I got into leather work to make shoes myself. I haven't bit the bullet yet, made a bunch of wallets and then a couple purses and bags. Looking to tackle my first pair of shoes soon. Would love to follow along in your journey, very inspiring!
The proper tool is the one that works best for you. Once I'm back up on my feet I'm going to start collecting old leatherworking tools. There is something about an older piece of equipment that gets to me, these lumps of steel wood and rust managed to feed a family buy a house or created something useful or even beautiful for someone. I like honest old stuff like that, I'm probably in the hope that some of its previous owner's expertise rubs off on me. I'm impressed that you managed to get the toe box so well defined, to be honest I think you did a fantastic job
It's funny because I did the same thing with the inner tube. I wasn't sure what it was in the Japanese shoe making videos, so I cut up a bunch of inner tubes. I also use them to wrap cupsoles when I glue them on sneakers.
