Nice order! Every now and then in my shop I’ll do production work and it can be very satisfying. The challenge of making a good product quickly and efficiently can be a lot of fun. Jigs and fixtures and patterns! Congratulations Andrew. I should add that you have such a nice steady hand with a knife and beveller.
Great job on the shoes and especially the video series. I understand that this is as they say “A labour of love” and my appreciation is faint reward for your efforts but thank you Andrew! It would be interesting to see how you’re getting along with these shoes after a few years time. Perhaps you’d even have some different socks… 🤭
Thanks for the kind comments. I'll be honest, I didn't do a great job on this pair of shoes and they didn't last very long. I think the leather was a bit oily and the glue didn't grab like it should have. It didn't help that I was focused on trying to get clear camera shots instead of the job at hand. Every other pair I've made looks as good as when I finished them.
Loved the series. Thank you for all the work. I’m excited to someday make my own shoes. Hopefully they have lasted you as long as you ever wanted them too 🙌🙏
its alarming the lack of good INFORMATIVE tutorials on youtube , thank you for taking time to explain and actually teach something because the majority of "tutorials" on youtube are just montages and not actually tutorials
5:10 a sharp and COARSE sander + not too much pressure on the weel will completely erase the burning of the leather surface. the burning will create a very rough edge that is more sensitive to dirt and water the two of which will weaken the leather and the bond a bit quicker... thanks for this series! regarding you are an amateur shoemaker i am especially impressed by your lasting skills! also since its a technique thats rarely used in bagmaking...
also probably a goot tipp for you: shoemakers allways work in a fashion where they leave an excess when cutting out the next sole component, attach it and then directly trim it on the shoe with a super sharp knive and a rasp(or sander), before adding the next component and so forth. for example when you put on the outsole, it should be bigger and your midsole should allready be trimmed to the perfect shape. then you can trim the outsole afterwards using the edge of the midsole as a guide for your knive. this way you kind of sculpt your way through the shoe. when you develope some knive skill in that fashion, there is only minor sanding to be done in the end... :)
5:24 usually the heel length on a standart heel height is approx. 1/4 of the sole length + 1cm. the heel should stand flat on the ground but you CAN leave a gap of about 1mm between the back of the heel and the ground, for the sole will eventually round out anyway and this will create a rolling walking feel. there shouldnt be a gap under the front of the heel though...
1:54 that actually depends alot on what kind of rubber you use! they sand very differently and there are lots of different kinds. a PU rubber or a crepe style rubber(which this seems to be) tend to get gooey and sticky while sanding. but EVA or a standart vulcanised rubber sole create very dry sanding dust. the latter is also more consistend and durable than a crepe sole. also your sander shouldnt be too dull off course
Hey Andrew, I've been watching your shoemaking playlist and its amazing, I just have a question, there's a boots brand called "Thursday Boots" I want to know what type of leather do they use? and also tell me what do u think about their boots 😊
Thank you for your amazing patient and effort in showing us your journey in leather works. I am building the courage to build a pair of boots to seeif I have what it takes.
Thank you for such a clear, concise, and iformative series on shoemaking. This has taken a lot of the mystery out of it for me. One quick question, in researching buying my first last (haha) I noticed they are not sold as styles such as derby or oxford, etc., but seem to have model numbers. Are those numbers different for each company or is there a uniform code of model numbers that is industry standard? How does one know they are buying a last for a derby shoe?
I suspect shapes would be brand dependent, but I really wouldn't know. Unless you can get your hands on a pair I think there will be some guesswork involved.
I’d say the formal shoe last is more limiting - for your toes! Crazy that the rounder one is considered wide. I’m making my own shoes now and the first thing is tracing my foot so that it’s actually shaped after my foot and not the foot getting shaped by my shoes 😊
This videos are amazing. I’ve been watching lots of Japanese and other master shoe makers, but it’s nice to see a mortal explain everything properly, and make some mistakes as well.
Can you use an old shoe that fit really well as a last? I had a pu cowboy boot and I cut the shoe part away when the heel gave out in order to see if I could use it to develop a base pattern
