shoes

[piperdbh]

I really appreciate these posts, especially the pictures. Without them, I'd have been lost in the first couple of sentences, with all the jargon and such. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[tyger]

Super, just super!

[DWFII]

I really appreciate these posts, especially the pictures. Without them, I'd have been lost in the first couple of sentences, with all the jargon and such. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

I do apologize...this is just what I was worried about. Shoemaking is such a complex and intense affair...far moreso than it would appear on the surface...and drawing from so many different--eclectic, as one should say--sources and disciplines.

I hope it is more than white noise.

Don't worry though, I am almost out of photos and it will be done soon.

[Bugbear]

No, I'm following it just fine, DWFII, and I can't look at the pictures. guess I have seen some of this done before It's very interesting.

[Jack Daw]

Wow, those are really beautiful shoes, DWFII.

[turpin]

I follow and I marvel.

[English Bloke]

Amazing, absolutely amazing...

[Rob Wright]

DWFII, love the pics and commentary, thank you for posting them.

Rob

[DWFII]

The last photo in post #38 shows a shoe...a buckle shoe...lasted, inseamed and ready for the outsole. Below is another photo of a similar pair just before the outsole is mounted. I don't have a lot of photos from this point on especially as they relate to shoes. As a result, some of the subsequent photos may be of boots...but the techniques are the same.



When the outsole is mounted it is generally "tempered" in a similar fashion to the way the insole is tempered--it must be wet thoroughly and then allowed to dry so that it is still flexible but not sopping. The outsole material is a oak tanned which is generally anywhere from 10-12 irons thick (1/4" plus or minus). This leather is very firm...in many cases the tannery has "rolled" or even double rolled the leather to compress it and make it even harder than it is naturally. The shoemaker tempers it so that the leather will conform to the bottom of the last more readily than it would in a dry, and therefore rigid, state.

The next photo show the outsole being mounted. Note the "stirrup" (or drawdown strap) in the this photo. The Scots word for a drawdown strap is "whang."



Once the outsole is mounted, it will be stitched to the welt. This can be done with large iron outsole stitching machines. And done very credibly, too. I do some like this, especially boots. The stitching machine, in capable hands will not only stitch the outsole but it will cut a channel in the surface of the outsole to receive the stitches. This channel can be closed up to near invisibility if deep enough.

The traditional way, however, is to stitch the outsole by hand in much the same fashion as the inseam is sewn. I do this work as well upon request. However, this is a much longer and more intricate operation all the way around. A channel is cut parallel to the surface of the outsole from the edge inward. Since the outsole is moist, this channel can then be peeled back and a shallow groove scraped into the underlying leather. A specially shaped curved stitching awl, known as a "square awl" is used to make tiny cuts through the welt and outsole emerging in the groove in the channel. These cuts and the stitching that ensues are generally done at 10 to 12 stitches per inch although at one time 16 to the inch was considered "middling work." The waxed end used is a little finer than would be used in the inseam--the inseaming thread would be 8-10 strands of #10 linen and the outsole thread might be 4 strands. Otherwise the thread is waxed and bristled in an identical manner although the wax used for the outsole would probably be white as opposed to the black or bronze coloured wax used for inseaming.

As with most operations at this stage...known as "bottoming"...the work is typically done in the lap or on the knee with the stirrup holding the shoe steady.

Outsole stitching is a very precise and peculiar skill...and nearly lost to time and the outsole stitching machine. Each stitch must be pulled tight in a very specific manner and to a very specific tension. When done properly the stitching appears as tiny white beads all in a row. I am not a master of this technique but I get better with every attempt. The photo below shows an outseam that I handstitched about a year ago. In this case, I used brown thread rather than white. Overall, it is pretty credible but not perfect.



You can see that each stitch is separated by a indentation that has been made in the welt. This technique is known as "stitch pricking" and is nearly an identifier of handwork. Each indentation is pressed into the welt one at a time. And the purpose, originally, was indeed to separate and tighten the stitches. Many off-the-shelf shoes seem to have this "pricking" but a closer look will reveal that the stitches are not really in sync with the indentations. This is because the indentations are made with a roller mounted on a machine. The roller is known as a "fudge wheel." As such, impressions made with a fudge wheel are for decorative purposes only.

When done well, the channel on the outsole may be closed up so perfectly that no evidence of it is detectable.



When the outsole has been stitched the heel base is added...one layer of leather at a time...and pegged into place. These layers of leather may be tempered and allowed to dry back to a minimal moisture content...not completely dry, however. When in this state they may be hammered and further compressed to make a piece of leather that is literally hard as a piece of wood.

Pegs are used in lieu of nails, again because nails rot leather. Today we use lemon wood pegs that come out of Germany. But in earlier times pegs were made of hard rock maple. I have maple pegs that date back to the Civil War era. I hoard these as well. In that era and earlier, pegs would have been made with hand plane designed for making pegs...essentially cutting a "V" shaped groove in the end grain of a block of maple, a series first in one direction, then another series perpendicular to the first pass. These two passes of the plane created the points of each peg and a knife was used to split off a row and then each individual peg.

This next photo illustrates a heel layer being pegged. A special awl is driven into the leather and then the peg itself follows. The Scots term for "pegging awl' is "pytkin elshin."



Each layer is then leveled with a knife and files or a sanding wheel mounted on the shaft of a machine known as a "finisher." The heel layer, or "lift," as they are known, in the above photo has already been leveled and once the stubs of the pegs have been filed down another lift will be added. When the proper height has been achieved the toe-ward face will be cut square and perpendicular to the ground. This face is known as the "breast of the heel."

A side note for your amusement and edification...at the end of this post is a little poem that goes back to the middle ages, I believe. It is one of many...some short, some long...that shoemakers wrote about themselves and their work (remember there were no computers and no televisions in those days ).

Shoemakers often worked late into the night...which meant working by candlelight. A dandiprat was originally a coin of small value and at some point in time the candles that shoemakers and lacemakers used to work by became known as "dandiprats." Hence...


"Little Jack Dandiprat, in a white petticoat,
The longer he lives the shorter he grows."

[Bugbear]

Very interesting, DWFII, and thank you for posting this.

Last night I tried to split some fishing line, like you were talking about, it wasn't easy...