Bespoke Cowboy Boots with Lee Miller

YouTube video series by Kirby Allison with Lee Miller of Texas Traditions showing making of bespoke cowboy boots step by step

Fitting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IMDJg1nOD8

• low bench against a wall on top of a sturdy desk with drawers and a box to step up
• socks are all personal preference
• Lee wears a heavy sock with boots
• thicker socks give more padding
• asks if has any issues, e.g. pressure on instep
• asks what he’d buy off the rack, length and width
• foot thin means that anything that’s tight will hurt
• not much padding flesh on the foot
• fleshy footed people might like pressure
• if the hand is fleshy, the foot will be similar
• “high arch, high instep, and a flat heel”
• Brannock device
  • pushes toes down
  • total length and heel to ball
  • heel to ball is critical for fitting
  • “you always fit heel to ball”
• foot tracing
  • on manilla file folder opened 90°
  • side profile
  • wooden 90° square tool with pencil
  • border outline of foot
  • [has a vertical tracing device like Daniel Wegan’s, made of wood, but does it freehand]
  • moves the pencil back and forth
  • pressing on toes to get full extension
  • center of big toe
  • center of small toe
  • fifth metatarsal
  • beginning of metatarsal
  • first joint
  • inner weight bearing line at 45°, where foot is touching the paper
    • Charlie Dunn did this
    • didn’t use an ink print
    • Lee does both
• total length with wooden caliper-style ruler
• contour gauge
  • small pin style
  • first saw in 1976, to measure John Wayne
  • photo in Esquire magazine
  • straight ball
  • critical information
  • then came to work for Charlie Dunn and he was using it
  • first joint to fattest part of little toe
  • “if we make the last match your foot, then we’re there”
• everyone measures a little different
• changes over time
  • beginning starting from zero
  • in school learn basics
  • Charlie Dunn a big help
    • known as a fitter
    • weight bearing line
    • contour gauge
    • measure foot in the air, non-weight-bearing
• tracings: full weight
• contour gauge: semi weight bearing (seated)
• girth measurements: non weight bearing
• age
  • effects depend on foot type
  • arch as a bridge
  • will collapse slightly
  • foot will lengthen
  • someone with high arch won’t see much lengthening, more spreading
  • some people believe we should just be barefoot
  • Lee believes good shoes should support the foot over the long term
• fit long and narrow for long-term health
• worst to fit short and wide
• “when in doubt, go long and go narrow”
• “will get proper arch support”
• girths
  • cross legs to put foot in the air
  • gives smallest possible measurements
  • tape on top of the foot from low ankle down over instep to mark points of reference, record them
  • short heel
  • marks where he took the short heel on the tape
  • from short heel to end of toes
  • heel measurements as he descends towards the toe
  • trying to go off specific bones
  • Kirby: John Lobb goes straight to finish, no trial pair
  • waist of the foot, “natural hollow”
  • Lee: if pay close attention to measurements and making last, generally eliminate need for trial fitting
    • generally takes two days to make the last
    • really slow it down
    • person who measures should make the last
    • avoid different interpretations
    • “I measure your feet. I set up the last.”

    • I could do it [make the last from the measurements taken] three years from now.

