One thing that can make the spring an enjoyable time of the year is owning a good pair of rubber boots. Without rubber boots, spring can involve getting one's feet wet often. With them, spring can be an excellent opportunity to get some badly needed fresh air and sunshine after the winter. Hunter boots are often seen as a good choice.
Do hunter boots stretch?
Sometimes one has to stretch a pair of rain boots into shape before they can be comfortably worn. While trying a pair of boots on and making sure it fits well is the best way to avoid this problem, hunter boots can be stretched as easily as rubber boots in general. Here are some tips for stretching a pair of hunter boots into shape:
1. Simply wearing and walking in the boots for a few days
If you have a bit of luck on your side, just walking in a pair of boots for a few days will change their shape enough that they fit more comfortably. You might notice that both your feet and your calves fit better after only a few days of use. This, however, is not guaranteed to happen. One might have to rely on some other methods to stretch the boots into shape.
2. Freeze water to stretch the boots into shape
When water freezes, it expands rather than shrinks. This is why putting a glass bottle of water in the freezer will cause the bottle to break. Some people, therefore, actually use ice to stretch their boots.
One can fill a few baggies up with water, place them in their boots, and put their boots in the freezer. The water will then expand as it freezes, and force the boots into shape. This is more likely to work than it might sound and is gentle enough that it will not damage the boots. This does not take very long, the water is likely to be completely frozen in eight, or perhaps only four hours.
A similar although the less common and probably less effective method is using a bag of dried beans to stretch the boots. If dry beans are exposed to water, they increase in size and might be used to stretch a not very well fitting pair of boots.
3. Use shoe stretching liquid to stretch the boots
Boot and shoe stretching liquid can be ordered from Amazon for less than ten dollars. It is easy to use - one can spray the boots with the liquid before walking in them, and it will help the boots adjust to the shape of the foot.
While shoe stretching liquids are often designed to work on multiple materials, they do no work on everything. One must make sure that the product they are buying is likely to work on the pair of boots that they have.
4. Purchase a boot stretching tool
Boot stretching tools are relatively expensive, but a boot stretching tool can be kept for years and used on more than one pair of boots. Boot stretching tools are likely to work in more difficult cases where the other methods have failed. Boot stretchers work best on natural materials such as leather. They may not work nearly as well on synthetic materials.
5. Take your boots to the cobbler
A professional shoe repair shop may be able to do a better job than what one can do at home. If only a specific part of the boot is too tight, a cobbler can easily stretch only that single part and leave the rest of the boot alone. The cost of boot stretching can range from less than $20 to more than $100, depending on what type of repair is needed. The cost of professional shoe repair often causes people to avoid it.
While the answer to "do hunter boots stretch" is "yes," a pair of boots that is two sizes too large rather than half a size or a full size too small is no good. A tiny pair of boots cannot be stretched into shape. However, people do successfully stretch less seriously poorly fitting boots into shape.
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