goatman

On the Shoe School/MacPherson Leather page, they show a book(let?) called "How to make Western Boots" which seems to be no longer in print. MacPherson's tells me that it was a Tandy book, but it is discontinued. If anyone has this book and is willing to part with it, I'm interested. If you have it and you're not interested in parting with it, but you are interested in making a PDF copy and emailing it, I'd like to see if I could work something out with you on it. I'm also looking for George Koleff's book on lastmaking. I'd be interested in other shoe/bootmaking/lastmaking books as well. PM me if you have any info for me. I have some old 1800's/early 1900's PDF's but I'd like to get a little closer to modern if I can. TIA, goatman

The website is down, I was hoping to get the Dog collar Tut <|:^(

Looks like maybe someone stepped in something and lost their shoe!

Yes, they fit fine in the boots that are my size, but not the bigger ones. BTW, I cut the stitches in the handmade Mexican boots today, they were an old pair of roughouts (what era is that, 50's/60's/70's?).... plastic bead and pull straps, a paperboard insole, stacked leather heels with about 50 nails and staples in each of the heels. They didn't use a holdfast on the insole of course. and no wood pegs throughout, but the uppers were nailed to the insole all around the heel section up to the sideseam with very short iron nails, and sewed around the 3/4 welt ..... it had a row of stitching INSIDE the boot, rather than using a holdfast to hold the welt and the insole on to the uppers. It had a cloth welt around the inside of the boot (on top of the insole, but under the sole liner) so they must have hand sewed that, unless there is a machine that will do the inside, including the toe area. The heel stiffener (counter?) on the inside of the heel was a very thick leather, about the same thickness as the sole, the outside was the same thickness as the uppers on the boot (no wonder these boots were so heavy !!). I don't know how old the boots are, but the leather was pretty rotten in places, and they had celastic toe boxes, but they've had a hard life just in the time my son and I had them. I got enough out of them that I can eventually use some pieces of them for patterns if I want to, so now I can hide them away for a few years ;-). I read a thread on the other forum which had people arguing about iron nails v. brass nails v. wood pegs. Some say that the iron nails will rot the leather, and after tearing these apart, I have to agree. The heels came apart in crumbles after I tore off the rubber heel cap, all that's left of the heels are the outside rims - partly because of the abundance of nails, but also because of the deterioration of the leather around the nails in the leather, it was visibly rotted around each nail. I'll be using pegs and brass nails when I get to that point, not iron nails! L8R .........

Since I can't afford lasts, that too will be a trial and error situation, but I've been studying a lot on that, so I'll let you know how that's working out as well. All this is going to take a lot of time, since I'll be taking a lttle out of the SS check each month to get myself started. While I learn to repair boots and shoes, I'm starting out with making Mocs, Sandals, and slippers, to possibly bring in some money to buy more materials and then I'll work up from there. The first pair of boots I'm going to work on will be a pair that I wore for a couple of years up until about two years ago, by that time the soles were worn clear through the insole, so I had to put them by, ..they fit like a glove! They are all leather, made by Imperial, and I think I can keep the vamp, counter, and tops without having to disturb them too much except for the removal and replacement of the insole. One pair that I have are custom made Mexican boots that are a size or two larger than I wear, so I'm just going to tear them apart for patterns to practice on. I can get a lot of smaller kid's boots in the thrift stores for 3 or 4 dollars per pair to tear apart and practice on as well, I'll just pour them full of plaster of paris so that I can practice the insoling, and soling and heeling on them - that way I don't have to find lasts for them . I'm planning on getting used to doing repairs on boots and shoes and making shoes before I get too excited about building boots up from scratch or doing any re-sizing - that's probably two or three years off ;-). Thanks for your advice and thanks for answering my questions. You may see me here asking questions off and on when I feel like I'm running into trouble, so be prepared!

Hi Paul, thanks for your answers! I love your boots, by the way, and I'm going to attempt a resize of a pair of Noconas like you showed on the other forum - some day ..... ;-) These 4 pair of boots are all wore out, so they'll be great for practicing on! I can take them apart and use them for patterns for other boots if they work out! I was able to buy a pair of lasts on eBay so I will also get some practice building up the lasts to fit my own feet. That's what I was curious about and what I really wanted to know, because from what I've read on the other forum, the toe spring gets higher as the heel becomes taller (unless I've misunderstood it) - I've been reading some old shoemaking books (1800's), and it seems to indicate to me that the toe spring should go down as the heel gets higher. Thanks, I was measuring in the wrong place I guess. One of the old books that I have says the same thing that you do, I should have followed it's direction. I'm a hundred and 10 miles from nowhere here, so we have nothing local. I can find the phone number on the net .... THX No, just You Tube - (Marcel, Tim Skyrme, and others) and the other forum's pix I've always been mechanically inclined and have been a jack of all trades, master of none! for 40 odd years, so I'm sure I can do the basics with a lot of practice, there are just some things that can't be got from books, and pictures, ........ training and experience would be the best, but it will have to be trial and error for me, (and probably a lot of wasted leather), which really won't be wasted if I can learn from it! I've already put together most of the tools I think I'll need to get started, and I'm anxious to get to work so I can quit wearing tenny-runners .... if this sub-zero weather would just go away! I do have to say something good about the cold weather tho, it's giving me a lot of time to read and study before I actually get go out on the shop and practice!

36 views, no replies in 8 days ..... great forum!

On another forum, TexRobin says to use alchohol on them, but I think that's after they are hammered and trimmed - something about that being better than other things, like glues, conditioners, oils, etc.

I'm going to be repairing my own boots, (4 pair), that I will have to replace the insole, midsole, and out sole on. I have a pair of lasts, which I may have to re-work, so I'm wondering what the toe-spring should be for: standard (1 5/8th) heel - 2" heel - 2 1/4" heel - 2 1/2" heel - It seems that the toe spring is different on the different boots with the different size heels (anywhere from 3/4" to 1 1/2"), but that may just be because they are well worn and pretty much wore out. I'm measuring the heel from the back of the boot to the floor, and adjusting for heel wear. I'd also like to know where the best place is to find rubber heel caps for cowboy boots - economy heels will do, because I will be repairing my own from now on. The rest of the heel stack will be pegged, so I just need to find the heel caps. TIA

Caroline, Google for Tim Skyrme - He used to do Cowboy Boots and I believe he gives lessons as well

I'm definitely interested in a presentation on building up lasts!

Thanks; this book is going to help me tremendously when I start to re-sole my cheapo boots .... Now I can keep the uppers and put all new running gear underneath - kinda like a frame-up restoration/upgrade! I may have to find someone to translate some of it though, some of those old tool names aren't used anymore from what I've seen!