rmdorman

Wow this place is dead these days

My uncle is passing this gator hide down to me to see if I can make use of it. My experience is as a hobby bootmaker. Its a 72cm wild gator from south Louisiana, killed and tanned there in the 80’s, glazed and I want to say chocolate or more bourbon. stored in an AC closed but not conditioned. The tail has some cracks but the belly is intact and flexible but feels real dry a d thin to the touch. I am guessing I have one chance to try to re-oil it and back it and see if it’ll survive boot making or not. Trying to figure out the best approach to that. He and I agreed it may not work but we’re willing to try using it. Wanted to see if anyone had a best practice for preparing this for work. Thanks!

Yes please share the link if you have it!

Ive used the sandalmaking workshop book its got a lot of nice basic patterns and info on materials and is pretty cheap. I also have tim Skyrm’s sandal book from Sorrell notions and findinds. It seems more advanced but i havent read it in depth yet

Hah while I’m pretty determined I think I’d feel too much like I was invading privacy. If I stumble on someone though I’d be happy to give them one last sale

Yes I’m so grateful to have YouTube available, but it can feel very disjointed jumping around in the process and to different makers. A couple of people show most of their process straight through, but without much explicit instruction.

I think it must have been self published. Here’s the place he originally sold it (and a packer book which would have been really cool!) as a spiral bound. good idea, I sent Johanna a message, we’ll see if I get lucky!

Thank you! I actually have a couple of books - Cottle & McKinney’s book, and DW Frommer - and I’ll eventually get Sorrell’s when I save up for the whole course. My hope is to learn a little bit about how different authors do it, since there are so many variations, and figure out what works for me.

I’ve got a couple search notifications out for it. Someone said I can try searchtempest I’ll give that a shot. I think it was self published so maybe no ISBN but if someone has a copy let me know if I’m wrong about that. Thanks for the response!

Bumping in blind hopes someone knows how to track down a copy of " Custom Western Boot Making", by K.E. Hockenberry. It was originally referenced here but removed. Since then however it looks like Ken has passed and his site closed and there is no one to buy the book from, although I’d be willing. Thanks so much for any leads anyone can provide!

Iphone or google lens can do it for you (this screenshot not a great example cause the picture was low resolution)

Oh man I didn’t realize how old this thread was haha glad you found one! I haven’t tried these but I’ve been considering them. What did you think of the quality?

Theres these chinese ones Seam gauge

I did a side by side of about a dozen leather waterproofing products. Not super scientific but used offcuts of veg tan, applied as instructed, and took notes after spraying with water. In my opinion the Saphir super invulner was the best of those intended for nubuk/suede, and I liked Obenauf HD or Pecards for smooth leather, and duck back for canvas. But there’s about 400 products out there.

Does anyone know where to get a copy of this? I know he used to sell it and I’d be happy to buy it from whoever has the rights to it now but since he passed and his site is gone I’m not sure there’s anyone to buy it from. thanks kindly!

Here’s a nice video of half sole on a boot https://youtu.be/hS380rS_KAI?si=7xYHY_cJmxfBqpXn

Thank you for the advice sir. DAP America is sending me a spring assembly.

How do you like my new leaf spring? Incidentally, anyone know where I can get one a little more up to spec than my Ace Hardware masterpiece? Thanks kindly, Michael in Florida