YouTube video by Nicks showing making of a pair of work boots, step by step, with narration
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0:06 clicking with clicker press
- calls the quarters “uppers”
- 0:34 skiving on bell skiver
- 0:54 gluing up
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0:59 closing
- backseam on machine
- hammers backseam flat on a metal rod
- back strap
- pull loop
- backstrap on the flat
- gusset tongue on post-bed
- quarter seam on post-bed
- heel counter cover on post-bed
- 1:56 stamping brand and sewing in a tag
- 2:01 eyelet machine
-
lace hooks
- marks spacing with long wing dividers
- pedal-actuated machine
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2:24 lasting
- upper soaking
- 2:31 sit lasting
- hammers the heel counter cover, heel counter, and backseam over a metal pipe
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2:41 insole
- 3 tacks to last
- insole blocking with a lip knife
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2:54 wet lasting / pre-lasting
- drafting
- Whitcher-style lasting pliers with a long anvil
- allows to dry with only forepart drafted
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3:17 dry lasting
- USMC-style bulldogs
- waist first
- hard tacks, clinch nails
- switches to Swedish-style lasting pliers here
- remove tacks from wet lasting for forepart
- lasts buckskin liner onto cement over the insole
- trims lining with a square-point knife
- 4:11 different worker stand lasts the forepart with Whitcher-style lasting pliers, using a magnetic wristband to hold tacks
- 4:22 shot back to sit laster using Swedish-style lasting pliers for the forepart, possibly TANs
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4:29 shanking
- trims heel lining with lip knife
- sands bottom flat on finishing machine
- shank AKA “fiddle”
- pulls forepart lasting tacks
- cuts vamp for turnout
- turns out with pincers covered in leather
- “veg-tan arch piece and veg-tan shank” nailed in place
- black rubber “squeak pad” as filler in forepart glued in place
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5:15 bottoming
- dyes the top edge of the insole around the heel seat and waist to match the edge color
- cements midsole on with hammer
- tacks through waist and heel seat
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5:56 cut-away boot shown to explain clinch nails
- nails “like rivets”
- last is Jones and Vining, fully plated
- delasting
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6:14 McKay Machine through insole and midsole [Note: Nicks later stopped McKay stitching boots.]
- hard to smooth out clinch nail heads up in the toe
- 6:31 glue midsole to outsole
- pound down with hammer
- rough trim with 5-in-1
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Rapid E for outseams
- two rows of stitching
- Vibram 100
- shows examples of thicker sole stacks without stitching on the bottom, because Rapid E not wide enough
- majority of hold from adhesive
-
heeling
- 7:67 heel press
- presses edge of outsole with welding pliers
- checks level of heel to sole with a rule
- pre-made “heel base” heel stacks
- holds base down with strap to nail
- sands flat on finishing machine
- top lift with glue and nails
- “glue is mostly adequate”
- sanding department
- one of riskiest parts
- edges and heels
- shape heel stacks
- edge perpendicular to ground
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finishing
- peen over clinch nails in heel with piece of rebar
- glue in sock liner
- inks the edges
- buff on wheel
- preliminary quality control
- final quality control separate
- box and ship