Kendo Men Repair - Preventive ShoeGoo for Leather Menbuchi

Menbuchi tends to split apart and wear off completely after receiving lots of hits.  I found a way to prevent this wear before it happens:

I currently apply one ~5mm layer of Shoe Goo to the top of my menbuchi.  It melts downward when it dries and hardens into a clean and smooth glassy liquid-like surface (~48 hrs).  After the long wait, I color the entire menbuchi black with a permanent marker and wait another 24 hours before actually wearing this men.

No dojo or sensei I know openly suggests this repair.  You could damage your bogu or get Shoe Goo on the futon if you aren't careful.  I do this kind of repair, partly because I have multiple sets of bogu that I can wear if I damage one.  Like everything on this blog, do it at your own risk.

Shoe Goo is a sticky clear glue that dries into a smooth and hard rubber-like material.   It’s commonly used to repair and waterproof boots and shoes.  I grew up skateboarding.  I would apply Shoe Goo to repair torn up skate shoes.  The material can flex and is relatively easily peeled off most leather surfaces after some wear.

I'm not sponsored by the product, but other epoxys and bondo seem too hard for the job.  Most liquid epoxy products are very difficult to apply since they usually come as runny liquids.

Menbuchi flexes slightly every time it's hit, so it needs an equally flexible and durable protective material.  Shoe Goo has a clear color that won’t mark anyone’s shinai.  Letting the black permanent marker dry for 24 hours helps with unwanted shinai marking.

I do this Shoe Goo application long before the leather cracks open.  When the thin Shoe Goo layer wears off, I carefully peel the remaining Shoe Goo by scraping it with a metal sharp edge by hand.  I then apply a new Shoe Goo layer.  The layer lasts through many months of regular training.  It hold best if the leather underneath is clean and rough enough to properly take the Shoe Goo adhesive bond.

The photos above and below are of a men I tie on a hitting dummy I hit outdoors at home.

Shoe Goo clear layer on slightly worn cowhide leather below.

Fully dried Shoe Goo marked with black permanent marker is hard to notice, below.

After significant wear and use, the Shoe Goo layer doesn't change in appearance much at all.  Below are photos of another separate men I applied this Shoe Goo layer to.  This men I wear regularly for training at my home dojo.  The menbuchi leather area has been re-colored in the past month. But the small Shoe Goo area hasn't been colored for about 4 months.  The wear on the black colored Shoe Goo is this flat greyish color that's relatively unnoticeable.


Update:
After a few months of use, the 'Hitting Dummy Men' I inserted pictures of on the top of this post had a few small tears on the Shoe Goo.  The Shoe Goo is relatively easily removable by scraping with a metal tool.  Heavy daily hitting on a hitting dummy with an outdoor special use shinai seems to tear off little bits from the edges of the Shoe Goo coat also.

I decided to cut away the small tear areas and apply a second coat of Shoe Goo with another coat of black marker color after thoroughly drying.  After the final drying period, I did some uchikomi drills.  Below is the end product: