YouTube video by Ken Kataoka showing making of shoes in Museum calf
Uppermaking
- marks brogue holes from patterns but punches them freehand with hollow punches
- closes the upper, then pastes reinforcements inside
- uses a hand star setter for eyelets
- closes the lining as its own loop, then lays it in the upper
- hand stitches the bar tack
Insole Blocking
- cuts insoles from bend by tracing lasts
- cases in a towel
- whittles backhand with Japanese leather knife
- drives lasting tacks all around the featherline, then bends them out
- also drives two tacks in the front part of the forepart, one in the shank, and one in the heel breast
- lets dry
- pulls all the outside tacks
Insole Carving
- bevels the top edges with a yankee welt knife
- drew the holdfast plan on the insole with silver pen
- incises lines with leather knife
- spreads grooves
- yankee welt knife to cut feather and holdfast ditch
- very narrow waist
- pre-pierces
- holdfast from heel breast to heel breast
- just feather around the heel
Stiffeners
- heel counter from bend
- looks pretty thick!
- [doesn’t show casing in towel]
- pre-lasts the stiffeners
- one small dart at the center of the lasting allowance
- lots of tacks
- three tacks above the featherline: one at center back, one midway up each side
- lets dry
- rewets, applies paste
Lasting
- white powder on last
- lays in heel counters
- narrow lasting pliers
- lots of tacks around the heel!
- using wire brads
- lasts the vamp lining, then relasts onto paste
- uses pane of hammer to knock lining toward face of holdfast
- prepares toe puffs at this stack
- cases in a towel
- skives on marble
- two tacks through the top, then at the far wings
- hammers to shape, lets dry
- pulls all tacks
- pares down over holdfast
- pares down toe cap shape with knife, sands
- white paste over top
- lasts the vamp
- two tacks through the top, then at the far wings
- hammers to shape, lets dry
- pulls all tacks
- lasts the vamp
- lots and lots of tacks, bends them all down
- sacrificial shoe cover
- a few tacks to last the cover, also bent in
Welting
- thread making on knee
- curved needles
- 12:46 sharpens top of awl by rubbing sandpaper down along it
- welting stand on a post
- toe toward boy to start
- wriggles the awl
- hand leather on left only
Heel Seat
- marks holes with black alcohol marker on the shoe cover
- headed nails down through the upper
- welt beater as anvil for hammer
- slicks the welt
Bottom Filling
- traces onto cork sheet
- cuts to perfect fit
- hammers down
- peels away excess by hand
- rasps roughly, brushes away
- second cork sheet down over first
- [no shank?]
- builds up waist with more cork sheet
- traces fiddle waist shape from paper template
Soling
- cuts from bend
- traces around the welt on the shoe
- submerges, cases in towel
- incises centerline and curves for fiddle waist, digs them out with yankee welt knife on the flesh side to aid bending
- hammers over a block to start shaping
- lets dry
- glasses the flesh side before cementing
- hammers down
- wets the edges before whittling
- marks inner edge of flap for hidden channel silver pen, cuts to that line with Japanese leather knife
Outseaming
- marks stitchline under the flap, incises
- fudge wheel over alcohol burner
- thread making
- waxes taws in hands by pulling through
- curved needles
- twists the awl
- square awl
- fudge over stitches
- wets under flap, hammers down, burnishes whole sole with rolling pin
- nails through heel seat
Heel Building
- cuts horseshoe heel lift with hollow middle, pares down flat
- whittles all the lifts after stacked
- rasps flat
- silver pen to mark nail holes
- sets wire brads and clips them off
- combo rubber-leather top lift
- water on cloth over finger to burnish edges
- marks heel breast and cuts it
- glasses heel breast and edges
- yankee welt knife to bevel top of welt
Finishing
- burnishing iron over spirit lamp
- starts with heel stack
- edge iron
- crow wheel
- sandpaper patch in hand
- dye brushed on
- paints welt and stitches, too
- heats wax block and crayons on
- melts with burnishing iron
- waist iron
- fudge wheel over top
- edge iron again over wax
- cloth over fingers to burnish
- soft hair brush to finalize
- sole
- rough sandpaper
- glass
- brush off dust
- adds some stringy substance to hot water to make a slurry, brushes on
- edge iron to emboss a line around edge
- cloth burnish
- masks off fiddleback with tape
- dyes with brush to match edges and welt
- cream polish on waist, brushes
- toe taps
- masks off with tape
- carves away with leather knife
- removes shoe cover with knife
Delasting
- hammers the backpart down at the thimble to help separate the scoop block