16 Apr
2013
16 Apr
'13
10:57 a.m.
On Tue, 16 Apr 2013, Chuck Guzis wrote:
After a lot of digging, I discovered that shoe repair
shops use a
special brand of contact cement known as "Barge" cement. The stuff
stinks like heck and soaks into rubber, so a 6 ounce tube barely
suffices for a pair of soles. But the bond is unassailable by moisture
or wear.
Barge changed their formula ("can't use xxx in the formula anymore").
The current stuff is crap compared to what it once was. A friend has
been watching eBay for NOS of the old formula, without success.
One ad had the new formula, but the picture was the packaging
of the old formula.
My shoes have been discontinued, and replaced (with the same model
name!) by something unrepairable and unwearable (found in attempts
to buy NOS on eBay).
When the soles on my current shoes (on their 4th set) came loose
("new formula"?), there are no more shoe repair shops, I had to use
"Shoe Goo". Despite it's silly name that does not inspire confidence,
it actually seems to be holding OK.
Of course, this would have been unnecessary had the
city's last shoe
repair shop not closed. Apparently, shoes are yet another thing that
people now discard rather than refurbish. Most likely this occurs
because of cheaply-made inexpensive imports.
Most modern shoes are not resoleable. Most don't even have a slip-sole!
AND they're so badly made that the uppers are worn-out before the soles,
AND the public has been conditioned to demand NEW shoes instead of
re-soling, which costs a good chunk of what the new ones cost.
So computer gear isn't alone in the
"don't replace, throw away" category.
What ISN'T "throw-away"?
I was on the curriculum committee, and was the "SOLE" dissenting vote
in their decision to close one of the last shoe repair training programs.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com