  • will save the tape with markings
  • straight ball girth
    • more for comfort of the toes
• on non-weight bearing
  • Lee: shoemakers will often take weight bearing straight ball but reduce the measurement for the last
  • they essentially get what they’d measure non-weight-bearing
• short heel
  • not really used like this in shoemaking
  • used in pull-on boots
  • also has to do with heel height
• pull on boots
  • have to get foot into the boot
  • once in, has to fit
  • extra problem of getting you in
  • instep measurements for fit
• have to pay attention to what other people to find hints of what you could do
• “woodshedding”
  • see what works and doesn’t
  • throw out what doesn’t help you
  • early years, open to new methods
  • slowly develop own style
  • in his early days, may have taken an hour to measure
  • early on, pay attention to everybody
• lastmaking is the hardest part
• read Farragamo’s book, Shoemaker of Dreams
  • mentions his secret to fitting
  • never tells you what it is
  • did find it, can’t tell us
  • passes on everything to the people working with him
  • won’t be on his tombstone
• Charlie was very open about his techniques, answered every question
• fitting gives the most challenge and satisfaction
• it either fits or it doesn’t
• can feel and see good fit
• leg measurement
  • standard height 12″
  • measures from floor, so from welt up, not counting heel
  • offers a sample boot just to try the height
  • tall person might want taller boot
  • just personal preference
  • checks where 12″ hits
  • gives ½″ over leg measurement at top of shaft, as standard
  • some customers want to tuck pants in
• ink print
  • gives border outline (as have already)
  • weight bearing
  • see arch
  • see foot structure
  • will help contour the bottom
  • most have abandoned ink print
  • some are doing 3D imaging
  • Harris Mat nearly as old as rubber itself
  • blue ink easier to read than black
  • “primitive technology”
  • stand with equal weight on each foot
  • pencil to make border outline by stippling
  • pressing down on all toes for extension
  • mark same reference points as on tracing
  • shoes similarity of ink impression to inner weight bearing trace
  • if saw darkness, that’s pressure, sculpt bottom to relieve
  • looks for tripod of heel, ball, fifth metatarsal
  • sculpts bottom of last to bottom of foot, not scooping out insole
  • had a 2½ year German student program
    • had to say what they would teach
    • told them what they had to pay him
    • “this guy was amazing”
    • “he was the best”
    • now lives in Austin
    • “I learned a lot from him, Kirby”
• “the Japanese are amazing”
  • “it’s hard to believe that a human being can achieve such levels of perfection”
  • “a higher level”
  • “it makes you feel good as a craftsman to see somebody pour their whole being into it”
• can become too clinical about a craft?
  • “we’re in business, Kirby…can’t drive yourself out of business”
  • “all rooted in practicality”
  • business keeps them from going out too far into extremes
• lays impression and tracing side by side
• center line by measuring middle of heel
• arch curve of metatarsals
• connect one to the other
• shows how the foot moves
• used to use x-rays in footwear
  • older people remember fluoroscopes
  • used to x-ray foot in the shoe to make sure it fit
  • “of course it’s unhealthy”
• “the last is the key”
• shows a last
  • dark wood
  • represent the foot, add the toe shape after
  • not using a mold of the foot
  • will sculpt
• mass produced lasts trying to fit 85% of population
• takes a signature just to show that he was there

Style Conversation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1dIS8_KVdQ

• Charlie Dunn cactus boot tops took two weeks
• pinched rose border
• scroll stitch pattern
• Dunn American Eagle boots
• search old books to find historic stitch patterns
• wildflower tops
• many toe shapes
• box toe
  • medium round
  • French toe
  • small round
  • pin toe round
  • more
• they do lots of initials
• hanging initials a Dunn signature
• tulips even older than Charlie
• known for inlaid tulips
• toe cording on ramp
• “low shoe heel” with slight pitch for cowboy style
• dressiest: black crocodile or alligator
• or kangaroo, smooth ostrich
• “the scallop” (shape of top of shaft)
• the shallower the scallop, the dressier the boot

