Tools of the Trade

[gshoes]

Thanks Georgene,
The throat that would except the work is is about 6" deep and only 1/2" tall. The jaws apply quite a bit of pressure and I think that it would leave obvious matks in the leather. I just tried it on about 1/4" of paper and I had a thought that it may be used in bookmaking maybe.
Geri

[chuck_deats]

Geri,

The iron tool is a saw vice. Back in the days when they used hand saws and sharpened them with a three cornered file. Keep looking and you will find a saw set to set the teeth after it is sharpened.

Chuck

[dw]

The wooden stick is a "rub stick." Used for burnishing and polishing leather outsoles, heels, and heel breasts, and sundry other "rubbing" tasks.

It is probably rosewood or something similar. I have several that I use extensively that I made myself. Some rosewood is a little too open grained to be really useful but it wouldn't have to be rosewood--it could be any hard, tight grained wood. Boxwood would be ideal but good luck finding a piece that large.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[gshoes]

Many thanks to Chuck and DW.
Another couple of mysteries solved. I have been trying to figure out the saw vice for a few years. Even my late father who was a woodworker did not know what it was when he gave it to me.
And the rub stick that I just aquired will be a great working tool.
I am so glad to be amidst smart folks.

Does anyone have a pic of a wooden peg awl that they would post? I did a search and found great examples of boots that were pegged but I would like to see what the tool looks like.
GERI

[dick_anderson]

Gimping tools. If anyone is interested in gimping tools that I haven't contacted please call or email me.

www.thornappleriverboots.com

[amuckart]

There is someone liquidating his late father's shoemaking workshop on the NZ local auction website at the moment. Unfortunately most of the useful machinery and the last collection has been snapped up by locals in the city he's in but one of the things he's selling is described as a "Footwear rubing down machine" It is at http://www.trademe.co.nz/Crafts/Other/auction-144526037.htm

Can anyone tell me how this device is used, whether or not it looks complete, and whether or not is is something worth picking up for someone looking at getting into making more complex/modern shoes in the next year or two?

Thanks.

[relferink]

Alasdair,

Snap that up if you have a chance, not a crucial tool in shoemaking but very useful. Price seems fair as well.
It looks complete to me, there really isn't much to it. It's used to rub down seams, mostly back seams in shoes and boots.
This is my unit, slightly different but has the same purpose, the wide bar is angled with the narrow side up and inside the upper that's rubbed down.

Rob

(Message edited by relferink on March 08, 2008)

[relferink]

Oops, wrong image

7204.jpg

[erickgeer]

I'm posting this here since I didn't get a response over in Shoe Machines.

I have bought a replacement sole trimmer for a Landis finisher, and the adjustable guides do not want to engage when the new blade is installed- it is fine with the old blade with the same numbers/identifications.

7414.jpg

I really need help with this one.

Thanks,

Erick

[dw]

Erick,

That's a lot newer than my machine...believe it or not, I've never seen one with the size numbers on it.

It's hard to give advice on this kind of thing if only because a person doesn't know what the other fellow has tried and what he knows. And of course, as in this instance, I am not familiar with that particular machine/setup.

But...I'll take a shot by asking the obvious...does the machine have some way of locking down the trimmer shaft? Mine has a chrome button on top and I have to push it down and manually rotate the trimmer until the button drops down and locks. Until I do that I can't adjust my guides either.

I might add that on my machine, setting the guides to work on a size 14 trimmer also works fine with other sizes--16, 18, 12, 10. You might just try it "as is."

So...not much help, I'm afraid...but maybe I got the ball rolling--there's bound to be someone out there that knows more about this than I do.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[large_shoemaker_at_large]

Erick
I broke my teeth on this machine and have a suttom 1250 same head less numbers. 1st look from the side and see if they truely line up with the movable fingers. If that's ok you may have to clean a bunch of old garb out of the back of the fingers. It's late and it would take a while to find my manueal. as DW said see if there is a shaft lock and also did your fingers dis engage from the iderler bearing? you might have to do a bit of a tear down to clean and make sure the yin and yang are ahlined. You could phone Landis Laerdie in Quebec for service hints just google landis .

Regards Brendan

[erickgeer]

Brendan,


"1st look from the side and see if they truly line up with the movable fingers"

Do you mean this as in turn it so different set of teeth line up? I just know that the old trimmer turned, and the guide clicked from thick to thin, but the blades were so dull they would burn soling instantly.

