Historic techniques and materials

[das]

Martn,

Yes Fig. 24, pp. 235. One at top is one I made to better illustrate, one below is antique and rather too dark to see much detail.

[das]

DW,

You've got the sequence more or less: stitch the outsole to the welt, heel breast to heel breast. In the heel-seat the outsole may be "stitched" through the rolled edge of the rand (Figs. 41 & 39A,pp. 244), or "blind" (hidden down behind the folded edge of the rand (Fig. 40, pp. 244, 43A & 45, pp.245). In this case ("blind' rand), you loop the heel awl behind each stitch holding the rand to the shoe, and beat the rand up afterwards to hide it all. Color? No issue. In the days of rands (1770s-1800s) the uppers were black (different in 17thc, but that's another can of worms).

[dw]

DW,

You've got the sequence more or less: stitch the outsole to the welt, heel breast to heel breast. In the heel-seat the outsole may be "stitched" through the rolled edge of the rand (Figs. 41 & 39A,pp. 244), or "blind" (hidden down behind the folded edge of the rand (Fig. 40, pp. 244, 43A & 45, pp.245). In this case ("blind' rand), you loop the heel awl behind each stitch holding the rand to the shoe, and beat the rand up afterwards to hide it all. Color? No issue. In the days of rands (1770s-1800s) the uppers were black (different in 17thc, but that's another can of worms).

Thank you...that's kind of what I thought. I am a bit surprised that the rand would be stitched straight down...although I think you have mentioned that before and even described a tool that was used to fray and break up the threads that would be exposed when the heel was trimmed and shaped.

Frankly, I can't get my head around either the exposed thread or the rand being beat up around the heel of the shoe. How would you keep that heel seat / rand level?

And wouldn't trimming / shaping the heel itself tend to cut through the folded edge of the rand? Isn't that how the straight down stitches got exposed?

I wish I could see some really, really exemplary work of this nature to give me a sense of whether there was any finesse or control expected...or achieved.

[martin]

I wish I could see some really, really exemplary work of this nature to give me a sense of whether there was any finesse or control expected...or achieved.

Yes, pictures would be great! I think you rather lost me :-(
Tried to find some among the great pictures that Colonial Williamsburg is posting on Facebook, but only found pictures of way before that stepp or of more or less finished shoes so far.

Cheers,
Martin

[das]

Thank you...that's kind of what I thought. I am a bit surprised that the rand would be stitched straight down...although I think you have mentioned that before and even described a tool that was used to fray and break up the threads that would be exposed when the heel was trimmed and shaped.

That tool is the seat-breaker (see Salaman), designed to shred the rand stitches (only on "stitched" rands w/exposed threads) so they could be waxed and ironed smooth, IOW invisible. I never understood the rational there either, and never tried it--it's more a 19thc thing than 18thc--but Devlin discusses if you want more. The seat-breaker obviously was repurposed as just a coarse rasp for the heel seat, as they show up well into the 20thc long after rands were forgotten.

Frankly, I can't get my head around either the exposed thread or the rand being beat up around the heel of the shoe. How would you keep that heel seat / rand level?

Only the "stitched" rand has exposed stitches, the "blind" rand they are concealed down in the crevice at the base of the quarters. The rand is hammered square up the sides while still damp, and level on the bottom before the outsole goes on--no issues. I dress mine with a rasp to get it good and square before laying the sole on.

And wouldn't trimming / shaping the heel itself tend to cut through the folded edge of the rand? Isn't that how the straight down stitches got exposed?

Nope. With either "stitched" or "blind" rands, they are rasped, and squared-up nice and neat before sole laying and stitching--the heel is built and trimmed just up to the rand, using the rand as the guide. Cutting into or nicking the rand while heel-trimming would be a disaster, especially a "stitched" rand. This takes more skill, like I said above.

I wish I could see some really, really exemplary work of this nature to give me a sense of whether there was any finesse or control expected...or achieved.

You probably need look no further than that prize-work Wellington posted elsewhere here, black footing, green/tan leg. I'll try to post some pix too.

[martin]

Hello!

Another question, if I may, to see if I understand the procedure for this type of shoe correctly as per the text in Garsault.

The flawed rand aside, I would now continue to tack on the wedge piece (it's in the wrong place in the pics below, sorry), then tack, glue and sew on the outsole (in one piece, see pic, not as described in Garsault as a 2 piece affair) first from heel breast to heel breast if I understand Garsault correctly. Then the area around the heel is sewn on as well, now to the rand of course (p.73, "You then sew on this whole assemblage by piercing ...).

After that the heel is built up with heel lifts which are first tacked on with a nail. Next the heel lifts are also sewn on, going through all layers up to and including the rand (p.73 "Cut a channel in the top piece ... ) - i.e. there are now two seams going through the rand, correct?. After that the heel lifts are pegged on as well.