Design

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP1CZ32ygN0

• Charlotte learned from Lee and Carrlyn
• took about 8 months practicing on days off to fancy stitch for the shop
• one row at a time on a sewing machine
• has done 12 rows
• kangaroo is relatively thin
• have to think about the bulk between the liner and top leather
• “layered tulip” AKA “pinched tulip”
• fleur tongue shape
• at least two years before taught the pinched rose
• she can never teach anyone
• couldn’t film in part because of the shear amount of time taken
• two tops per boot, four tops for a pair
• took about a week to do the tops
• another day or two to cut the crimped vamps, attach, side-seam, and turn for lasting
• day, day and a half to turn to pass along
• “we never say no to people”
• start with measurements off the last from lee
  • vamp line
  • bell line
  • pass line
• transfer measurements to pattern paper
• sketched with pencil
• draw over with pen when happy
• fold the pattern in half, staple together, sew without thread to poke holes
• they always design on the front panel
• once the wreath was done, drew in initials and back Texas state map detail
• clicking
  • silver marking pen erases with condition
  • circle any flaws
  • lay on perforated pattern
  • put the flaws where the inlay will be require they be cut out
  • “mapping out the tops”
  • powder bag of talc in loosely woven fabric to mark holes
  • shows where the flaws will be
  • takes an hour tops to place patterns
  • pattern with lots of inlay gives lots of leeway
  • with heavy fancy stitching, can put flaws under lots of stitches
  • harder with plain tops
• “it’s fun though”
• 12:21 more challenging designs
  • most challenging ever: “West Texas Scene Boot”
  • landscape of West Texas
  • barbed wire border
  • “scene boot”
  • customer specified a bunch of features to include
  • Carrlyn works through the design with the customer, then passes on
  • stitch fine detail lines, as well as around all inlays
  • took about two weeks to make just for the tops
• shop usually working on a couple pairs a month
• “we always say, ‘two brains are better than one’”
• that months, working on four pairs
• waiting list five years, not taking new customers
• smooth ostrich more of a dress vamp
• roughout pigskin more of a work vamp
• could do a work vamp with intricate tops
• people don’t wear boots with pant legs tucked in
• her boots are Charlie Dunn roses and barbed wire border
• “can I see the tops?”

Lastmaking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrF3xocOPmE

• can read bone structure from pedograph, but not the foot tracing
• name, book number, and page number written on the last
• built-up last
  • white HDPE with leather build-up
  • heel plate only
  • Lee contoured the bottom, added to character
  • took about a day to do
• Lee sketched the insole shape on the pedograph.
• users calipers and other tools to check measurements
• Lee wrote target last measures, which were not the same as the foot measures, in the measurements folder.
• Lee fits the widest foot first.
• Once the widest foot is fit, that “cracks the code” and “sets the tone” for the other foot.
• The traced shapes of the foot are more important than the measurements. Lee could make a last that fits with just tracings.
• Lee marked several measuring points up and down the main axis of the last.
• Lee uses his last trap to verify that he chose the right last based on his model to start from, focusing on the position of the tread point, also called the pivot point.
• The pivot is the second metatarsal head of the first (index) toe.
• 10:04 Lee was inspired to develop his fitting technique reading Salvatore Ferragamo’s book Shoemaker of Dreams.
  • Ferragamo dances around his method in the book.
• The last is the most crucial part of the process.
• Lee has narrow heels, low arches, low insteps, and wide foreparts. That made finding cowboy boots off the shelf impossible.
• “this is the fascinating part”
• Once you’ve learned making, you’ve got it, but lastmaking always has something new to learn.
• Feet in differ in how much they can be compressed.
• For cowboy boots, you need to create tension without lacing.
• Some feet are fleshy, while others are firm.
• Kirby’s feet
  • wide balls
  • narrow from first joint to small toe
  • i.e. straight ball differs markedly from angled ball
  • creates a challenge in making a pleasing shape
  • another challenge: Kirby has a relatively short arch length and relatively long toe length
• Lee sizes for arch length, then adds what’s needed to the toes.
• How much of Lee’s lastmaking method is the same as Charlie Dunn’s?
  • Lee: have to take what you can from a teacher and go further
  • Lee was able to work with Charlie’s customers and see them fit again.
  • Lee took some orthopedic courses after Charlie retired.
  • Lee: about 50% Charlie
  • Lee’s trainees will take it further, too, and that’s what Lee wants.
  • Lee was motivated to become a good fitter.
• two ways of building lasts
  1. start from a block of wood
  2. build up from a model
• Lee created his model in 1992. He is now on version 2.
• The model is graded larger and smaller.
• “the last is the key”
• Lastmaking can’t be fully quantified. It is not a science.
• It takes Texas Traditions from 2-3 weeks to make a pair of boots
• They once crammed it down to four days for a movie.
• Lee sometimes modifies existing lasts for different toe shapes.
• The most common in issues in cowboy boots are tightness in the ball area, tightness over the instep, and difficulty putting on and taking off.
• tightness
  • Texas traditions wets all leather before lasting.
  • Alligator leather shrinks as it dries, so it has to be lasted differently.
  • Ostrich leather does not shrink as it dries.
  • If alligator leather is lasted too tight, it can crack.
  • Ostrich, kangaroo, and calf leathers have to be lasted very tight.
  • Many shoemakers don’t soak leather before lasting, but cowboy boot makers usually do.
• the last trap
  • can set heel height, wedge angle
  • can check toe spring with a toe spring gauge on the platform of the last trap
  • can mark the tread point with a dot
  • Lee can distinguish good from bad lasts on his last trap.
  • wedge angle: angle from front of heel to back of heel
    • a shoe might have 0°
    • a cowboy boot might have 3°
    • Too little wedge angle creates biting pain in the arch.
    • measure roughly 2 inches forward from the back of the heel
    • ladies’ high-heeled shoes may have up to 11°
  • Lee guesses there might be five total last traps in the whole world, nearly all in last factories.
  • “you’re a lastmaker first and foremost”
  • You can measure toe spring, tread point, and heel height without a last trap, but not wedge angle.
  • A company in Dallas bought an old last trap from a factory in St. Louis and gifted Lee a copy.
  • last traps are always home made
  • The more heel height, the more wedge angle a last has.
  • cowboy boots standard 2-3°
  • but Lucchese uses 5°
• toe spring
  • a more sophisticated, dressy boot might have less
  • some makers use massive toe spring
• a good fit feels “like your feet were poured into them”

