miscellaneous tips, advice, and cautions

[romango]

Very interesting to watch the Allen Edmonds and then the Thom McAn Factory videos. You can really see the older (or less sophisticated) machinery in the Thom McAn.

[kemosabi]

Thanks for sharing. The Thom McAn videos were entertaining to watch as I haven't seen the Goodyear/Gemmed process in so much detail before.

Lots of scary machines in there. That insole trimmer in vid-1 looks like it could remove your fingers without even slowing down!

Those ladies in the closing room can really get the job done. Sometime, I'll have to try sewing straight off the first piece onto the next. Thank goodness when I sew, I don't have a supervisor standing over my shoulder asking how many I've finished in the last hour.

-Nat

[kemosabi]

Is it lacquer that they're spraying on at the end of vid-2?

-Nat

[kemosabi]

Maybe you guys have seen this already, but I just ran across a good vid from the Lucchese boot factory.

http://www.lucchese.com/legend_video.php

This one also shows spraying the boots as one of the last finishing steps... Guess that proves the technique is not limited to vintage processes.

Do any of you do this, or is it mainly a factory thing?

Cheers,
-Nat

[dw]

Nat,

A lot of bootmakers do.

Much of the leather that we use, if it is chrome-tanned, comes with an acrylic wax finish on the surface. This is more or less the same kind of wax that, at one time, was used as floor wax. It is flexible, adheres well, and can produce a high shine with good depth. It also replaces what, or can be, lost during the making of a boot simply in the blocking process.

Not every leather or every boot will benefit from this treatment but I've seen boots that had been worn for ten years or better still looking good from the acrylic.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

[kemosabi]

Googled "acrylic wax" and the results were confusing to say the least. Minwax makes something called "polycrylic" that looked like it might be what you're describing. Does that sound right?
Is acrylic wax just another name for water based polyurethane?
If not:
Where do I get acrylic wax you're talking about?

Thanks for the help. I'm curious about trying this.

-Nat

[dw]

Nat,

Prime Leather Finishes (do a search on this forum) carries a number of finishing "systems."

They generally consist of a "conditioner" that prepares the surface of the leather, a "dressing" that lays down a base coat, and a "top"--sometime the top is intended for spraying sometimes it can be applied with a sponge.

Frankly, I am not sure of the differences between an acrylic system and a water based polyurethane. I know LCI (IIRC) used to market a PU finish. I don't think it required as many preparatory steps or compounds as the PLF product.

But I have always used Prime Leather Finishes products and have always been satisfied.

And nothing MinWax makes is going to be what you're looking for.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

[kemosabi]

Thanks for the info DW.

Regards,
-Nat

[romango]

Here's a cute trick. Since I don't have a straight needle stitcher, I am closing the side seam by hand. By far the worst part of this is punching the holes. Many layers of leather requires lots of pounding with the mallet.

Here I just inserted a thonging chisel into my drill press and made light work of the hole punching.

13645.jpg

[gshoes]

Rick,
That's a great idea. Are you noticing any difference in the holes that are created in this way?

[kemosabi]

NICE!!

I know what you mean about punching the holes... You either develop a really strong wrist, or find a better way. Looks like you found a better way.

I've been studying gun holsters lately and have noticed that many of these guys use a drill press and small drill bit. Many holsters require sewing through up to 4 thickness of 7-8oz leather.

Sewing/pulling threads is the easy (and even enjoyable) part once the holes are taken care of.

-Nat

[romango]

Geri,

Different from what? The holes are very regular. This particular chisel is from a Tandy set that has a very small blade width. So the hole are just right for the thread I am using.

[gshoes]

Thanks Rick,

I just meant is there any difference in how they look being pressed in slowly as opposed to pounded with a mallet in a sharp blow. I guess not.

[hidesmith]

using the drill press as a press - aren't you clever! It's a great idea, thanks! Are you using a wooden 'anvil' or brass?

[romango]

leather anvil.

[chuck_deats]

Excellent idea. Using a clamped in place wooden block for an anvil. The block has a narrow stop for edge spacing. Single pointing the holes using a stitch marking wheel for linear spacing. The multi-blade chisel is probably faster and just as good.
Chuck

[piper]

I've made some sandals (and bought some, too) that use vegetable-tanned leather for the surface on which you place your foot. It's very pretty, but it's also very slippery and dry. Is it just my dry skin or is there something about this kind of leather that's very drying?

