| Author | Message | ||
| Gary Cunningham (Gcunning)
New member Username: Gcunning Post Number: 102 Registered: 1-2004 |
Well, I finished a new pair of neoprene work (welding)boots. I guess I have had problems others have had or maybe not. Last night about ten o'clock I finally broke down and leveled one of my wheels. After a good while of irritation I finally got it. Then I changed all the papers and found many more problems, some still unresolved. If I could have picked my finisher up I would have thrown it out the window!!!!!! This afternoon I had put on a couple of layers of heels and whild pegging I broke the awl in the leather. I tried to dig it out and, don't ask how, ended up with needle nose pulling off the top layer of skin on my left fore finger. Yes, it is hard to type but I'm ticked right now and it doesn't matter. Well, the awl is still in there. I was ready to put heel caps on and I thought I would hit it one more time, I nicked the counter!! Not bad but it should not have happened. These are brown Bison and I was dyeing the heels and welt brown and using the square cotton dobber and getting brown in places I did not want and not in places I did. FRUSTRATING!!!! Now dyeing is something I have done several times so I pulled out a round dobber -everything went better. Oh, I forgot when I was cleaning them up a peg had "some how" been placed behind the welt yet by my grinding close in the shank area was where it could be seen. I fixed it where it was not noticeable. IT should have never happen. Anyway when I was dyeing I was trying to get in the area JUST behing the welt where the rand mets up and it ran on one of my stitches. I know have brown stitches. I did finish and put them on they fit like a glove and feel great. I do think I have the heels a hair low though and it bothers me so I well tear off the heel caps and put another layer on. I have not been beaten yet! I know its more of a rant but oh well. | ||
| Ben_nobody (Ben_nobody)
New member Username: Ben_nobody Post Number: 80 Registered: 4-2004 |
Gary, Well we all know whose house Murphy was at Saturday nite. Not a single person who posts here or ghosts here that ever built any kind of footwear has encountered the same things you have. Congratulations!!!! You are part of a very exclusive and dedicated membership. The most difficult part in this trade is Endeavoring To Persevere regardless of Murphy's presence at the most inconvenient times. Think of all you learned in a short span of time and wear those boots with your head high knowing it ain't pickin' daisies to build'em. Next time give a hollar first and some one will distract Murphy for ya . Ben Nobody | ||
| Lee Miller (Lee_miller)
New member Username: Lee_miller Post Number: 81 Registered: 1-2004 |
Gary, I've had a lot of those kind of days where it seems like everything you do goes wrong. Eventually, your movements become a little bit smoother, and you find that you make a lot less mistakes like that. The main thing is that you hang in there, and keep at it, and like anything else things will go better. Lee | ||
| Christopher M Williamson (Ttex)
New member Username: Ttex Post Number: 91 Registered: 1-2004 |
Gary I know how you feel, keep the faith. I just finished a pair that drove me crazy! They should have been a breeze, but silly mistakes made things difficult. Here's the advise of someone who knows. When making a pair of winter boots with lambs wool linning remember to clip/cut off more of the wool than you think you need to! if you you like a clean feather line it helps. A lot! Yesterday-one pissed off Texan Today- doing better You are not alone CW | ||
| Gary Cunningham (Gcunning)
New member Username: Gcunning Post Number: 103 Registered: 1-2004 |
Thanks for all the support on and off the forum. The biggist problem is I can see mistakes and know how to fix them yet my hands don't do what my mind tells me. At school I can show my students how to do something easier, faster, better with no problem. I see mistakes that they don't see and it frustrates me that I can't do what is necessary. Tex, Brian and I have discussed this but since I don't get to be in the shop regular it is hard to remember certain steps. I'm in this for the long haul I get to hoping it will be a shorter trip  | ||
| Christopher M Williamson (Ttex)
New member Username: Ttex Post Number: 92 Registered: 1-2004 |
Hello everybody I thought I would write a greeting from a Happy Texan. The last few months have been chaotic but worth the effort. We moved (and everything that goes along with that) and I started working for and learning from a new master. I was lucky to have the master I had for the cobbler’s part of my training and now I have found a new master for the next part of my training that is just as good as John( old master) Jakob and Sandra are teaching me things that would not be taught at the last last orthopedic maker I worked for. Just the fact that Jakob keeps his hand in every part of the production process is a great plus. I never know what he will be doing when I go to his work shop area. Any hoo, some of the things that are different here as compared to the last are: We pin much tighter here. At the last place they used the vacume made plastic models to check the last is the right shape compared to the customers foot. At Jacob's we start by making the orthotics from cork and then pin and glue the shoe with just the heel counter and insole in it. The customer then tries it. The cool thing is that the uppers are put through the same process (in theory ) as the