Day 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-5hAXWiu70

• 1:10 progress so far
• discussion of Lee’s folded tulip and Charlie Dunn’s pinched rose
• 1:45 discussion of folded tulip hybrid of Dunn’s and Miller’s signature motifs
• 3:41 overview of work to be done on the day
• 3:54 review of process so far
• 4:32 discussion of patterns
• 5:03 discussion of uniqueness and top decoration
• 7:40 How do you visualize the shape?
  • forepart accurately reflects the foot
  • from there back “your foot, rearranged”
  • reason: for fitting techniques
  • if made a last from a cast of the foot, couldn’t get the boot on
  • “everything from the ball backward, we’ve monkeyed with it”
• 9:07 visualizing the shape
• 10:22 materials
  • smooth ostrich
    • South Africa
    • different parts of ostrich hide
    • “ostrich belly”
    • “these boots will last twenty years”
  • Italian kangaroo
  • initials
    • Charlie Dunn font
    • “Charlie would weave the initials together so they hang on each other”
    • bone kangaroo
  • tulips
  • little Texas state inlay
  • bone kangaroo top beading
  • black kangaroo side beading
  • little ostrich strip on pull straps
  • decorative chain stitch
• 13:06 talk through previous steps
  • tops took about ten days
  • wet lasted
• 13:44 aside about distinctive materials
  • ostrich into the US in the 1950s
  • kangaroo used in bootmaking since 1930s
  • similar feel and durability characteristics
  • thin but tough
• 14:45 showing and hiding the tops
  • pants ride up when seated
• 15:22 tradition of tulips
  • tulip back to earliest cowboy boots, generally only stitched
  • 1910s-1920s Hollywood cowboys made more colorful
  • pinching gives 3D effect
  • will see tulips in 1880s photographs
  • came from Europe
  • “folded” or “pinched” both correct
  • first customer to ask did a border at the top
  • for these boots, made a main design
  • could call it a “wreath”
• 18:02 top border
  • Lee: “the top is pretty much uniquely me”
  • inspired from looking at vintage boots
  • started doing it in 1985
  • modified chain stitch Lee calls “Western chain stitch”
• 19:06 vamp shape
  • fleur tongue pattern
  • Lee’s favorite
  • every bootmaker has signature pattern
  • fleur not a signature, more of homage to past
  • fleur in back and front
  • all Lee’s own boots have fleur back and front
  • Lee: “I just love old stuff.”
  • historical interest
• 20:31 fitting and ornament
  • Charlie a great fitter and artist
• 21:30 initials
  • Charlie’s font
  • weave together
  • Lee’s early work much worse
  • “not very well done”
• 22:09 craftsmanship
  • might be Lee’s five-thousandth boot
  • “It’s fun.”
• 23:06 next steps
  • leather toe box
  • hardest: last, patterns, tops
  • “everything from there is not the same level of difficulty. It’s more … mechanical.”

