Aven

Don't mess with perfection. You can try wearing a thicker sock on the right while you are at home and see if that gives you enough of a stretch.

Bison works nicely for footwear. If you didn't put a toe puff in these, get them wet, wear socks and wear the dry. They should stretch a bit for you.

If it's just leather to leather, than any contact glue should work fine. Using synthetic soles are a different matter. Depending on the material, you might need to be more selective in your glue choice. Regardless of material, the glue needs pressure to set up properly. Beating on it with a hammer works, but, in my opinion, a last press works better because you don't have to worry about misplaced strikes.

All of my shoes have been more on the rustic side of custom. In my mind Ritza isn't a bad choice, just a bit expensive for my budget. If you have a local cobbler, and if they are willing to talk shop with you, ask them for their opinion on threads and maybe they will share where they get it from.

I honestly don't know much about it. It's what Jason had us use in the shoe making classes. It was impossible to break and it comes prewaxed. I know that several shoe making shops, orthopedic supple houses carry it. Are there other options? Probably, but I was satisfied with it. I've only used it on three pairs of shoes with rubber soles, so my experience is limited. If you want a more informed option, you could contact Southern leather Co or Springfield to see what they know about it.

I use black Nyltex Thread for anything sole related. I know Springfield carries it as well as several other supply houses. As far as I know, it comes in at least 3 colors, black, brown and white. You might find it in tan as well. I think it only comes in one thickness.

What are you planning on using for sole material? Are you working off of a last?

If those are based off of Tony's pattern, I would agree that you may have goofed the stitching. I did that the first time I made his pattern. Had to take the entire shoe apart. The first time I did like you did and used dark, matching the leather thread. That seriously makes it hard to see when you muck up. And as Tony says, trust the pattern. There will be moments during the construction that you think it won't work out. It does if you follow the pattern. Is your left foot the same size as your right? If you do a tracing on paper of each and hold them up to a light source, do they match? If they do, cool beans. You only need one pattern. It they don't, well you are going to have to make adjustments in one of them. Looking at the picture, it appears that the left top pattern piece might have slipped when you drew it. If it didn't, then your left foot isn't as wide as your right and you might try undoing the stitching and using the regular toe piece pattern.

I just wanted to give the shoemakers in the group a heads up. Marcell Mrsan has a stitch down book in the works. Its due to be published in the last part of '24. It's entitled The Stitchdown Construction A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide". You can find it on Zegzug.com. You can preorder the book for $70. If you want it after it's printed, it will be $84. And for those that are wondering, yes, you will need to use lasts with his construction methods.

My apologies, I did not see that you had written something. Since the text is so large and blends into the background I thought it was just part of the photo. Thanks kgg for quoting the OP

You are going to have to use your words. What do you need help with?

@toxo I have to agree, that looks like a lot of work, but you have done it well. Did you have to do any special setup to keep everything aligned and even?

Cool beans. Those are going to be his favorite shoes from now on. Well done.

From my experience, it doesn't matter too much which leather glue you use, Barge, Weldwood, Masters, etc if you are gluing leather to leather and stitching. In regards to shoes and glue, it seems to matter quite a bit, especially if you are just planning on gluing the man-made sole material on and aren't going to stitch it in place. Then the glue really matters. If you are looking at this from a shoe making point of view, I'd suggest you go and talk to a couple of cobblers in your area and ask them about their experiences. Whichever glue you end up using, if it's not water based, make sure your shop is set up to use the glue and you have the proper PPE for it. If the glue can meld plastic to leather, just imagine what its doing to your lungs.

Thanks for the link @jcuk. That is an interesting shop. Such a cool mixture of vintage and new. For those that are looking, they carry boar bristle as well as steel bristles. They have a couple options for linen thread and they have a hand wax (coad). I wish my German was better, I would love to read through those Der Schuhmacher journals.