Suede/tweed Brogues

[Anton Karpenko]

Hi everyone, i learn how to make handmade shoes and the info about how to work with leather, which i found here, helps me a lot. This is my second pair, i do everything by hand, so don't judge me too hard. I used english harris tweed alongside with the leather i bought through ebay, seller said that it is a buffalo leather, but i'm not sure, because the quality is crap.

P.S. sorry for my english, i'm from Ukraine.

P.S. 2 i have a dream to start my own shoe line, but i need to learn a lot and to do that i started a crowdfunding project to get money and attend shoemaking courses, if anyone can help me not only with money, but maybe with a repost in social nets, that would be great.

[jeremyqmartin]

I love the shoes, you clearly have been learning already, but yes the leather appears to be crap.

I eagerly plan to make my own shoes one day.

[RavenAus]

Your workmanship far exceeds the quality of that suede Fantastic shoes!

[Frederiek]

If I'm correct there's buffalo and buffalo - American buffalo and Indian water buffalo. First is nice but not what you need, second is just the crappy version of normal veg tan, and possibly that's what you have. Unfortunately I have no knowledge of shoe making at all but if you like a smooth surface from stacked leather I know from knife and sheath making that you need good quality, dense (for soles maybe even compressed) vegetable tanned leather that you can burnish and polish.

The shoe in your pics looks really nice Maybe the looks of the heel improve when you use a bar of saddle soap on it.

[HippieLee]

Beautiful shoes, friend! May I ask how you accomplished the pinking/brogue holes? Is there a tool for that?

[Anton Karpenko]

I love the shoes, you clearly have been learning already, but yes the leather appears to be crap.

I eagerly plan to make my own shoes one day.

Thank you a lot, and when you'll start making your own shoes, just let me know if i can help you.

Your workmanship far exceeds the quality of that suede Fantastic shoes!

Thank you, but they are far away from the perfect one, i still in learning process.

If I'm correct there's buffalo and buffalo - American buffalo and Indian water buffalo. First is nice but not what you need, second is just the crappy version of normal veg tan, and possibly that's what you have. Unfortunately I have no knowledge of shoe making at all but if you like a smooth surface from stacked leather I know from knife and sheath making that you need good quality, dense (for soles maybe even compressed) vegetable tanned leather that you can burnish and polish.

The shoe in your pics looks really nice Maybe the looks of the heel improve when you use a bar of saddle soap on it.

I think you're right, thank you for the info.

And yes, i need to finish the sole, but i don't know how, yet. I have gum tragacanth and wax, but i'm not sure how to apply them.

Beautiful shoes, friend! May I ask how you accomplished the pinking/brogue holes? Is there a tool for that?

Thank you, i used punch tools similar to these.

[jeremyqmartin]

Nice! What leather did you use for the top beading? How thick was it?

[Anton Karpenko]

Nice! What leather did you use for the top beading? How thick was it?

For the top beading i used the same leather that i used for the lining, it was a pig leather about 1.1 mm thick, and i only strengthen it with the special tape that you can buy in a regular fabric store.

[BespokeOnly]

Your uppers look great, however, for heel building and the outsole you'll ideally want sole bend(9-10.2 iron) at around 5 to 5.5mm thick. Small single cut shoulder(5-9 iron) for the insole as it will flex a lilttle better than the bend will. Problem is that you probably have to buy the whole bend or the single bend from your source. Veg tan bend is like wood and will sand like wood. After some really fine grit sandpaper you can shelac(natural) the heel just like you would wood and sand it again with the finer 600 grit. Then move on to dying etc..

edit Where did you buy your lasts? And which model?

Edited October 12, 2014 by BespokeOnly

[electrathon]

As others have said, the uppers are great, the soles need work. Your stitching is great too.

[Anton Karpenko]

Your uppers look great, however, for heel building and the outsole you'll ideally want sole bend(9-10.2 iron) at around 5 to 5.5mm thick. Small single cut shoulder(5-9 iron) for the insole as it will flex a lilttle better than the bend will. Problem is that you probably have to buy the whole bend or the single bend from your source. Veg tan bend is like wood and will sand like wood. After some really fine grit sandpaper you can shelac(natural) the heel just like you would wood and sand it again with the finer 600 grit. Then move on to dying etc..

edit Where did you buy your lasts? And which model?

Thank you for your detail reply, next time i'll use your tips. Could you please also suggest me where i can get

sole bend(9-10.2 iron) at around 5 to 5.5mm

I bought this last in Ukraine in the regular store with some stuff for shoemakers. I don't really like the shape, but the price was so low (20$), that i decided to buy it for my shoemaking studies. On the last it says "levis b", but i'm not sure whether it's a company's name or just the name of the last model. And i assume this last was made in Turkey.

As others have said, the uppers are great, the soles need work. Your stitching is great too.

Thank you a lot.

[BespokeOnly]

Anton, I've bought my sole bends locally here in the USA before at Tandy leather, sometimes they don't have the thickness I need though. Some of their sole bends were from a tannery out of Mexico. Don't know about the quality compared to the "old world" UK or German stuff. You guys in Europe have a lot more access to certain stuff IMO; vice versa. It's practically impossible to walk in a store and buy lasts over here. Guy out of London can walk up the road, buy a set of shoe burnishing irons, Hirschkleber craft paste, French Saphir beeswax polish, and some hand carved wooden last all in the same trip. lol

At any rate, here's some links to what I usually buy so you can see some pictures.

http://www.theleatherguy.org/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=sole+bend

http://www.theleatherguy.org/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=shoulder

Remember you will need to take a flat faced hammer to compress the soles to make them last longer before you put them on. Take note of your grain orientation when you cut the soles out of the bend.

Happy shoe making

[Anton Karpenko]

You guys in Europe have a lot more access to certain stuff IMO; vice versa. It's practically impossible to walk in a store and buy lasts over here. Guy out of London can walk up the road, buy a set of shoe burnishing irons, Hirschkleber craft paste, French Saphir beeswax polish, and some hand carved wooden last all in the same trip. lol

Happy shoe making

Thank you a lot for your response.

By the way, i have contacted JR-Redenbach tannery in Germany, and today i received samples from them (a pair of full soles, some toe puffs and heel counters) and i must admit that the quality is the best i've ever seen before. If you need, i can provide the contacts maybe they do have some distributer in the US. I can also upload some pics if you want to see the items.