Toe Shaping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFRaG651ywg

Day 2 - Hand Sewing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeVOSzW8Gjk

• 0:58 shaping the toe puff
  • line finisher
  • hand sanding
  • burnishing
  • contour gauge to check symmetry
  • aside on using a thicker puff leather
• 8:29 lasting the toe
  • “swiping in the vamp”
  • alcohol and water in spray bottle
  • Hirschkleber
  • discussion of wide and narrow lasting pliers
  • places tacks 1/8” from the featherline, as guide points for welting
  • 10:46 wire lasting with a string
• 17:30 explaining the role of nails
• 18:10 inspecting the lasted toe
• 18:25 checking symmetry of toe shapes from above
• 19:09 thread making for inseaming and welting
  • “sticky wax” [suspect hand wax from Panhandle Leather, but he doesn’t name the maker]
  • discussing both old flax
    • 9 strands for man
    • 7 for woman
    • 4 for hand sewing thread
  • now Maine Thread poly, to avoid flax rotting
  • comparison of cowboy boot to dress shoe durability and methods
  • guitar string bristles
  • pierces the thread to lock the bristle
• 23:02 waist inseaming
  • moistened with water
  • whip stitches
  • 24:11 awl curved about 120°
  • pierces from the outside in
  • “I’m just skating through the insole, halfway”
  • replacing each nail with a stitch
  • mentor Charlie would cement and wooden peg
  • learned hand sewing from German apprentice
  • tighter than cementing and pegging
• 26:52 seat inseaming
  • whip stitch, twists the loop, threads the leading end through the twist to lock
  • learned from a friend in Paris, who used two bristles instead of one, possibly an allusion to French heel stitch
  • “forgotten stitch” or “royal stitch”
  • can use in seat because it is flat
  • [seemingly alludes to French friend being a compagnon]
• 29:37 inseaming the other side of the waist
  • no knot between seat and waist
  • analogy to cinching the saddle on a horse
  • close-up of upper coming tighter as he pulls a stitch home
  • hammers every stitch
  • knots the end twice
  • removes the nails holding the back of the insole to the last

Day 3 - Hand Sewn Welts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5WtPtEdbyg

• 0:49 welt making
  • wood strap cutter
  • starts the cut with a knife at the edge before using strap cutter
  • cuts perpendicular to the backbone
  • stitch groover
    • L-style
    • rubs it back and forth in short strokes
  • edge beveler
    • one continuous stroke, a little at a time, never letting up
• 2:23 bristle mounting
• 2:52 hand wax
  • “from Stephenville”
• 3:11 brushing welt
• 3:34 welting
  • wets welt
  • others do “casing”, but Lee avoids, to avoid staining uppers, even with black uppers
  • 1/2 hour to 45 minutes a boot
  • [looks like the same awl as for waist and seat]
  • pierces holes in welt first
  • pierces from inside out
  • “hand welting” AKA “hand inseaming”
  • no hand leather, callouses
  • curved metal bristles, wire-like, with eyes
  • wraps the inside twice
  • welt cut perpendicular to the backbone to bend without slashing
    • like toe puff cut
    • like sole or insole cut
  • doesn’t pre-pierce (“pre-poke”)
  • Virgil from France: learned pre-piercing, got better, stopped pre-piercing because much faster
  • ==pleats the welt around the toe so it can be flipped up flat==
    • tiny pipes
    • welt should flip without tension
    • stitches are still tight
    • just slightly puckered
  • minimal awl piercing for water resistance
• 15:40 trimming welt
• 16:00 finishing welt
• 17:44 flattening the welt
  • “dragon” [cobbler’s benchtop multi-anvil]
• 19:38 explaining filler
• 20:40 nail shank
  • 40 penny / “bridge timber spike”
  • heavier men: 60-penny
  • from fencing supply store
  • forms by hammering atop insole
  • head side of the nail under the heel, point side under the ball
• 25:19 covering the shank discussed
• 26:39 insole shank linings
• 27:34 making arch covers
  • cut from sole bend offcuts
  • skived on 5-in-1
  • sands a channel in the top side for the nail to lay in
  • bevels the bottom side edges by hand

