YouTube video by Chad Little narrating welting of a cowboy boot
Notes
- welt cut to shape, rather than cutting a strip and bending
Outside
- starts from the toe
- lockstitching with a jerk needle from the outside in
- 1.4mm Tiger thread
- have to start in middle with precut welts to avoid shifting out of place and mis-aligning the midpoint
- pulls locks to center of channel
- don’t have to worry about laying welt flat
- advantageous on pointed and square toes
- broke a needle
- “That happens.”
- harder to outseam square toes on rapid stitcher
- with precut welt, can leave corners long and round them
- lots of welt to work with
- can set table guide deeper
- can square the corner up when trimming
- “probably went a little crazy there” [cutting the welt wide]
- “pretty crazy fast”
- many makers found inseaming cathartic, enjoy it
- “almost meditative, and that’s fine”
- better final product
- leaves the long ends in place on one side to use thread to lace the shank
- “fun stuff” is the sole and the finishing
Inside
- does other side starting in same middle hole as first side
- keep hook of needle away from the knot
- sewing left-handed now
- not quite as fast
- re-emphasizes importance of prep work
- “everything is in a good, straight line”
- used to do much more freehand, was harder
- can’t make tons of money making custom boots
- why Lisa Sorrell raised prices so dramatically
- $10k base price?
- can’t pay the bells at $1k or $1.5k
- only knows one bootmaker in 70s turning out 6-7-8 pair a month
- “you will be crippled”
- speed up the slowest processes
- “no one’s gonna see this” [the inseam]
- never had someone blow out a welt stitch
- “it just doesn’t happen”
- can cut stitches with curve-needle
- especially when doing two outseam rows
- “running cantle stitch”
- braided thread incredibly strong
- no time making waxed ends, “primitive”
- had to do it that way in the 1870s
- “getting in touch with the old ways”
- “It’s not rocket science.”
- horsebutt from Montana Leather