Tools of the Trade

[jake]

Tom & Ed,

Right you are Fellers!

Tom, that's news to me about the scrolling over the pic. Did ya know before hand what it was? And yes they do make them in different radii. I have a brand new one I purchased from George Barnsley & Sons. Don't know where you would buy one now-a-days.

Ed, I've been using the heel shave for shaping my ground seats for years, that's why I have this tool on hand. But the other day I got to wondering if this rascal could take down our heel lifts to grade. I usually step over to the finisher for that operation. We'll see how it works.

[dw]

Jake, Ed, Tom, et al,

I don't use a heel shave so...take it for what it's worth. My teacher, Mike Ives, built his heel bases one layer at a time. He used a heel shave to level each layer before adding the next. I'm close enough to my finisher and like the control and the results well enough that I never mastered leveling with the heel shave. Might very well be a good skill to have if the power ever went out. Heavily radiused heel shaves were also used to shape the side of "military" heels, "cuban" heels "Louis" heels, etc.. Some of the radiui were shaped specifically for those kinds of heels.

Sharpening one of those blades, and *keeping* it sharp, on the Barnsley (I had/have one, as well) is a skill all by itself.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

frommer@bootmaker.com
http://www.bootmaker.com

"Little Jack Dandiprat, in a white petticoat,
The longer he lives the shorter he grows."

[jake]

Fellers,

The electricity does go out quite often here. I live so far back in the woods, we don't get the Grand Old Opry till Monday night.

But I did some research on the web, and I guess a spokeshave could do the very same thing. They have flat, convex, and concave profiles.

We also have a picture on our Forum that shows a Texas bootmaker using the heel shave in the manner D.W. was describing. http://www.thehcc.org/texasphotos2.htm

[dw]

Jake,

After spening hours and hours downloading and preparing those photos to upload and post on the HCC site...I'd clean forgot about them.

Good on you!


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

frommer@bootmaker.com
http://www.bootmaker.com

"Little Jack Dandiprat, in a white petticoat,
The longer he lives the shorter he grows."

[mekhaus]

Recently I decided to make a tool that would use a standard awl from a Landis machine. Here are 2 views of my first attempt at "awl pliers". Surely others have tried something like this in the past and I’d be interested in knowing peoples thoughts and experiences.

By the way, I had a heck of time setting the square shank into the pliers. This tool was modified from a pair of fencing pliers. Also, the position of the needle was changed slightly from the position shown in the photo. At any
rate, here they are.

2997.jpg

[dw]

Mike,

OK...I'm curious...what would you use this tool for and how?

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

frommer@bootmaker.com
http://www.bootmaker.com

"Little Jack Dandiprat, in a white petticoat,
The longer he lives the shorter he grows."

[jake]

Mike,

Well I be! Ain't never seen such an animal! Good for you! Thanks for sharing it with us! By the way, how do you like it?

Dick? Are you watching? I want one! Get'er Done!

[mekhaus]

Hello:

I should warn everyone that the prototype shown in my
earlier posting was welded this afternoon and made yesterday
afternoon. Not much experience using them yet, but I
did start to practicing to build some confidence.
It seems to work smoothly once the needle/awl is sufficiently
adjusted.

Motivation: I'd like to avoid needing a Landis stitcher,
and dread using an awl to punch the outer sole for stitching.

Here is how I plan to use the "awl pliers".

1- With dividers, mark the stitches on the welt.
2- With sole down, align curved awl with marked point on welt.
3- pull up on handle to force awl through sole to prework
every stitch hole. The horizontal handle shown in photo
serves no function anymore, but I didn't have the guts
to remove it ... yet.

Basically this is what I did to make them.

1- figure out the radius required for the curved awl to travel
tangentially on a circle.
2- drill hole through the head of a pair of fencing pliers at the correct
distance from the pliers pivot as prescribed by radius from step 1.
3- The bolt that holds the awl has a hole drilled through it
that is hidden by the bolt head. This is where the trickiness
of setting the awl comes into play. These Landis awls are
square. More precisely, diamond shaped. I spent most of the effort keeping
the awl "true" so that it would punch the hole correctly.

4- Then I attached a base for mounting the pliers in a vise and a platform for
for the boot to rest on. I still need to put some leather on the platform
so as to not mare the bottoms.

