Wall Mounted Ski Boot Drill Holder

Every now and then there comes a time when you need to part with something. A few weeks ago I finally bought those new ski boots that I needed pretty badly. But what should I do with those fantastic plastic companions that I had bought used in a ski swap about 16 years ago? We had gone through ice and snow together. Through cold, colder and insanely cold weather. We had demonstrated to the world what can be done without a budget. We had persevered. All those crashes, numb toes and cold feet for nothing?

Throwing them away was out of the question. Reuse, repurpose, recycle.

From trash to treasure was the solution of course. The boots now serve as wall mounted battery drill holsters in two households. This process changed the love/hate relationship I had with my boots into one of permanent pleasure. They will stay part of the family for the next 2 decades or so and continue their productive long lives.

Let's build these things.

Materials needed

• 1 unwanted ski boot
• 2 screws
• 2 fasteners

Tools needed

• Dremel with cutting wheel
• Drill & drill bits
• Knife
• Safety glasses

• My boots had a connection clip at the top of the heel back plate. I didn't take any prisoners, powered up my dremel and cut the clip into shreds. Kinda fun. Remember to wear your safety glasses.
• As I mentioned, the boots were rather old, so they still had a wire closing mechanism. I removed the wire loop without exertion of any unnecessary force.
• Two big rivets built the hinge mechanism of the heel back plate. Trying not to cut into the boot material underneath I severed the back hinge plates close to the rivets using the dremel once again.
• Then I pried the back plate off the boot, which was rather easy, since only a few molten shreds tried to hang on.

• With the backplate gone it was pretty straight forward to remove the boot insert. I think that may have been white one day...
• The heel section was definitely in the way for inserting a power drill into the boot. More happy dremeling was executed and the heel removed while leaving the sole section intact.
• The plastic of the heel was rather thick and some melted plastic shreds hang on along the cut lines. I deburred everything by dragging a regular carpet knife along the edges.
• Then I tested the cutout and customized the opening so it would fit to my drill size and could be comfortably used.

• To fasten the boot to the wall I ended up using two screws and two dry wall fasteners.
• Determine the location you like to mount the boot and confirm that you don't have any studs in this location.
• Drill two holes into the heel section of your boot using the clearance diameter of the fastening screws you like to use.
• Widen the diameter at the top if you intend to use counter sink screws like I did.
• Hold the boot against the wall and mark the drill locations through the holes.
• Drill two holes into the wall using the core diameter of your dry wall fasteners.
• Screw the fasteners and then the boot into the wall.

Test it. Try it. Play with it and enjoy it.

Celebrate. You just saved some trash to make it into the landfill and gave it some purpose.

Consider making another one out of the second boot for a friend. (The second takes even less time.)

Show it off and of course... vote for me. I promise if I win one of those T-shirts I'll wear it for 2 decades minimum and use it as a rag on top of that.

Looking forward to your comments.

Superbender