crimping board just on the last. after the shoe is approved We take them apart and assemble it with the rest of the parts and it is pinned tightly again, which takes even more stretch out of the uppers. I have seen some of the shoes made this way that are 20 or 30? yrs. old and they are still going strong. Another one of the the big differences is the way the counter is made and handled. The grain is not just scraped, it is removed to open the counter. The featherline is not shived as much to add strength. Once pinned the counter is gently beat down to a thinner and much more firm support. Hirchklaber(sorry about the spelling!) is used in a different way. At the last shop it was more to hold the counter in place while pinning. Here the idea is that the open counter obsorbs it and is beaten down to a stronger counter. By the way that funny wooden tool that I posted is great for smoothing out the counter after all the beating. There is much more but my finger are tired from all this writing. I’m not used to sitting at the computer right now, moving building and painting.....etc. I found a place to learn what I wanted to learn so I really can become a genuine shoemaker and some day a Bootmaking. A Happy and Thankful Texan Ya’ll have a nice Sunday CW | ||
| Gary Cunningham (Gcunning)
New member Username: Gcunning Post Number: 123 Registered: 1-2004 |
I know nobody cares but I feel I just got a monkey off my back. It's like the big monster did not eat me. THE SOLE STITCHER! I stitched a pair with no help of any kind for the first time. It wasn't a great job but I felt as excited as a kid a Christmas time. | ||
| Brian C. Thomas (Brian_c_thomas)
New member Username: Brian_c_thomas Post Number: 211 Registered: 1-2004 |
Gary, congratulations, after you have stitched hundred of pairs ˝ soles you will fell more comfortable, and still nervous when stitching a new boot. “Landis G’s for the Brand” Brian C. Thomas | ||
| Paul Opperman (Luckyduck)
New member Username: Luckyduck Post Number: 11 Registered: 3-2007 |
Hey, I am going to glom onto this thread to show where I am at and ask a couple questions. Here is the type of hiking boot I am trying to make. These were for my sweety and they actually fit this time! They are semi-stitch down with the lining cemented to the insole and the outer turned out and stitched down with the curved needle.  So here is my big question. 1. If using a sewn in counter on this style of boot, would you sew it only to the lining, or put on a counter cover and sew it like a regular western boot? The glued in counter gave less than satisfactory results and left the lining a bit wrinkly. Thanks for the opinions. Paul | ||
| Lee Miller (Lee_miller)
New member Username: Lee_miller Post Number: 339 Registered: 1-2004 |
Paul, When I worked with Randy Merrill in Utah, we sewed the counter to the lining only. That would be the way that I would do it. Lee | ||
| Chad Little (Chad)
New member Username: Chad Post Number: 95 Registered: 2-2007 |
Paul, You could also pocket the counter. I do this on all my packers, hikers and zipper boots. This allows for seamless linings on the inside. The counter is glued in and cannot go anywhere!! Chad | ||
| Chad Little (Chad)
New member Username: Chad Post Number: 96 Registered: 2-2007 |
Sorry Paul, I realize you tried the pocket counter. I know those wrinkles you speak of as I have had them too. What did you use for lining?? I have a trick for this if you need it. Chad | ||
| Paul Opperman (Luckyduck)
New member Username: Luckyduck Post Number: 12 Registered: 3-2007 |
Chad, I have used pig (4 tries), 3.5oz cow of 3 different tannages. One was sort of shiny and called lining leather (2 tries). One was called deertan (1 try) and is not shiny. Lastly I tried split ( 1 try). They were all consistent and got the same sort of wrinkles in the same place just above the counter and around to the front of the ankle. In looking at some Italian hiking boots I have, the factory ones have the same wrinkle in the same spot! That made me feel better about it. Update: Made a single boot from scraps the last couple days with the lining sewn to the counter. I like that method a lot better than glued in as everything seems more positively located and I don't have to use such stinky glue to hold it all together. I'd be interested in the trick to get wrid of the wrinkles, though. Paul | ||
| Chad Little (Chad)
New member Username: Chad Post Number: 99 Registered: 2-2007 |
Paul, here are some pics of the way that I do it!! I cut the heel cup into my pattern (1) and hand sew through the holes with flat sinew. I then sew my counter cover/spine over that (2) and viola, it translates the heel cup (3)into the pattern. The lining however is seamless and lays flat inside (4)! Hope this makes sense! Chad (1)  (2)  (3)  (4)  | ||
| Paul Opperman (Luckyduck)
New member Username: Luckyduck Post Number: 13 Registered: 3-2007 |
Hey Chad, Thanks for the tutorial. My steps are/were basically the same, but my results are not so good. Mine all looked ok right up until lasting and then it got all wanky on me and the "lining lays flat inside" part didn't work so good. Maybe it is more skill than method? I have had luck with shoes doing the lining this way, but no love on the boots. Oh well, I guess that is why we all end up doing it a bit differently. Thanks again. Paul | ||
| Joe Wagg (Joe) New member Username: Joe Post Number: 4 Registered: 3-2009 |
Paul, try keeping things bent to approximately final shape as you put the lining in place, it helps keep the wrinkles out. Joe |