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.

Thanks for the link rmdorman. I picked up some similar to those

Outlands!

@fredk See if you have an option to print to a PDF instead of a physical printer. I misspoke. I have Stepping through Time by Olaf Goubitz and Shoes and Pattens by Francis Grew and Margrethe de Neergaard. I agree with Fredk, Goubitz' book is much more rounded. He explains various stitches and techniques in more detail than you will find in Shoes and Pattens. He also goes into much more detail regarding decorations and closures. Neither book explains how to create patterns, but Goubitz shows more styles and what the cut pieces look like. Once you understand how a pattern a simple turn shoe and put it together, I feel that Stepping through Time will be a good reference for other styles. This is all predicated on you wanting to make period correct footwear. If you are looking for a shoe making book, I know of several that would better serve you.

Which book? She has several. You can find 2 on Etsy. The others I think are out of print and will have to hunt for them. Somewhere in the shoe making section there is a thread about books and authors

I have both books. Unfortunately I won't be home for a few days and will have limited mobility when I get there. So I will take me a few days before I can answer your question.

Here's a short video of Jason's turnshoe process. It takes you through all the steps so you get an idea of what making a turn shoe looks like

Northmount, would you mind sticking this back into shoe making? Thanks

Skiving knife - Sorry, I'm not going to be helpful here. I have several skiving knives and a couple of safety skivers. I'm a neurodivergent lefty made to be a righty with hand damage. My thought process is my own and my physical dexterity is different from yours. So.. what works for me might not work for you. I like the safety skivers (the stick shaped ones with a triangle formed end) because they use a razor blade so they are sharp. I dislike them because the blade cost adds up over time. And its easy to cut yourself getting a blade in or out. They dull quickly, but when they are sharp they work a treat. I found they work best if they are held at an angle, not perpendicular to the edge of the leather, closer to 45° so you are doing more of a slicing motion. I have two Japanese style knives I got at Sorrel Notions, a 3/4" and a 1". They are about 10" long and about 5mm thick. I tend to use both equally. Learning how to sharpen them takes more than a minute. You will need a couple of high grit water stones or wet and dry paper and a strop. One of the things that I saw in a basics class that I thought was really brilliant was to sharpen your knife and then cut thick scrap leather with it until it wasn't sharp any longer then hone the knife and start cutting again. This taught you what really sharp feels like when you cut and you got to figure out a technique for honing that works for you. And it gives you practice cutting leather free hand if you marked cutting lines before hand. There are numerous styles, custom and factory made. Pick one and learn how to use it. Draw a margin line and learn to skive to it and not taking chunks out of the edge. Practice on scrap until you feel confident using it. No. The only thing that changes is the angle of the blade. You lift the handle higher for a thick leather than you would for a thin leather. Use something thickish for your thread. 0.8, 1, 1.2mm. You need something that will hold up to the stress of you walking in the shoes. If you are going to use linen you will most likely have to make it up from smaller diameter strings. You will have to twist them together and taper the ends. And wax it. Its a whole nother process to master. While I respect those that use linen threads for shoe making and take them to their A&S for review, its more than I want to do. There a couple of videos out there on loading a boar bristle. Search the forum for boar bristle. I know I linked a couple for someone interested in going that route. Stitch length - 1 cm works. Its not too close to cause your leather to tear. Its not too far apart to leave space that your finger will fit in. Practice doing a butt seam and using an awl. The upper is stitched to the sole by using the inseaming awl to go from the top of the sole (the side your foot will be on) to the middle of the edge of the leather. This way you aren't walking on any stitches.

Aventurine, check out podohub.com for lasts. I'm pretty sure that you can find what you are looking for in a last there.

Thanks Mablung. That was kind of you. Aventurine, the first shoes I ever made were turn shoes at a workshop with Jason Horvatter in Portland OR. It was an awesome class. I don't think he does group classes any longer, but he does have a book and a DVD on making turn shoes. If you enjoy reading and experimenting on your own, a copy of Stepping Through Time will serve you well. If you want a bit more guidance, you can't go wrong with Jason's DVD and/or book. Now let me say first, I have the upmost respect for Jason. I believe his classes are worth every penny he asks for them. I would take another one is a heart beat if I could swing it, but do not buy your tools from him. The mark up is just too much for what you getting. We did not use stitching chisels to put the uppers together or attach them to the soles. We used straight and curved (inseaming) awls. A lacing chisel was used to punch holes along the raw edges so they can be reinforced with lace. The leather was about 8oz for the uppers and the sole was 12/14 oz latigo for the soles. Jason lays out how to make a pattern to fit your foot with duct tape and registration marks. It makes putting the shoes together relatively easy. The basic tools you will need doing it Jason's way: A cutting mat. Means of cutting the heavy leather - leather scissors or a utility knife or both. Learn how to hone your knife blade. Your sanity might just depend on developing this skill. Flat surface for skiving, a granite slab, a 12" x 12" piece of temper glass. A skiving knife or safety skiver. Get a bunch of extra blades for the safety skiver. Using the skiver for just one more pass when the blade is dulled is a recipe for a disaster. Your leather or your skin will be the cost. Oh, yeah, get a box of band aides/plasters for the shop. Bleeding on a project will just add insult to injury. Lisa Sorrel has a great video on Youtube on using a skiving knife. Definitely worth the time to watch. A silver gel pen. 99% of the time it will wipe off the leather. A jerk needle. This is a McKay needle in a handle that has a brass nut that tightens down. You can find one on etsy. Search for jerk needle. Straight and curved (inseaming) awls and a stabbing awl. If you are going to use linen thread, you really ought to do some research into preparing and using linen thread. You'll need to track down some hand wax (coad) for the thread. I'd recommend black Nyltex thread for attaching the uppers to the sole. 2 harness needles and a lacing needle. If you are using Jason's pattern making process you will need poster board, duct tape, permanent markers and shaped punches. That's my short list for making turn shoes. There are other tools that might make some processes easier, but they aren't necessary. These shoes were made by hand with minimal tools for a long time. Jason wrote up how he does turn shoes for Leather Crafters Jul/Aug 2017. Its on seven pages. The book is 59 pages. The DVD is 274 minutes long.