Such a pleasure to watch.

[SUP]

Found this the other day.

Awed that there is no guide-line for sewing or anything else. 

 

 

[fredk]

Excellent video. I've watched many of these and am always impressed by the workers' skills

Who needs a stitching clamp? Just use your feet. No lasts until near the end. One knife does all cutting and trimming

As for the sewing without a guide; the more often you do something the better you get at. I had a bro-in-law who was a time served painter (houses, not scenes) and he could paint a 5 cm (2 inch) wide line down the centre of a wall 40 ft long and hardly varied the line by more than 2mm, and both ends were the same, height and width and at the same height on the wall, all done without masking or measuring

I want to know what glue these workers use

Edited Saturday at 07:12 PM by fredk

[SUP]

I know. The glue in an open pot applied with fingers, the granite stone which is used to work on as well as to sharpen the single knife and a block of wood. I think of all the tools that I have and  still not getting that result.  Makes me feel so humble. 

[AEBL]

I think I saw the glue applied to both pieces that were to be adhered. It worked on rubber and leather ... makes me think it was a contact cement.

[dikman]

I was going to watch it later but once I started........his work with just one knife was fascinating to watch and yes, I wondered about the glue. It seemed to dry pretty quick and yet he kept it in a dish that is open to the air. And it never occurred to me to use a hard grinding wheel to sand edges, I may just have found a use for all the grinding wheels that I've accumulated (plus they'll last forever!).

[AEBL]

I would imagine that the grinding wheel would clog up with leather particles pretty quickly. You might also want to get a rubber cleaning block or something.

[SUP]

I just saw another similar video with an intriguing little cup to hold some colorless liquid - it appears to be made entirely of... glue?

 

[fredk]

On 5/11/2025 at 3:31 PM, SUP said:

I just saw another similar video with an intriguing little cup to hold some colorless liquid - it appears to be made entirely of... glue?

 

You can make cups out of hot-melt PVA glue, as used in glue-guns. They can't be used for hot liquids such as coffee or tea but hold up well with soft drinks

Now, ya'll will hardly believe this, but I spotted a man wearing the sandals made in the first posting.

I was at a small shopping mall, putting my purchases in my car and a coloured gent was doing the same right next to me. As I was moving my trolley/kart out of the way I was watching out I didn't run over his toes so I was looking down. Lo and behold he was wearing those sandals, with one change, he had cut off the ankle strap. I continued to 'fuss' about so I could see more and I'm 100% sure he was wearing the same sandals

[SUP]

Wow! I did not know that! PVA glue cups. 

And what a coincidence seeing someone wearing the same footwear!

Many men wear them in South Asian countries and bring them  along when they migrate. They are very comfortable. The leather usually needs a bit of oiling to soften it but after that, they are wonderful.

I grew up wearing Kolhapuri chappals, also handmade leather footwear. I refused to wear anything else. Nothing was as comfortable.

I plan to try to make a pair soon. I have preserved my last pair carefully for precisely that reason - to get my size and the pattern. It will probably take me weeks.😄

About the glue, I wonder whether it is bone glue.

[fredk]

46 minutes ago, SUP said:

About the glue, I wonder whether it is bone glue.

Any bone glue I know needs constant heat to keep it liquid

[fredk]

48 minutes ago, SUP said:

Many men wear them in South Asian countries and bring them  along when they migrate. 

I can say that the gent wearing the sandals is a fairly recent immigrant

People of colour are a rarity in this country and all are recent, less than 10 years, immigrants

[SUP]

I read somewhere in the last couple of days about adding something or the other that keeps bone glue liquid. If I find it again, I will put it up here. I might have found it on a thread here but I'm not sure.

Oh you've recently started getting immigrants. The world is really shrinking, is it not?

I just looked up the information on bone glue. The recipe says to add isopropyl alcohol to keep it liquid. No idea whether it works. Besides in the video, they kept it uncovered and the alcohol will evaporate and the glue will thicken.

More research needed.