and-forth, it helps break the friction and slightly burnish the channel before pulling the wire.


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## fishertw (Jan 27, 2006)

Sperry used to offer a relacing kit that included leather laces plus an awl like instrument that the lace was pulled through the metal grommmets with. Not sure if it is still offered or not. 
Tom


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## Oldsarge (Feb 20, 2011)

Yes, they do.


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## Taken Aback (Aug 3, 2009)

Trip English said:


> Hopefully we're talking about one of those highfalutin boat shoes. Hardly seems worth it on a pair of topsiders. By the time they need to be re-laced they're probably past the point of re-lacing.





ada8356 said:


> It is a pair of Topsiders that I picked up yesterday. They are the originals, and I was considering treating the laces with Obenaufs to darken them a bit... but it certainly isn't worth the hassel of re-lacing them.


I'm surprised at how gunshy you guys are. Some of us are more adventurous. 

https://askandyaboutclothes.com/com...73-Relacing-Boat-Shoes-Purely-For-Style-Color


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## fishertw (Jan 27, 2006)

Oldsarge said:


> Yes, they do.


Thanks Oldsarge- I thought I couldn't be the only one who'd ever been aware of that tool.
Tom


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## Montague (Apr 9, 2011)

I laced a pair last summer, bought a lacing kit at my local shoe repair shop, less than $10 I think, and had them finished within a hour. Check your local shoe repair shop


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