Spoiler: Human foot View attachment 1037864

Thanks for all of the replies! It's been a little bit over two days, and I have just tried on the stretched shoe. Here it is with the stretcher in, and with the stretcher removed. View attachment 1037858 View attachment 1037860 I can definitely see a little deformed bump in the target area, so some "progress" has been made. When trying them on, however, there is still not enough room for my little toe. Honestly, I can't tell much of a difference. When I examined the shoe more closely, I could see why this might be the case: the leather had not stretched at the base of the shoe near the welt, but only farther up. I've tried to show the difference in these two photos: View attachment 1037862 View attachment 1037863 This is perhaps more of a problem for me than for others because of my odd little toe, which has been rotated sideways since birth. My father and my siblings have all inherited this from my grandmother.So perhaps my little toe doesn't point up in the air as much as most folks. Regardless, this phase has been a failure but has yielded some interesting data.I think you are both correct in everything you say. @DWFII was kind enough to send me a message about my stretching efforts, in which he pointed out that no matter what I do, I can't change the shape of the insole. Now that I've discovered that I need more room near the welt, I am much less sanguine about my prospects for stretching success. If I had a bunion like @Sneaky Pete things might be different - who knows.I do however intend to continue the experiments. It's true that a good cobbler could do a better job, but also true that the shoe will contract eventually and have to be re-stretched. Also, I am just a curious guy and I want to see what happens.My second stretcher should be delivered tonight, so I may just try it in the same spot and see how it fares. The first stretcher was not very precise in the location of the plastic nurdles, so perhaps I can get the leather to stretch closer to the welt with the other stretcher.I may also try to stretch a different pair in the midfoot. @DWFII pointed out that problems with the base of the 5th metatarsal bone are usually due to the waist of the insole being too high, rather than the leather being too tight. I have found this to be true myself, especially with the $& [email protected] AE 65 last. I really have no hope that I will be able to fix any of my shoes on the 65 last, in this area. However, there are a couple of other shoes that feel good in the insole, but tight in the leather upper. These cause some discomfort that I think could be alleviated by stretching.A Sisyphean task indeed. I don't necessarily expect success, but I do hope to gather some useful information.