If I wear rubber sandals, my feet sweat like crazy. But when I wear leather sandals with veg tanned leather tops, they feel uncomfortably dry and the leather feels very slippery.

Is there something I can do to make the leather not so slippery and dry feeling? I've tried oiling my feet but then the leather squeaks unmercifully and doesn't feel any less dry and slippery. Or is this the wrong application of vegetable tanned leather?

[romango]

Diane,

I have made sandals with veg leather and I treat the leather with tallow. Warm it up and paint it on then hit it with a hair dryer to let it soak in. This will make the leather less dry.

- Rick

[piper]

Lacking tallow, perhaps real coconut oil (the kind that's white and hard) might work? I will let them sit in the sun with a layer of coconut oil today and see if that helps.

[piper]

The coconut oil made the surface a little nicer (had to resort to a hair drier since the sun didn't come out.) But the leather is still really slippery. Enough I'm afraid to walk on some kinds of uneven ground. Should I take some sandpaper to it?

[kemosabi]

Diane,
Perhaps a bit of sand-papering and neetsfoot oil?

If neetsfoot oil is hard to find (usually available at any saddle/tack shop) maybe plain vegetable cooking oil would work.

Just guessing in your case... But I've had good results with both of these methods.

-Nat

(Message edited by Kemosabi on July 15, 2011)

[rosesj]

I have a question about trees... And I don't mean simply during the "treeing process" of boot making. But rather long term care of boots in general.

Now, I grew up in boots and the most we did was to put them near the stove at night to ensure they were dry come feeding time in the morning. We wore them always and we wore them hard. I had two pair... One for work and another for Church. When they wore down... We had them resoled. When I wore a hole on the vamps... I had them patched. (stirrups) But never in my life did I ever own a pair of boots like you all make.

Now... I recognize that boots will develop a "patina" of wear far and away beyond the simple color changes of good use. However, invariably I see boots, even your boots, that have been worn and certainly lost the luster of their youth. Rolled and creased toes and vamps... Knocked over tops... Etc. And I think about how they must have looked new.

Fast forward from my ignorant youth to my minutely less so adulthood. I have several pair of very nice, sic expensive, dress shoes and wouldn't dream about taking them off without treeing them immediately. And it has me asking this question... Why don't you all tree boots in the closet?

I have some shoes which are 10 years old that are worn often, but that look like I bought them last week. I have treed every pair of leather shoes I own for many years. I don't even remember why or when I began... But it shows in my shoes. Even my leather 'tennis shoes' I bang around in sometimes look almost new since they are treed.

I know I am not as hard on shoes and boots as I once was... Far less damage is done in the OR than in the corral. However, I've come to realize the only shoes I own which aren't treed... Are my most loved boots.

Why don't we tree our boots and keep them looking "new"?

[tomo]

Hey Shane,
I could add to that and say that long riding boots are or should always be treed. I've seen people use anything from plastic coke bottles to rolled up newspapers when proper trees aren't available.

The 3 or 4 piece wooden ones were by far the best although the lighter plastic or aliminium (not the Mallory type) ones work ok too. I know of people who have bought crappy old worn boots just for the wooden trees that came with them. When I said not Mallory ones I meant it from the point of their purpose etc. not their quality, I think I've probably got the only pair in NZ anyway... and I think they're great.

I must admit after having handled my share of boots, the owners who treed their boots got/get way more life from them.

[rlsherer]

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(Message edited by admin on August 15, 2011)

[piper]

Hi there,
I continue to try to make sandals and figure out how they "work". I'm having a hard time with continuous strap sandals.

One thing I struggle with is the part that goes around the heel. If the sandal is a strap sandal with a strap that goes around the ankle and two little parts that come up from the bottom to hold it, I have the following issues:

1) If the strap is loose in the little parts coming up from the bottom, free to slide through them, then unless the strap is so tight the sandals hurt, my feet slip toward the back of the sandal. This happens even on sandals I've purchased from professional sandalmakers. I hate this.

2) Sandals that don't have the above problem tend to have the strap fixed to the little parts coming up from the bottom. Now the issue I have is if the parts coming up from the bottom are not rigid, they themselves bend backwards which looks dumb. And if they are long enough, they bend backwards enough to cause the problem in issue #1 above.

So my question is, how can I make the little parts coming up from the bottom rigid enough that they won't bend backwards?