How to get gum off a shoe

Ever stepped on a chewing gum with your shoes? If you have at a point been in that situation, then you and I know it’s not funny, as you are faced with the problem of how to get the gum off the shoe.

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Well, removing a chewing gum from a shoe is not as difficult as you might have think. As a matter of fact, it is very easy to get gum out of your shoe – yes, quite easy.

Doing this only requires some items you have at home or what you can easily get from the nearest store. Before you know it, you’ve already rid your shoe of that annoying sticky gum.

Without wasting your time any further, you are in the right place to learn how to get gum off shoes. Let’s move on.

Getting gum off shoes

In getting rid of gums in your shoes, there are many ways of achieving this. While some work for all shoes altogether, some methods cannot work for some kinds or some parts of shoes.

The situation could be a bit trickier when you get gum on the surface of a fine leather shoes. At the same time, almost any of the method we will discuss will work fine for tennis shoes.

For shoes with suede and nubuck materials, you will need some specialized cleaning items. For leather shoes, saddle soap and a good brush (not so strong) will do the trick.

Let’s quickly take a look at how you can easily get gums off a shoe at home without much stress.

How to get rid of gums in shoes

Getting rid of gum in shoes just got easier with any of the hack we shall discuss below.

Stick your shoe in the FREEZER

Removing gums from a shoe doesn’t have to be a tough task as earlier perceived. Using a freezer will definitely do the work as gum hardens the more it gets cold.

How to remove gum from shoes using freezer

Stick the shoe in a plastic bag (this is to prevent the shoe from staining the interior of the freezer)
Press the plastic bag against the gum until it sticks
Put inside the freezer and leave it there for about 2 hours
After the stipulated time, remove the shoe from the freezer and pull the gum off the shoe

NOTE: If this trick didn’t work, it’s probably because the time was not sufficient. Put the shoe back and leave it for another hour.

NOTE: You can as well scrape off the frozen gum with a knife or any not so sharp tool.

Removing gums from shoes using ICE

In case you don’t have a freezer, you don’t have to fret over removing gum from a shoe. Ice will be a fine substitute for freezer in removing gum. How do you go about this?

• Put the ice in a plastic bag (to avoid getting your shoes wet)
• Place the ice in the plastic bag on the surface of your shoe that has gum
• Put the ice together with your shoes inside another plastic bag
• Apply pressure on the ice (press it down on the surface of your shoe)
• Wait for a while for the gum to freeze up a bit in order for it to come off
• Finally, scrape off the gum with a butter knife or some related to it 

Getting rid of gum in shoes using SOLVENTS

If you don’t have a solvent agent at home, you can quickly get one at the nearest store or an online store.

It should be noted that you should be careful with choosing a solvent agent for the job, as some might cause a long-tem or permanent damage and or stain to your shoes.

Here are some solvents that can help remove gum from shoes:

Naphta

Naphta might just be that remover for your type of shoes. Naphta (lighter fluid) works greatly in removing sticky items from surfaces. How do you use it?

Add a few drops on a rag and rub on gum until it’s completely gone. It is capable of dissolving the chewing gum.

The solvent is capable of producing harmful vapors and highly inflammable. Hence, it is advisable to use where there are no electrical appliances or fire – outdoors will be preferable.

Acetone

Acetone is commonly used and it is an active ingredient in nail polish. In removing gum from shoes, acetone might just be the savior. How do you use it?

Add a few drops of acetone on a rag and rub repeatedly on the gum on your shoe. The solvent is capable of producing harmful vapors and highly inflammable. Hence, it is advisable to use where there are no electrical appliances or fire – outdoors will be preferable.

Remove gum from shoes with PEANUT BUTTER

Peanut butter helps in removing chewing gum from hair. It is also helpful when you have a gum stuck to your shoe. It removes gum with its oil. The oil in peanut butter is very powerful in dissolving some items like a gum.

Using a creamy butter makes it more effective and efficient. You should this by applying the peanut butter all around the gum for it to be very effective. Two to three tablespoons should be good to remove it from the shoe.

Leave the peanut butter on the shoe for around 10 to 15 minutes to work, after which you can scrub it off. Scrape it off with a hard brush or steel sponge.

It should be noted that if your footwear is made of fabric, suede, and nubucks, it might get stained by peanut butter.

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Remove gums from shoes by MELTING

The same way you can harden gum with cold; that same way, you can melt or dissolve it with heat. Melting gum can easily help you get gum off a shoe.

How do you go about this? All you have to do is get a hairdryer and a butter knife or any similar object like a fork or a spoon. Use the hairdryer to heat the sum, scrape off when the gum is becoming soft.

Get rid of gum from shoes with OIL

Do you know you can get rid of sticky gums from shoes with oil? Yes, you heard me right, oil. The sticky compounds of a gum are from plastic or rubbery compounds and they have oil as components. Mixing oil with this gum or sticky compounds can rid it of its stickiness.

Pour a little quantity of oil on a rag or cotton wool and rub well on the gum. Leave it for a while before scraping it off with a butter knife or a spoon or a fork.

Use SAND to remove gum from shoes

As a little boy or when I am away from home and this happens, this has always been my style – dry sand. In case you notice the gum immediately after stepping on it, this is the ideal ‘first aid’ to removing gum from shoes.

Dry sand or dust is very helpful in getting rid of gum from shoes. Remove your shoe and turn the ‘gum-affected’ surface upward, then pour a little quantity of sand on it.

Scrape it off with a sticky or any hard object you can use in scraping it off. Keep doing this and keep pouring sand until you get all the gums off the shoe.

In case you are unable to get it all off, well, try any of the other methods we have earlier discussed.

Get gum off a shoe – Conclusion

Now, you should be able to get gums off your shoe without having problems again.

If you have learnt one or two things, let us hear your view in the comment section.

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