Cutting iron sole leather

[craftsman827]

I want to make a pair of sandals.

What is the best way to cut, iron sole leather ?

For the bottoms & heel.

How about a hand held jig saw ?

[gdonovan]

Hi. This may or may not be useful to you but when I was making sandals I had a small hand cranked tin cuter bolted to my work bench. It had two circular blades that cut  simultaneously (one blade above and one below) and a gap within the tool (approx 14" long) so you could cut the round parts (toe and heel) all in one pass. It worked really well. After gluing and nailing the two soles together I ran the sandals through a grinding wheel to even up the edges then edged them to round out the edges.

Of course if your cutting the pieces by hand always use a sharp blade (dull blades are dangerous) and watch your fingers.

Never tried a jig saw or a scroll saw but you may want to try it on a scrap piece first, to see how it goes.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

Edited July 27, 2016 by gdonovan

[Sonydaze]

Cutting sole bend on a band saw works well, so I think a hand jig saw would work. Although it will likely take awhile.  Sand the edges to clean them up.

[rickybobby]

A Landis 5 in 1 is the best tool for that. Shoe repair shops and other leather shops will have them for cutting and skiving.  I know to many $$$$$ so...

Lay your pattern out so your soles are in line. A small table saw will cut that out. From there a small band saw will do the turns.

Use a 36 or 40 grit drum sander to finish your shape. 80 grit, then 220 or 280 grit to smooth our edge.

Rick