New-to-me boots: When hair drier heat molds fail...

[Query]

Because of my breaking-down boots, I've been looking at alternatives.

I'm too broke to get the custom boots which would be ideal for a person like me with slightly unusual feet (so said Phil from Harlick; a Riedell rep said their boots couldn't possibly fit me). I got a very generous chance to use a bunch of boots from other people at the place where I volunteer/instruct. (Lots of very generous people, most of whom also volunteer.) Nothing in exactly my size, but I thought I could make do. I thought the first pair I tried was an ice dance pair, because of the lowered back and flex notches. I was puzzled that I wasn't strong enough to fully flex my ankle (the tongue was too stiff!), but I could point all the way, and I could do most ice dance motions. Lots of padding, which I loved.

It was way too big. My feet are about U.S. size 6 or 6.5 - but my heels are quite narrow, and my toes are quite wide, and short. That pair was GAM, labelled size 8.5 C (someone put it in a box mislabeled size 7 - which fooled me). GAM/Jackson is Canadian, but I think the sizes are about the same. I put it 3/8" of closed cell foam carpet padding underneath the insoles on one skate. The back of the included insoles ("Jackson Elite Footbed" oddly enough size 9.75, and nominally used for size 9 to 10.5 boots) match the outline of my feet quite well at the back, but there would just have been a lot of space in front of my toes - which shouldn't matter much, other than the weight, and a need to readjust where I place my feet in progressives. Then I tried to heat mold it with a hand-held hair drier.

Oh dear. Almost no effect on the skate shape whatsoever. OK, I replaced the laces with parachute cord, which is stronger and much easier on the hands to pull tight. I couldn't find my lace pullers, so I heated it up again, then used a needle nose pliers to pull the laces extra tight. So tight that when I untied it, I needed the pliers to loosen it again. Still relatively little heat molding effect. Sigh

I finally looked at pictures on the Internet, and figured out they wer GAM Men's Gold Label skates - their highest level freestyle boots, rated for triple and quad jumps. Definitely NOT an ice dance boot!  GAM said it was supposed to be heat molded by sticking it in an oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 4 minutes. That's a lot more hard core than using a hair drier, which might reach a max of 150 or 160 degrees - I guess - didn't measure it, but it doesn't scald my skin.

So be forewarned that you might need a proper oven, or maybe a very cautiously applied heat gun, to heat mold the highest level boots. Hand held hair driers may not be sufficient.

Sigh. Great looking boots, but I would have been massively over-booted. It took me about 6 years to break-in my nominally "soft" Klingbeil Dance boots, when I was skating 10 - 20 hours/week, doing ice dance and very low level freestyle. Imagine trying to break in a top level freestyle boot, at fewer hours / week. I'm in my late 50's. I'd be dead before the boots were broken in.

I very reluctantly gave up on that pair. I was also able to try another generously offered boot pair, something someone presumably outgrew before they broke down, some sort of GRAF lower level freestyle boots, already somewhat broken in tongue. Much less padding. But size 8, so less padding needed to fit. A few heat molds with the hair drier, and the parachute cord laces pulled tight with pliers did fairly well. Nothing hurts, but I'll punch (stretch) the ankles and toes later, to give a snugger fit.

I'll later to transfer my current (9.75" - measured from the front to back of the mounting plates) Ultima I Matrix Dance blades, but at first I'll try someone's old Wilson Excel size 9-1/4" freestyle blades - also presumably outgrown before being used up, as there is a fair amount of metal left - about the same total runner length (because freestyle blades have longer tails than Dance blades), somewhat more aggressive toe pick. 7' rocker - like the MK Dance blades I really loved, but completely wore out. I don't think Excels are super-high level freestyle blades - but I can't really do freestyle. I will try to take into account the difference in nominal lengths when I mount the blades, rather than making the classic mistake mounting the front of the mounting plate flush with the front of the outsole - a compromise between putting the sweet spot (which I can always move) under the balls of my feet, and putting the toe pick somewhat ahead of my toes. Maybe I can use them for low level freestyle, and keep my old boots and blades for low level ice dance style stuff for a few more months.

Since I really can't afford decent custom boots, and I'm not currently up to making my own, I'm very grateful for the chance to make do with other people's outgrown boots and blades. I'll soon see how well I can make them work.

Too bad I couldn't make the GAM Gold Label boots work. Would using them have automatically made me able to do triples and quads?