What's the best way to cut sole bend & finish the edges - Tools, Techniques & Tips

[monicaileana]

Hi Gigi, 

On 28/10/2016 at 6:19 PM, gigi said:

I was told this is useful tool for shoe repairers for cutting the excess of a sole when resoling boots and the skiver part is good for the heavy leather glued on the sole. If you are interested PM me: I bought it for leatherwork but seems is not good for that (the teeth marks the leather). Where are you located?

 

 

Hi Gigi, sorry for my late reply. I am actually in Australia so probably a bit too far to ship but thanks for the info!

[Northmount]

17 hours ago, monicaileana said:

Hi Gigi, 

Hi Gigi, sorry for my late reply. I am actually in Australia so probably a bit too far to ship but thanks for the info!

Since this is a world wide forum, it is a good idea to add your location to your profile.  Then you can get answers that are more applicable to your area and country.  There are several Australian members here that can help you.

Tom

[TinkerTailor]

6 hours ago, northmount said:

Since this is a world wide forum, it is a good idea to add your location to your profile.  Then you can get answers that are more applicable to your area and country.  There are several Australian members here that can help you.

Tom

Even a couple aussie machine dealers....

[johnv474]

For cutting and finishing sole leather, look to the people who do it most: shoemakers and shoe repair people.

 

Cutting is commonly done with a machine similar to that posted by gigi, but it is used to cut the soling oversized and then sand it down to size.  Typically this is done with belt sanders, following a sequence of 24 or 40 grit, then 80 or 100 grit, then 120-200 grit.

 

At that point, people differ on whether they use ink, dressing, or wax.  Ink, aka burnishing ink, is applied as a liquid with a dauber to the edge.  The ink is left to dry, and then it is burnished via a rotating horsehair wheel.  Others use sole & heel edge dressing, which is a bit thicker than ink, but applied and used the same way.  Still others use hard wax (Yankee Wax is a common one).  The wax is very hard as is applied to a rotating wheel, a "flap wheel" of leather.  The wax is then applied to the edge of the leather by holding the edge to the wheel.  Once applied, the edge is taken to the horsehair wheel to burnish/shine.

 

That is typically how they do it.  If you have to do the finishing by hand, then I would look at the edge ink or edge dressing, because they would be easier to shine up by hand than the very hard wax.  In any case it would be uncommon not to see sanding first.   If you don't have access to a belt sander, then a small sanding wheel in a Dremel or other rotary tool can do the job adequately.