# I successfully heat molded my burton boot shells



## Kijima (Mar 3, 2019)

I figure I should share how I managed to heat mold my burton photon wide boot shells to accommodate my super wide foot.

Firstly my foot is wide AF, EEEE with what they call the 6th toe (hello Springfield) which is an even wider part behind the little toe, and the worst part is my big toe does not curve back around like all boots and shoes do. My big toe actually keeps travelling the other way which has been a continual source of pain and ingrown toe nails for my entire life.
Snowboard boots, and it must be said, snowboard seasons just exacerbate my problem.
Pic of my foot below.









Over the years, before wide boots were available I have taken many a knife to my brand new boots seeking relief from the pain I knew was coming my way. I used to the side off my liners and glue neoprene in place of the thicker liner, I did post about it years ago when I had the screen name ETM on this very forum, and burton actually copied that with the liners on their wide models. Thank you for making wide boots burton!
The burton wide liner with neoprene pic below.









So I now wear burton photon wides, with the neoprene sided boot liner, which actually should be much larger than burton make it but its better than nothing, thanks again burton for making wide boots, but we still need wider lol.
Anyway the problems I always had always encountered unfortunately did not disappear with the new wide fitting boots, so after half a season, and another black toe nail I decided to try heat molding the shell itself, and low and behold, it fking worked! ...In your face ski boots!!!

My idea was to make a timber die, the same shape as the front half of my foot and mechanically jam it into the shell whilst heating the outside of the liner with a heat gun.
I traced my foot shape onto a piece of timber and cut it out, leaving it as thick as I could fit into the boot. Once I had the foot shaped die made I cut it down the middle so I could drive wedges in there and force the dies sideways.
The timber dies look like this, the front half is where all the action happens, the back half is just a wedge at the back and a spacer that allows me to drive the dies forward into the boot.
The same die does both left and right boots just by flipping it over, there is no need to make left and right dies.
Pic below









As I heated the areas that I wanted to change shape with a heat gun, I started driving the wedges in a little at a time and the boot began to take shape. I let it completely cool with the dies still in there, and once cooled I reheated it again hoping to create some kind of memory in the materials which most definitely worked. They lasted the rest of the season with no damage and no sign of returning back to the original shape.
Pic below. Left is modified, right is stock.










After the season had ended, they still hold the new shape.



So burton, thank you again for making these wide boots but they still arent wide enough for me and the toe boxes are unnecessarily rounded, you copied my idea last time with the neoprene sections but please make them bigger and feel free to copy my idea of a square toe box in the future!
FWIW my burton boots have outlasted, and stayed in far better condition than all the other boots I ever wore in my life, and the way you guys cut the material patterns promotes flex without material degradation. Big ups to you.

Big love from all us funky footed snowboarders!!


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## Surgeon (Apr 13, 2020)

Wow, you weren't kidding about your foot being unusual... good job man, glad it worked for you in the end!


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## ctoma (Aug 9, 2011)

Hold on a minute, post a photo of your ugly, deformed feet bare, not in socks.


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## MrDavey2Shoes (Mar 5, 2018)

Take it off!!!! Woooo!!!
I actually had something similar done to my boot to account for this new giant spur next to my Achilles.


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## rayt100 (Aug 29, 2016)

I have to try your method on my next boot. I was getting black toes so I cutout the shell and used epoxy to seal it. I was on a trip so I went







to the hardware store and did it in my hotel room Thanks for the tip


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## Surgeon (Apr 13, 2020)

Man, you inspired me...
I was happy with the result of my home-heatmolding of my new 9.5 Imperials but the j-bar/hook on the outside of my left foot really bothered my malleolus. We're talking major discomfort bordering on painful. 
So I went back with a hair dryer for about a minute (if that) of localized heating. Put the boot back on for a while and voilà! Much less pressure and pain. I could go back and do it again for a bit but I'm afraid of overdoing it. At this point it's really not bothersome and it will decrease more as I wear them more, especially once I get a chance to ride them.
Thing is, this probably would've happened with a few days of riding them but I sured saved myself a couple of painful days on the mountain.

We're not talking the same scale of "problematic" here but your localized heating sure helped me. 
Cheers man!


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## Kijima (Mar 3, 2019)

ctoma said:


> Hold on a minute, post a photo of your ugly, deformed feet bare, not in socks.


I don't want to give anyone recurring nightmares brother!


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Holy shit...great mod. Going to put a link in the boot faq.


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## Kijima (Mar 3, 2019)

I found a really good solution for peeps with straight big toes like me. 
Space the ball of your foot across with neoprene and that gives clearance for the big toe


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## ridethecliche (Feb 27, 2019)

Might have to give this a shot in my TM3's to make a little more room for the big toe! Thanks kijima!


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## jerseyshredder (Nov 30, 2021)

Kijima said:


> I figure I should share how I managed to heat mold my burton photon wide boot shells to accommodate my super wide foot.
> 
> Firstly my foot is wide AF, EEEE with what they call the 6th toe (hello Springfield) which is an even wider part behind the little toe, and the worst part is my big toe does not curve back around like all boots and shoes do. My big toe actually keeps travelling the other way which has been a continual source of pain and ingrown toe nails for my entire life.
> Snowboard boots, and it must be said, snowboard seasons just exacerbate my problem.
> ...


Hey bro! 

I just bought a heat gun for this very purpose. I'm about to attempt the modification and wondering, since it's been a little while since your post - if there was anything you would change next time you did it?

Really appreciate the inspiration, I have high hopes of this working for my snowboard boots and hockey skates for that matter.

Thanks homie.


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