Is this typical with the originals? What little I have come across so far in my own research showed only pegging of the heel lifts, but no sewing through all the layers up to the rand.

Thanks,
Martin

[dw]

Hello!

The flawed rand aside, I would now continue to tack on the wedge piece (it's in the wrong place in the pics below, sorry),

Why do you need a wedge?

After that the heel is built up with heel lifts which are first tacked on with a nail.

Why do you need nails?

[martin]

Why do you need a wedge?
Why do you need nails?

I guess I have to forward your question to our esteemed friend, Mr. Garsault :D
I'm trying to follow the description of building a leather heel as laid out in Al's translation and there it's part of the process. My impression from my other research is that the heel lifts at least were only pegged on. Not sure about the sole being sewn to the rand or only as far as the welt extends. I'd like to understand the process at the time (18th cent.), what was actually common or not (I know there's no single or simple answer to that!)
The wedge seems to make sense at least with the last I carved as it curves up a bit at the heel area.

Cheers,
Martin

[das]

Martin,

First, if you check Garsault's illustration "the wedge" (lift) (Fig. 1, pp. 72) was used on higher stacked heels than you appear to be making. Higher heels create what today is called "wedge angle", a feature that is disliked in principle, but in the 18thc not no much. The first lift, is the "split-lift"(B2, pp. 73), to level the convexity of the outsole so the subsequent lifts will build-up plumb and level. If you're brave, you can sew the entire heel to the rand in one go, the stitches emerging in a channel in the top-piece. But 18thc leather tended to be thinner than what we use today (the cattle didn't grown so big). I'd hate to try and sew a 4+ lift heel in modern hard-rolled 8-9 iron soling. Sure, you can sew just the outsole and split lift through the rand, then peg on the middle lifts and top-piece.

You must remember, Garsault probably only interviewed workers at M. Soude's shop (pp.8), so the techniques presented are just a tiny snapshot from one Paris shop. Techniques varied city to city, and certainly country to country, so this is not on-size-fits-all, it's just an exceptional record of the sources Garsault recorded.

[das]

DW,

As I wrote to Martin, the "wedge lift" (see Garsault's own explanation) introduces what they felt in those days to be needed "wedge angel", so the finished heel would sit level.

In general when Garsault speaks of "nails" or "tacks" (see pp. 48, L & i, and illus. on pp. 50) he's referring to temporary tacks, like lasting-tacks, used to pin pieces in place until they're sewn, stitched, or pegged. Remember, these guys were using paste (think Hirschklebber) to stick things, not AP cement, so there was a lot of temporary tacking of things in place so you could keep rolling without waiting for paste to dry. Dampen a heel lift; paste it in place pinned with two tacksin the middle and jump right onto pegging, then pull the two tacks and repeat for the next lifts. Same with outsoles: dampen, smear with paste, tack them in a few spots to hold in place, and start stitching. Pull out the tacks when done and close the tack-holes with the "shoe stamp", et viola :old&wise:

[das]

Martin,

As to what parts of the heel are sewed, versus what's pegged, your main guide is going to be the archaeological example you are copying. There's a lot of variation. Most of the shoes I've studied are US/UK--in Germany it could have been very different. I must say, however, the majority if 18thc heels I've seen were sewn and pegged, both, with the top-piece only pegged because it wears out and gets replaced. Many example were heavily repaired, too, so you may be looking at a re-built heel some lazy cobbler only quickly pegged-on, and didn't bother to sew.

Oh, and no, there's only one bit of sewing through the rand down into the heel stack, not two.

[martin]

Hello Al,

thanks for your answers and clarifications! Looking at the sole leather I have I suppose I'll put bravery aside for my first try and go with pegging the lifts and top piece :-P
It's also my thinking that there must have been numerous ways and traditions as to how these shoes where built. But I wanted to make sure to correctly understand the one way described in Garsault as I find that if you have a proper understanding of one method it is easier to come to grips with others, contemporary ones, as you come across them. Thanks for your patiently helping me getting there, it's a great journey overall!

Best,
Martin

[das]

Martin,

Glad to help. The more archaeological shoes you study and draw in detail, the more variations you'll record. You're "period correct" only sewing the outsole and split lift to the rand, and pegging the rest. But when you get brave, get some softer, thinner, heel lifts and try sewing the whole stack, then peg-on a thicker top-piece, and charge more for it

[martin]

Took a bit again, but finally got around to do the outsole and the heel. Looks like a real shoe now, I guess one could say :-) Too bad I'm not a pirate with a wooden leg, now I'll have to do a 2nd one ...
Thanks once more for all the help, everone!