Day 4 - Outsoles and Wooden Pegs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2fheXlXqB4

• 0:47 review of progress
• 1:17 outsole
  • soles already cased
  • still wets a bit more with a brush
  • presses down by hand
  • Fender guitar strap for a foot strap
  • strap to pull down, starting at heel breast, moving up bit by bit
  • uses a thick rod on the forepart to avoid hammer marks
• 3:20 welt press
• 3:29 outsole trimming
  • lip knife
  • cuts in sections
  • cuts with the blade right by the lip
  • pulls in short strokes
  • first the forepart, then the heel
  • trimming still larger than needed
  • lateral shank
    • with lip knife, wetting again
    • welt knife
    • burnishes
  • medial shank
    • hardest to trim
    • lip knife
    • done intuitively
    • edge beveler for the top
    • turns the bottom lip up with thumb pushing hard
    • burnishes (“glazing”)
• 8:04 sole shaping
  • line finisher
  • edge beveler on bottom of forepart
• 9:00 outseaming
  • Landis
  • runs a sample with the new bobbin first
  • starts from inside arch
  • slow around the toe
  • machine cut a channel
  • flax thread
  • have to keep the outsole level correct to stay in the channel
  • machine in shop since 1977
  • was bought rebuilt, used ever since
  • very reliable
  • weighs 900 pounds
  • Landis 12 L Aristocrat
• 12:10 outseam finishing
  • trims thread
  • bevels forepart top edge
• 13:11 outsole burnishing
  • stick from Carl Litke [sp?] in Dallas
  • closes the channel
  • old finishing iron tool, “channel closer”, tip the shape of an oven mitt
  • then hammers the seam
  • lots of water with a brush
  • rub out marks
  • “setting the stitch” with the hammer
• 17:54 pegging
  • pegging awl with rubber bumper
  • beeswax before every hole
  • wooden pegs from Germany, 5½-12 size
  • [maybe a Blau Ring box?]
  • 2 rows in shank, 1 row in heel seat
  • marks beginning and ending with awl first
  • uses stitch wheel to mark holes
  • 5 SPI or 6 SPI
  • does it freehand
  • runs the groover with the neck curved down, rather than up
  • 3/8” from edge
  • marked “Kirby” on heel seat of outsole
  • “half welt”, “pegged shank”
  • critical for horseback riding
  • want a narrow waist
  • insoles losing moisture can leave nails proud
  • when sole gets wet, leather swells, peg also swells
  • analogy to dowels rather than nails for a house
  • angles the awl inward on the lateral shank
  • one bootmaker does three rows [doesn’t name them]
  • most bootmakers do two rows
  • staggers the second, inside row, still angling inward
  • “wooden pegs don’t come out”
  • they might swell
  • can sand down with sandpaper if they come up proud inside
  • often due to humidity, sweat
  • some makers cement or glue the pegs
  • 23:49 ==“I’ve never had any wooden pegs ever come out [without glue].”==
  • 24:30 driving pegs
    • “a little learning curve”
    • know what part of hammer face will hit the peg
    • not hitting in the center of the face, but low on the face
    • tap to get started, then driving
    • if you break a peg, you make a new hole in the same spot
    • using a thinner dress sole
    • will cause the pegs to break, won’t go all the way in
• 26:40 fudging/pricking
  • wets with water on a brush
  • brace with leather pad
  • fudging tool blade-like, not a wheel
  • takes about five minutes
  • pushing between each stitch by hand
  • green wood handle
  • fudging wheel won’t line up exactly
  • if used a fudging wheel to set stitch spacing, it would line up
• 28:47 hammering stitches
• 29:10 dyeing stitches black
  • small paintbrush
  • very slowly
  • “Flax dyes beautifully. Synthetic doesn’t.”
  • let dry overnight