I am including a picture of what the pliers sort of looked like before
the mad grinder got to work on them. Hope that helps with visualizing.

2999.jpg

Mike

[jake]

Mike,

Boy! I'm familiar with those rascals there! Repairing and building fence is a full time occupation around here.

Thanks once again for sharing your creativity.

[jpsboots]

Mike:
Landis did make a round awl..maybe this would work better for you.


JP

[mekhaus]

Jake, no need to thank me for sharing, people on
this group are truly generous with info.
Just trying to give some back.

As for setting that needle: I will look for
the round Landis needle. A round awl should
help alot. Thanks JP.

In the future I might resort to making a custom
bolt for clamping the awl, but I was trying to
keep it as basic as possible. Using only a grinder, drill press, hacksaw and welder.

Mike

[mekhaus]

Here's a photo of some punched leather. Didn't
premark ... just eyeballed it. 5/16" sole bend.

3003.jpg

Mike

[dw]

Erick,

As they say in the Guiness commercial--brilliant!...brilliant!...brilliant!

A bug in your ear, though--no need to dread the stitching awl.

I'm pretty well versed with the curved needle stitcher and not hardly at all with the stitching awl. But I have stitched a boot sole, by hand, on my knee, with square awl and nylon bristles. As long as the soling leather (and the stuff I used was pretty stiff) is tempered, it's no biggie. Doesn't even take as long as you might think.

Anyway...just a thought...

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

frommer@bootmaker.com
http://www.bootmaker.com

"Little Jack Dandiprat, in a white petticoat,
The longer he lives the shorter he grows."

[dw]

Erick,

Oops! Sorry, I also meant to say "if I can do it, anyone can" somewhere in there.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

frommer@bootmaker.com
http://www.bootmaker.com

"Little Jack Dandiprat, in a white petticoat,
The longer he lives the shorter he grows."

[erickgeer]

?

I've been following Mikes posts with his fabrication, it's very cool, I have wondered if something like his would work. How dificult would it be to have someone mill a curved groove for the square awl to sit in? Is it difficult pull the awl back out of the hole?

DW,
So, are you saying it's easier to awl through tempered leather? Do you mean it is still slightly damp on the inside, or it has been wet , formed and then dried?

Sort of related, I have been looking at various bench machines available, and I have found a Bench top Groover:

http://www.shoesystemsplus.com/ssc/newmachines/bench/groover.html

I can't tell if it makes a vertical groove, or a horizontal slit to hide the outsole stitch.
AND
I found an old pair of christianson Shank lasters on ebay, how do those work?

Erick

[dw]

Erick,

Hoo boy! Did I mess up! I addressed both my previous posts to "Erick" (that could be you) when I meant to address them to Mike. Oh well, "it all goes down the same pipe," as my old pap used to say.

Yes...by tempered I mean wet and allowed to dry just back tot he original colour--so that there is till some moisture content and softness tot he leather.

And if you found a pair of Christianson's on Ebay and they are in good shape...snatch those puppies up and I mean now! They're sweet!

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

frommer@bootmaker.com
http://www.bootmaker.com

"Little Jack Dandiprat, in a white petticoat,
The longer he lives the shorter he grows."

[tomo]

Mike that's way clever!
Re: curved needles/awls, I've seen heeps on
the Proleptic site. www.proleptic.net under 'The Big Tool Sale.'

Hope this is OK to mention here DW? The right thread to post into I mean-stuff for sale.

More power to y'awl.
T

[mekhaus]

Well this tool seems to be functioning, but
the seating of the needle is still quite the
trick. I consider this very much a prototype.
Not even a beta. In fact, I was going to
hold off with my original posting until I got
it just right. Then it occurred to me ... why?
Besides using it, I'm hoping to rethink this
needle problem. The trick in my mind is to
keep it simple and not require much machine work.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Mike

[Chuck Deats]

Visit with Len Boden---There are many great people on this forum. Recently had the privilege of meeting one of them. I am a beginning boot maker who is just now figuring out which end of an awl to point. After asking some questions on the forum, Len sent an answer and invited me out to his shop in Merkel, Texas. Talk about an education; Sometimes I thought I was drinking from a fire hose. Len is building a new shop and just getting set up again. He could demonstrate every machine I had ever read about and did not understand what they did. The clicker scared me to death. The crimping machine was fascinating. Jobs that take me an hour, he did in minutes, sometimes seconds.