DW and Bredan,

There is no lock button, even though I remember reading about it in the manual a couple of years ago. To unscrew the trimmer, I have to grasp the blade with a strip of leather.

I was hoping not to disassemble the trimmer section since I'm no longer the owner. I have to figure out where I put the manual, but I don't remember it showing how to tear the trimmer down.

I'll just have to be careful.

Thanks guys

Still have to find some pipe wrenches.

Erick

[large_shoemaker_at_large]

Erick

I guess I should have said does the blade have the same number of teeth? also is the middle hole the same size? The #s might be right but???? If you can pop the old one in then I think it's the blade. Can you get the old one sharpened at a place that resharpens router bits My machine and the old 750 have a built in sharpener on the right side of the trimmer head with a couple guide posts and a slightly angled fine stone about 4 inch diameter. Does yours have one?
Keep us posted
regards Brendan

[dmcharg]

G'day all,
I've got some pictures of a shoemaker's work bench in a museum in Yackandandah, Victoria, Australia. The curators are interested if anyone has seen, used, etc, something like this themselves. It would certainly be very stable.

Now to see if I can get the pics to work.
Cheers
Duncan

7937.jpg

7938.jpg

7939.jpg

7940.jpg

[das]

Duncan,

Looks like a late 19th-early 20thc. cobbler's bench for shoe repair--the iron lasts were for rivetted work in all events. Not enough tools, per se, to offer more. Sorry.

[dmcharg]

Cheers Al,
the little 'pigeon holes' along the back have various rivets etc in them. I'm 400kms away from them and don't have a digital camera otherwise I'd load up with shots. They do have some tools.I found some obscure ones in near by displays and was able to reunite them . I had been invited to cataloge what I could after I'd done a shoemaking demo. there.
Cheers
Duncan

[das]

Dunan,

Glad to help.

[jesselee]

All,
Still in the process of shop restoration. I have run into a problem. My line finisher is a Progressive 1907, it has 3 babbitt bearings for the shaft. I have attached a new 3/4 HP motor to turn it and am getting no bite. It did turn a little bit, but too slow for work. The wheel on the motor is 5 inch. Any advice or suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?
JesseLee- electrically challenged

[dearbone]

Jesse Lee,

the motor on my old finisher is 1 hp,3/4 hp might not be enough,that might be the issue here and of course you need 220v of electricity.

Nasser

[jesselee]

Nasser,

Thanks for answering. My old line finisher had real bearings and ran on a 1/2 hp motor. Could be that the babbit bearings are too stiff. This beast is pretty light compared to average line finishers. The progressive was made mostly for the military with a sole stitcher mounted on one end, very compact, not sure of their standard motors or voltage.
Cheers,
JesseLee

[jesselee]

All,

As to that old line finisher, Progressive 1907! Well, we got a brand new 1 1/2 horsepower motor and fired her up! I swear it sounded like the end of the world and she was banging and clanging til we adjusted the bearings. Then something exploded so I pulled the plug! One of the danged wheels split and left a dent in the ceiling!
Well, all wheels were checked, all looked pretty good. So I checked again, tightened all the screws down, took the wheel odd and glued it up tight.
Poor old Joh Henry hit the ceiling, eyes bugged out, had to pry him free with a crowbar. He's already half way through my last bottle of single malt Scotch, but it's calming him down.
So, word of advise, when you retire for 10 years and let your equipment sit in a cellar! Be warned, anything can happen!
Now if I can only figure out the sole stitcher!!!!! Ha, I'll get an expert this time...

Cheers,
JesseLee

[marcell]

Some knows what tool is it? I got these photos from a Belgian guy, but I couldn't help - Hungarian makers don't use it.

8093.jpg

8094.jpg

[relferink]

Marcell,

I'm not sure what it is. Have not seen one of those before. At first glance I thought of a burnishing iron for a women's shoe, something without a welt to finish of a thinner leather sole but that would not explain the perpendicular extension to the handle. I thumbed through some books without success. Maybe one of the folks on their way to the HCC annual meeting knows. Hope they chime in when they come back.

Rob

[gshoes]

I don't know but I think it is something more on the order of a bookbinding tool. Like you would use on the spline while the book was clamped.??? That's my 2 cents.
Geri

[dw]

I think it is just a odd-ball beader. It would be pressed hard into a veg tan leather at the edge and rubbed back and forth (carefully) and a bead would be created...the pressure and the burnishing action would force leather up into the groove.

Don't take that to the bank but the "working end" looks almost identical to a wooden tool I have.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC