RockyAussie

Yey jimi I think with the dog foot being on the right you would have to allow that, that distance would need to be enough for the job to feed as well. My guess would be about 8mm minimum?I think the 441 will get you a lot closer to the edge than that. Even with the dog foot in and a bit shaved of the left of the standard plate I can see 5mm is possible. It would be closer still with the holster or stirrup set up as Wiz shows above. Regards Brian

I would say it is a vegetable tanned leather but like most things it may highly suitable for some uses and sometimes not others. Mimosa tanning agent is one of the most common and has a tendancy to go a light yellowy tan colour by itself and mixed with some oils this can affect the colour further and also these oils generally migrate to the surface of the leather and eventually dry out and need to be replaced. Most of the tooling type leather are not loaded with as much of these oils and fats and and will normally give no problems.The chemicals are probably helping in creating the rash but I would make sure that the knots of your thread are not giving you a problem. I notice they do not look well pushed in and I know the thread can create agitation as it does on myself. I have never used this type of leather onto a watch band lining before and I don't think I would now having seen this.

What is that saying? If it sounds too good to be true it .......

Wow I've never seen anything like that before. Can you post any pics of the watchband showing the lining in particular? Do you use any sort of body lotion that might be reacting with the leather chemicals and did you put any sort of a finish on the lining?

I have to comment that it looks to me around 1.36min in that the second application wipe is no longer the same bit of leather. I wonder why?Brian

Wow!!! I'm wondering what the freight from OZ to Oklahoma would be. About 25 years back I got an old retired boot repairer to promise me he would only ever sell me tools if he sold them. He died a few months back and his family tracked me down and advised me I am the only one allowed to buy them.A man of his word. Now I have an old 29k13 which badly needs some loving care.

The most common failure is with the sole either wearing through or coming unstuck. Separating at the toe is common and back to the widest part as well. I have no idea what tools you have at present to work with and some pics would help. If you want to send them in a PM that is fine. You will need a common steel last and stand as you see at a shoe repair place or a steel plate for the base of the lasts your building.If you are not familiar with any shoe repairing I must urge you to get friendly with a good repairer and get him to show you how to use the tacks and how they clinch in the job. You will want some (a good handful) of the shorter tacks. I think they are about 5mm or less.Instead of the glue around imitation welt as in the video I propose using a full midsole tacked on which actually does most of the work in holding things together and the sole will adhere to this in a far longer and reliable way.You can still use an imitation welt as well if you like but if you can not buy it they are hard to make with out a lot of tools.I will go through an old shipping container here and see what I can find to picture that may be of help. Brian

I thought about making up a new presser foot once but if you test that steel it is very hard and I think that whatever I could come up would not last reasonably long. The grit that gets locked in on a shoe welt really acts like a sandpaper. This is one part I need but I have plenty of other parts off of 3 other spare machines if you need anything.Can I ask what purpose you use the machine for? Regards Brian

Is that not what tinker tailor has used in the pictures above? I personally think that 1snap would be fine.Brian

I just love these Frobana machines. I still have 4 here but none that looks so pretty as this one. The only real problem I have had with them is wearing out the presser foot. In the picture here you can just see a little bit on the right side starting to wear. None of the ones I have here are anywhere near that good and unfortunantly last time I checked they were about $400 au and that was quite a few years back now. When this gets worn enough the stitches start to miss regularly but if good they do a magnificent stitch.BTW if you dampen the sole leather right you can bury that stitch right in and slick over it and hardly see the thread at all.Thanks for posting Jimi. Brian

For the type of shoe you showed in the link I would think 1,5mm max depending on what lining thickness you have or want to use. As I doubt you will have a splitter I would look for what lining thickness you can get and try not to end up with more than 2.5 to max 3mm with the outer skin.(roughly 1mm lining and 1.5mm outer) Most leather sellers will tell what is the normal weight for a given application in footwear as it about the most common and largest part of the market.How well a shoe is built and how the wearer looks after them is a bigger difference than the construction differences discussed here. I was doing shoe repairs for more than 10 years before going into making shoes and that really lets you know where things could have been done better and what parts wear out and why.Done correctly these shoes will last longer than you would want them for unless you like walking in mud and water.

Suede is by far easier to last up as you don't have to pull very hard to get into shape. Also less initial skiveing is necessary.Why do say you wouldn't want to wear this very often if it is cemented construction?

In my own experience yes. I have had both and there is a big difference unless you are using heavy saddle type leathers. Soft leathers will often stay attached to the feed wheel and come around to the knife again then cutting through the leather and wrecking it.The one I had first without a vacuum I sold for $200au and felt bad for dumping it instead.Regards Brian

Well done. I think the pliers may be alright as the hammer part is mostly used to get the right leverage but the length of handle may give you more leverage than you want.Also I am not sure if the grip tip is not a bit too close to your hammer part. A longer tip shape would be better. I would smooth of the teeth a little and consider cutting handles back shorter to perhaps 20cm long.(50mm shorter) as I read somewhere you don't have a sewing machine and an over pull on your upper could be very upsetting. The hammer should be OK I think. Funny enough the main tool in the shoe making process of importance to me is the lasting pliers. Keep in mind that I had (and still have) a lot of special machinery for making shoes and I may not have all the best answers on how to do by hand everything.Would it be possible to post a picture of the type of shoe design you are wanting to make? Regards Brian

Picture looks good to me. Has the Chinese one have a Vacuum or not? If not I would go with the one in picture I think.

