The Crispin Colloquy

It is my in Budapester Lloys - the famous.. ok it was a long time ago.. magazine. Enjoy! (and you can learn german in the same time - this was THE language for shoemakers in many countries in Europe for hundred years)

http://pesterlloyd.net/2009_49/49schuhe/49schuhe.html

I've been working out of my garage for a long time now. I've done OK but it was often cold and damp. Plus, my sewing machines and computer were way on the other side of the house. So I spent a lot of time back and forth.

Now I have partitioned off half the garage into a proper shop. I replaced the garage door with a window. It has heat and lights and fits my office and all my machines and even a comfy chair!

Hey, it doesn't take much to make me happy.

The shop is 22 x 10. Here are two shots from each long end.

If you look out the window, you can see my unhappy car. It's been banished from the garage and stares back inside with sad headlights.

I'm envious! Everything is so nicely organized. Currently I have my shoemaking space split between a spare bedroom, where I have a workbench, and part of the garage where have another workbench with the drill press and band saw. I also have an industrial sewing machine stored in the garage, but that's for tent making.

Nice Rick ....Sure is a lot more fun when you have good working conditions.

My work bench today. Not posed. Will someone clean up this mess so I can put something else down?

Rick,

Oh, heck, I see at least six inches clear space. You're organized!

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

Well heck, Rick.
You need a bigger bench!

I made these folding tools from software CAD then 3D printed them. They work as is, but I'd like to make molds then cast positive forms again as transparent acrylic, so I can see through the tools as I am about to press the fold down.

I wasn't really feeling using a stabbing awl to lay down a fold, seemed hard to produce a straight fold line or nice curve.

The two curved tools are for a quarter curve or facing of a boot.

Nick,

Those are neat. Did you get them done by a crowd like shapeways, or do you have access to a 3D printer of your own?

Sweet!

My work does have a 3D printer, so cost was about $1 per INCH, or $30 total for all three tools. Shapeways, Ponoko, etc is $.80 - $2.70+ per CENTEMETER, or about $150+ per tool.

Finally some warmth. Got the woodstove set up after 3 long months of illness. Going to move the Bradbury's and J&R into my living quarters which is the size of a small cabin. This will allow for winter work which has been practically no existent in a 2,000 sq. ft. shop which is 40 degrees on a good day.
I had forgotten what being warm was like! The shop cat is happy too.

Cheers,

JesseLee

It is with great pleasure that I present to the members of the Crispin Colloquy my recently completed work(shop). This project has taken up the majority of the last few months. My falling down garage has been transformed! Foundation, sills, roof, floor and siding all required attention, but I can finally let my carpenters hammer rest

Jon,
Nice shop. I see you have the traditional woodstove and bench. Good stuff.

Cheers,

JesseLee

Jon,

Great looking shop! I am jealous as I would guess many others are too. I wonder how long before that bare wall space will be covered up? Also more pictures would be very much enjoyed if you would not mind.

Geri

Thanks Jon,
that looks fantastic. Heaps of natural lighting too - excellent! And room to boot - pun intended : )
More power to y'awl
Tom.

Thanks guys, and thanks to whoever moved this post, I looked around and couldn't find the right spot.

Yes the light is amazing, what I miss for having space for shelves I make up for in light.

For me the woodstove is a must have, and actually it's the only heat in the place, I don't mind the cool mornings, by noon I'm in a t-shirt.

There are a couple of other photos that were taken, the photographer has posted on this blog

http://perrydyke.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoy.

Jon,

Nice looking shop indeed, I concur every bespoke shoe/boot shop deseve a wood stove,for two years or more at Fred's shop in Dundas i was usually the first person in the shop to light the wood stove before Tony arrives and that was early enough but i felt bad on few rare occasions when i was late to the shop in the morning and Tony at 86 years of age already there and made the fire,we finally agreed that i will always leave wood and kindle wood inside at the end of day incase i don't make it to the shop before Tony in the morning and that worked.

Nasser,

Interesting stories, such a small world, when I first started working with Philip, the first summer we took out the woodstove from that shop. Even then at sixteen I thought it was a bad idea. Now I try to leave out some kindling in the evening just to make my mornings a little easier.

Part two, although there is still work to do, my website has reached a point where I would like to introduce it to you all.

www.jongraybespoke.com

Finding this forum was part of the inspiration for me to move from making theatrical shoes into the world of making shoes for people to wear, and to go from the world of working for someone else to building my own business.

Jon

Jon,

Very classy shop and very classy webpage. I've admired your work since the day you first joined and posted a photo.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

Jon,

Beautiful work, and said again, I love the traditional look of your shop.

Cheers,

JesseLee

Jon,

I went back to to see the old shop some two years after Philip took over,There were cubicles in a place where once was an open space and a wood stove close to the bench where Tony and i make shoes/boots every early morning,the stove for sure made thread making easier by nicely warming the wax in winter cold days.

congratulation on opening your new shop,There is no feeling like it.

Nasser

It is contenting to know that some of us still have or were brought up with shop wood stoves. Mine is fired up as I write this, whilst making a pair of m1859 Light Artillery boots, of course to Confederate pattern, none the less, a very similar boot with differences that only the most astute of historians in 19th. century footwear could determine.
I still capture the essence of the old shop back in the hills of WVa with the coffee brewing and horsehide glue in the small iron double boiler, not to mention the warming of the beeswax and pine pitch resin hand wax. And of course, the traditional black and white cat, the boot and shoemakers constant companion, asleep by the stove.
I wonder what nostalgia there may be for the younger of the gentle crafte after they have spent 50 odd years in the Trade?

Cheers,

JesseLee