[martin]

And finally finished them with a variation of the black ball recipe described in Colonial Williamsburg's blog. In my case I used beef suet and lamp black. In the shot of the vamp from above the before (left side) and after (right side) can be seen.

Again, many thanks for all the tips and feedback! Looking forward to my next try :-)

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Cheers,
Martin

[das]

Martin,

Nice end result. The reason hard sheep tallow from around the kidney's was preferred is, it won't go rancid like beef or other animal fats. Try to find some from a butcher, render and strain it yourself. It's very "clean" to handle and smells nice.

[martin]

Yes, I need to try and find some, I'll ask our local butcher if they can provide some, it doesn't seem especially easy to obtain here.

[kps1ny]

Hi all,

Some questions about medieval rands, which I'm trying to incorporate for the first time, into a pair of 14th-century turnshoes:

1) Are they cut as a straight piece of leather and then bent around the sole as the upper is attached to it, or are they cut to follow the sole?

2) What thickness of leather is used for them? (I use 4-5 oz. for uppers and 9-10 oz. for soles.)

3) Archaeological sources say they are triangular in cross-section, however it's not clear to me whether they are cut that way, or whether end up that way from less compression on the outside and more on the inside. If they are cut that way, are they cut on one side only, or on both to get the triangular shape? And what are good ways to achieve that angle, skiving?

Thanks for any advice on these. I'm new to CC and tried searching but to no avail.

-Ken

[das]

My forte is early-modern historical footwear (late 1500s-1800), but Marc Carlson tells me that while you can skive the welt to a triangular cross section, he finds that carefully beating one side of the strip down, leaves the grain stronger. It is also possible that they compressed to the triangular shape with use. There is insufficient information. In my experience, again in making later historical footwear, thinning by hammering (compression) in conjunction with removing (some) leather by skiving, yields better results than skiving away material alone. As far as angles--experiment. I have no idea of what knives you're using to offer much on that, except keep them as sharp as a scalpel, stropped frequently on leather strop with jewelers' rouge for best results.

As to 1), my best guess is medieval rands were straight strips bent to follow, not cut out in the shape of the sole; 2) I've never seen medieval archaeological soles as thick as 9-10oz., so you might be going a bit too thick for ease of making. Medieval leather was very dense, but not as thick as modern leathers. Feed-lot and hormone-fed cattle these days produce a very thick but not very dense hide.

[kps1ny]

Hi DAS, thanks for this reply. Hammering sounds plausible and I'll likely give that a try. I've made over a dozen pairs with 9-10 oz. soles and haven't had trouble either sewing or turning them with that thickness. It's interesting to hear about about the density differences, something I'd not thought of before.

-Ken

[das]

Glad the 9-10oz. works for you. Good luck. Main problem for all us historical shoemakers is finding modern leathers that work and behave like the old leathers.

[kps1ny]

Quick questions about edging cords in medieval shoes: of what were they made (hemp?) and what size are they (gauge, ply)? Specifically, I'm interested in the type of cord used in poulaines as described and illustrated in Grew and de Neergaard's _Shoes and Pattens_ book on page 70, as well as a lead to a place to buy something suitable for use in making them. -Ken

[SharonKudrle]

Getting accurate repro lasts and heels is always a problem.

I have been looking for a 3D scanner to scan original lasts and have them reproduced preferably in wood at a reasonable cost. Minke last company can do the scanning if you send them a last, and they recently put a link on their website about 3D scanning a foot for orthopedic footware to do a custom last. https://www.minke.de/en/produkte/scan-n-last.html The page is in German, but most computers will generate a 'translate' pop up box. It might be a great option.

Has anyone tried some of the handheld scanners? The entry level price seems to be about $200 or I have read that you can scan with a smartphone but accuracy seems to be sacrificed. Local Makers spaces seem to be short on 3D scanners and although the local libraries can print objects, they can't scan objects.

Scanning a modern last would be illegal, but I think 100 years plus if you own the last would be okay. Ownership or piracy of the scan and enforcement of ownership rights is an issue, but that sort of thing always is regardless of the medium.

I suggested to the HCC Board that the HCC consider hosting a free to download 3D last scan library online, and I am wondering how discussions on that proposal are progressing?
Sincerely,
Sharon Kudrle

[PhilipB1]

Not sure if this is posted in the right place. I wanted to ask if anyone can tell me how the bottom end of shoes like the ones pictured are constructed. They are from around 1790, so I assume they would be stitched. How are the uppers attached to the insole and how is the outsole attached? I'm not even sure if they have a welt. But they look pretty typical of the period from what I can see on the internet and in June Swann's book.
Thanks

1790 Red Shoes.jpg