Yes I believe to start with you would be best to start with a cemented construction as it will give you more freedom to adjust the fit if required and there is a very high chance it will. Once you get the hang of how to close the upper onto the last you could progress on from there if you want.I am not sure if you have seen this man's video's yet but I would recommend having a look at this one at least. Regards Brian

Hi Adam, that picture above makes no sense to me at all as it shown. Is Gigi anywhere close to you as you may do well to swap notes with her. The presser foot base should angle toward the feed wheel as to allow thick going in and thinner as it gets to the blade edge. For the work your wanting to do I would be getting a roller presser foot either way. I would go with the vacuum model as I doubt that there is any real problem other then setting up properly.They do take awhile to get proficient at using. Some pictures of the machine could help. Brian

I would have a very careful check of how your bobbin is being wound on. If you are not careful with the thread tail from when you start can cause a interruption later as it feeds off or just simply it is not winding on nice and evenly. Your 1st picture shows a tightening to the bottom before the loop and that means that something had to make it pull tight for a little while so bad bobbin wind is most likely. I have had to load a new bobbin and pull it through the case in place to realise how much tension variation can happen when a bobbin is wound badly. Brian

Well done and the stitching looks good. A little bit of practice on the edging and it will look very nice. Brian

Hi Adam again, I would forget about the curved awl to start with as that would be a level of difficulty in construction that at this stage I would not recommend to start off with. I would at least try and get a pair of lasting pliers such as in this link for sale. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Vintage-Cobblers-Shoe-Boot-Tack-Hammer-Lasting-Pliers-Tool-/232351152913 As you work around the last pulling the upper into shape these will allow you to pull way more easily than with a pair of pliers. The tightness needed to pull into shape is quite a lot and when learning and it is not uncommon to pull a piece right out of the upper and sometimes ruining your upper.If you intend to be able to make shoes regularly I would also try and find a lasting jack. Here is a picture of one I own below. The mirrors are just something I added to be able to see that the upper is staying in the correct place while I am pulling the upper around with these pliers. This particular lasting jack allows you to freely turn the last around in to whatever direction makes it easier to pull against and the spring in the middle helps to apply tension so it doesn't revolve too easily. Electrathon do not run off as it has been over 15 years or more since I have made any shoes and my terminology may be off and rusty and you would agree that making shoes as a beginner is a major challenge. When I was making shoes I had the advantage of being able to vacuum form some clear uppers onto the lasts for customer fitting purposes. This had the advantage of showing tight areas as the skin would show white where ever it was tight and made corrections a lot more of a precise exercise. Even with all of this marvellous stuff there were times where getting everything right was difficult. Regards Brian

I can now see a bit more of where and how your going with this.This looks like a shoe last and not a boot last to start with. As Electrathon has pointed out some method of breaking the last will need to be sorted out. Some old ones I've used have a scaloped out section from the lower instep on up and toward the heel which is held in place by a screw. It appears that you may not have taken into account a lot of important measurements and to help with this I have inserted a link that I would think you might consider looking at first. I do not want to dishearten you with where you are at but I have to say I would remove all that cork and start again with some 3mm veg leather if possible. Try and work more with the last shape when building up in a more all over way. I would start with building up first the width of ball (metatarsal area a bit then try and overlay this in a more complete way right across the whole last. This will help to maintain the actual last shape better and thereon your shoe as well. Please pay attention to the instep and long heel measurements when adding on this layer. The best of shoemakers will often not get a good fit straight away and there are a few things that can be done to make this a little easier. The first I would say after getting all of your measurements close is to put a 3mm piece onto the sole of your last (glue it on and metal plate on top if you want.) and this will allow you to put in a cushioned sock liner insole which can easily be sanded down or added too, to get a more comfortable fit. When you have the leather insole glued and attached to the upper and held in place try it on for size here and make any adjustments such as loosing or tightening. Don't forget to do that with the sock liner insole in place as well. Another thing that can help is a little foam on the lining side of the heel counter at the top as this can help a bit with the counter not being a perfect fit to the persons heel. Make this thin at the top back and go wider as it wraps around. This would be about 80mm long and about 20mm deep in the widest part and around 2 or 3mm thick when compressed into place.The last your showing here is a low heel height and I would think only about about 1/2" (13 to 15mm high). Getting the heel height and toe spring right is often overlooked but is an important part to get a correct comfortable wearing shoe. You have the advantage here of tacking on temporally heel pieces until it feels right in wear. Here is the link- http://chestofbooks.com/business/clothing/footwear/The-Manufacture-Of-Boots-And-Shoes/The-Operation-Of-Measuring.html A few pics of the tools that you have may help as well. That's it for now Brian

Lookin good so far mate.Not sure if you are thinking of putting the last stitch in at the top of the gusset just over the edge onto the top/lid but if your not going all the way around I would recommend doing so. I only mention it as I have seen a few projects lately that are not doing that for some reason.Brian

I will check back for the pictures a little later and let you know what I think best.It may be best to show an outline of your foot and whatever measuring procedures you have done.Brian

Are you wanting to make closed in footwear? Can you post a picture of the last side on and down from on top and bottom?

As Electrathon says a build up with leather is the way I would recommend. A few slice marks in it from patterning will not effect the lasted result and won't hurt your cutting knife either. I have not ever used cork board for building up with and I doubt I can see much of a reason why. With leather you can get it take up and go around the compound curves fairly easily and sand or skive down to the required size. The whole lot can be peeled of normally if you want to go back for another job. In the past I found difficulty getting B size lasts and in the hot Queensland weather and the open style footwear normally worn the average feet here tend to be broader across the metatarsal area. That is the wider part of the foot before the toes. I overcame this by doing a 3mm moulded poly type board cast over this area and sanded down into shape and this then allowed me to clip it on or off for whatever size needed A or B in this area of foot. As to how much in size you can build up it is only relevant to the feet in question and the desired shape you want.You'd be surprised at some of the shapes you get when doing surgical shoes after a while. Regards Brian