Letters

Save our soles

I wonder if your readers have noticed how their deck shoes become slippery after spending a winter in the cupboard. If not worn regularly the natural brown rubber type of soles develop a shiny, hard surface as they age and can be lethal on a wet deck.

Scuffing shiny soles on rough tarmac or hand sanding them is hard work and produces little benefit. I’ve found the best results are achieved with a belt sander with 80-to-100-grit. The time to stop sanding is the moment the powdered rubber stops flying off the sole exposing nice soft, grippy virgin rubber.

This process might sound a bit harsh on your expensive deck shoes but it’s no bad idea to shorten the life of our soles if it could save our souls.

Some words of caution. A belt sander can sand your skin to the bone in a second so don’t hold your shoe against the running belt. Secure the shoe upside down in a vice or clamp it to a bench and sand the exposed part of the sole while holding your sander in both hands