Day 5 - Finalizing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-knsxBNtvLI

• 4:00 rand
  • puts a lift on
  • rough trims with lip knife
  • welt press
  • building bigger than needed, to shape later
  • sands bottom on line finisher to level
• 5:40 heel lifts
  • cuts every one on 5-in-1
  • 11-12 iron
  • splits each lift to uniform thickness
  • Landis splitter
  • line finisher to remove grain, for cement
  • hammer down
  • trims on 5-in-1
  • shapes on line finisher
• 9:20 breasting
  • huge wing dividers to set length of heel
  • slightly less than 1/3 of overall length for a standard heel
  • breast about 1/2” in front of lateral side seam for standard heel
• 11:14 clean up the rand
  • German welt knife
  • “Massachusetts rand file” [USMC?]
  • “English rand file”
  • “everything is based on the rand”
  • levels with welt knife
  • [English rand sounds seems finer]
  • draws a shape on the bottom of the stacks
  • shapes on line finisher
• 15:48 nailing heel
  • some makers peg each lift
  • some peg and nail
  • American shoe nails without a head, thinner at the bottom, square in profile
  • varies sizes to avoid coming through the seat
  • built the heel taller than wanted, using nails to compress it, re-level
  • all 1” long in front, longer in back
  • “the only nails in the boot”
  • judges depth by sound while hitting
  • nipped off excess once driven home
  • nail setter to countersink
  • then sands the bottom on the line finisher
• 19:02 trim sole
  • trimmer head on line finisher
  • styles
    • “West Texas welt” (wide)
      • Lyle prefers
      • more dramatic
    • dress welt (narrow)
    • standard welt between
  • really gets concentrated comparing the two for symmetry
• 21:12 trimming breast
  • “pitch” for angle at back from seat to ground
  • knife to trim excess at breast
  • always cut away from the vamp, not into it
  • i.e. cut toward the midline
  • sands the breast by hand
• 24:04 finishing
  • burnishes waist with a long, curved metal tool
  • edge iron at the top of the rand
  • wets the sides of the stack with water, then sets down and moves to the other boot
  • fiddleback-like pattern drawn on blue painter’s tape, cut out as mask
  • black in waist, natural under forepart
  • toothbrush for painting dye
  • toothbrush for dyeing the edge of the forepart outsole
  • uses finger to wipe away and spread excess ink
  • toothbrush for ink on edges of heel, too
  • wait half an hour for ink to dry before burnishing
  • burnishes on line finisher
  • hand burnishes at the end
    • sandpaper around middle finger
    • moist sponge, glaze with palm of hand
    • glazing is sealing the pores to make the surface smooth
• decorative marks on shank
  • wheel tool
  • learned from learner from Japan
  • was there for five years
  • now back in Japan
• bottom stain:
  • Fiebing’s 228, 3 coats
  • others use shoe polish
  • circular motion
  • glaze with hand while still wet
  • “the mate” (for other boot)
  • the more coats, the darker, more golden the color
  • brushes
  • rags with hand in cloth
  • as final touch, rub everything with hand in cloth
• delasting
  • break on stand, then pull with hook
  • hook under feet to pull
  • “there it is”
  • check the toe, check the counter
  • hand inside
    • pegs a little proud
    • no nails at all
• floor-standing peg float
• smooth out inside with sandpaper
• trees with separate slats of wood stacked together
  • shape the top
  • box of wedges
  • checks leg girth at top
  • not enough, gets bigger wedge
  • checks the bottom leg girth just over instep
  • let dry overnight

Day 6 - Delivery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPl7kP30GU4

ASMR Making Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtV9ZF4AaHk

work without commentary