Need something to store your watches on? Make a watch tree for $15.

Just use a bunch of 3/4″ PVC fittings and black spray paint.  This was so simple and worked like a charm.  The base is also a PVC fitting – I think its called a flange…  Make sure you use short pieces of actual PVC so you dont ever see the PVC pipe itself, and just the fittings.  This just makes it look better.  Then use a good can of spray paint to minimize chipping of the paint down the road…  Put a few rubber feet on the bottom to keep the thing level and from sliding around.  Have fun!

 

 

Want to make your old dirty shoes white again?!? Try spray paint! It works!

Just a little white spray paint (use a satin finish ideally) and some masking tape and make old dirty shoes look new and white again!! It doesn’t last as long as the original finish but it lasts WAAAY longer than that cheap white shoe polish stuff with the foam applicator you find in shoe stores…

Vibram Five Finger shoes – Stretch them if you have Morton’s Toe!

Vibram Five Finger shoes – amazing shoes I’ve just very recently been made aware of! They are great except that they don’t fit my foot (actually my 2nd toe) very well… I saw a post somewhere about how to stretch the toes of  the shoes if you have Morton’s Toe…  And yes, I have Morton’s Toe, and yes it just might mean I’m smarter than you…  😉

The page I read had a guy using a lighter to heat the sole of a Five Finger KSO and then stretching it with a table mounted vise.  I bought a pair of Bikila’s which have a much thicker sole than the KSO, and wasn’t having as much luck with the vise stretching.  So I tried it a bit differently…

Instead of using the lighter to heat the sole, it just happened to be perfect to use to stretch the toe!  So I used the two different ones, and a piece of CPVC cut to the right length and wedged them inside the shoe.  And instead of fire for heat, I used a 90W halogen light bulb.  I was weary about heating the sole with fire for fear of burning the non-rubber material and thought light for a heat source was much more safe..  It worked wonders..  I probably spent 5 minutes heating the sole with the lighter and CPVC inserted.  And while I kept seeing smoke, the shoe never burned and the burn smell wasn’t left on the shoe either…

I ended up stretching four of the toes of the Bikila.  I’m a size 43 but I have long skinny toes and really need a 44 for the toe size. This did the trick and worked like a charm!

Here is the right shoe as it was originally.  And next to it is the shoe after I stretched it…  It doesn’t look like much, but trust me, a TON of room was made.  PLENTY for my toe, and my 2nd toe is at least 1/4″ longer than my big toe.  It was also very helpful the stretch the other small 3 toes too!

More How-To pics…

Here are the two lighters and CPVC I used…  The CPVC was just an old piece I had so thats paint overspray as to why its discolored..

The lighter inserted into the shoe…

Here is the lighter along with a 1/2″ piece of CPVC.  The lighter is in the 3rd toe, and the CPVC is in the 2nd toe…  Its kinda hard to see.  Sorry…

Here is the sole being heated..  Again I got the shoe blisteringly hot by holding it against very close to the light  for like 5, and I did this 3 separate times..  And after each time, I ran to the freezer and put the shoe in there for like 10 minutes.  Not sure if this did anything, but I figured the rapid heating and cooling would help keep the stretch.  And I did NOT remove the lighter/CPVC when putting the shoe in the freezer.  And yes, that is smoke you are seeing from the sole, but it never burned anything and the burn smell quickly and completely went away..

And here is the final product after I did this to both shoes.  The Bikila’s fit SOOOOO much better now!

As additional information, I would like to say that the Bikila’s are exceptionally finicky with regard to fitting well. Even the lady at the store told me this.  And after having bought 3 different styles, I highly agree.  Buy the KSO’s or SportTrek for a much easier fit…