Len is a true professional. His major concern was producing a quality traditional boot as efficiently as possible. He also figures we have learned about as much about bootmaking in the last hundred years as they did in the first hundred years. (What is rabbitskin glue??) If there is a better material or technique, he will use it. His lining leather is beautiful and heavier than I had been using for vamps. I thought I had seen good sole bends. You could drive nails with the stuff he is using. His inseaming thread could be used to rope a calf. His boots are beautiful and I think the word “Stout” also fits. You could wear them in the cow lot all week then shine them up for Saturday night, or wear them in the office all week and work the cow lot on Saturday. A nice pair of finished boots were sitting on a bench. Len said, “I just made too many mistakes on those, so I started over”. I think I found one small mistake.

Visiting with Len was a pleasure. He was part of the history of the Mercer and Leddy bootmakers. His wife, Saundra, is a gracious Texas lady. The real pleasure was meeting the foreman who runs the place. Regan is a beautiful girl about four years old and is the world’s expert on Ladybugs and their houses.

Len, Thank You.

[dw]

About a year ago, I made an awl haft out of tulipwood. That was a year ago and I was even greener making awl hafts than I am now, but it turned out absolutely gorgeous. But when I went to put in an awl--a German Sickle awl--the tang of the awl snapped off inside the ferrule. Now relatively speaking those ferrules are a big part of the cost of making an awl haft, and I decided I couldn't afford to lose the ferrule. So I cut the ferrule off the handle and bored it out to clear if for another handle somewhere down the line. Chalk up the tulipwood to experience.

The cut handle sat on my workbench as a reminder of the fiasco for all this time. Last week i got to looking as some broken screw awls and got a bright idea...salvage the hardware from the screw awl and the haft from the ruined tulipwood handle. And the results are in:

3065.jpg

this second photo shows the haft with one of Dick's custom sewing awls and a rubber washer/spacer between the ferrule and the wood to keep dirt out.

3066.jpg

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[tomo]

Morning DW,
I can see why you'd be annoyed at having to turf it. It's a nice looking awl.
Why'd the other awl bust? Was it just age? I know sometimes they get brittle with age, and they can work harden too.
With those sickle shaped awls I would imagine that there's more lateral strain on the blade compaired to a conventional curved awl.
Anyway you'd feel good 'bout the reserection.

More power to y'awl - but not 'til it's been road tested!
T.

[jake]

Dee-Dubb,

Absolutely Gorgeous! I see why you turn wood!

Oh yeah, pretty nice looking awl too!

[dw]

Tom,

Thanks. Pretty good for all salvage, eh? Except the awl itself that is.

The sickle awl seemed to be over tempered in the tang. I had used the awl in a screw type handle for some time ...off and on...no problem. But tulipwoood is a member of the rosewood family and quite hard. My pilot hole may have been too small, I dunno. But I drove the awl in and it broke right at the tip. I thought it just hadn't seated in the hard wood. So I tried to drive it in again, and it broke again. That's when I noticed.

The first sign something's wrong is always that sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach.

I use a sickle awl pretty regular now. Mounted in a non-screw type haft, so who knows, could just have been massive operator failure.


Jake,

I wish I had started doing this thirty years ago---my whole bench would be filled with semi-precious tools!

BTW, I got to thinking...it may have been closer to two years ago. It was before the move to the new shop and we've been here over a year now. Time flies when you're having fun!



Tight Stitches
DWII--Member HCC

[erickgeer]

This question may be vague, but here goes...

I have a friend who is going to Italy, and will be near a good shoemaking/repairing suppler. She has asked me to let her know of any tools that I would like her to look for, but I don't know where to start! Are there tools that would be known under different names, such as rhan files and knives? Are ther tools that may be easy to come by there, versus here?

I know I'm kind of fishing here, but any recomendations or hints would be appreciated.

Thnaks,
Erick

[shoestring]

Question,
What is the name of that tool displayed at the top of the "topics" page and how is it used and do they come in a right hand/left hand or one fit's all.Thanks Ed