Hand rolled shoemaker's thread HD 

Glad you found it useful :) I'm retired from shoemaking now, myself. All the Best.

Glad you enjoyed it Pauline. By the way, do you remember which sites the bristles were on as other people here have been asking where to get them? All the Best with your shoemaking future :) Cheers

@@duncanmcharg I believe it was initially Carreducker, then later Etsy. Since first seeing them I’ve discovered fly fishing or salmon fishing have a range too but they are coloured so I am unsure if they are suitable. Etsy is the only place I can see the shoe version at present. Also different names like hog, boar and pig precede bristle. Hope this helps.

@@paulinethomas1611 Thanks.

Thank you :) Also, Happy New Year.

Fantastic :) Glad you've found it helpful. Are you shoemaking? Cheers Duncan

@@duncanmcharg Yep, 1300's reproductions for re-enactment. Mostly re-soling old shoes lately, it seems.

@@duncanmcharg qqqjeeuueryeu Aa

Glad you liked it Marcus, and all the best with the re-soling :) Cheers

G'day Tray, Glad you liked it :)

@@duncanmcharg another good question is where to get some decent thread)) could you please advise?

Sorry @@CapitanAP, I missed your question. Getting good thread is the hardest part of this. The stuff I'm using is around 50 years old; it's very hard to get modern linen thread with a long fibre length. Most of what's available has fibres of only a couple of inches, whereas ideally you need fibres at least 12" (30cm) in length. Longer is even better. It was one of the key features of linen thread in the past. If you know of any fibre spinners, or hunt down a spinner's group/guild in your area, then it is possible to by 'line flax' from some spinner's suppliers, and you might be able to get it spun for you (something I'm looking into for myself). You don't want 'flax tops' (short fibres), you want 'line flax' which can have fibres up to 30" (75cm). Hope this is a help. Cheers Duncan

Glad I could help, Axel. All the best with your boots. If you need pigs bristles, these people might be able to help www.algeos.com/genuine_hog_bristles.html Cheers Duncan

Here's another link for a possible source for pig's bristles, Axel. It's here in Australia, but they might be able to post or give you a closer contact: www.mainlymedieval.com/product_info.php?products_id=3970

Glad you enjoyed it Keiran. All the best

Glad you liked it :)

Thanks Mijail, Glad you liked it.

:D Thanks Doug. Some time after posting this vid. I noticed that, in trying to get it to a short length I'd left out the point that you put a bristle on the other end as well...Oops! :) At least they're both there in the final scene. Enjoy making wicks. The one I made in the clip is going strong. God bless you too. Cheers Duncan

G'day Brian, Ask away, for if you don't ask, you don't learn :) The following is quite long, but I hope you find it interesting. Like every thing with the old hand skills, there are many layers to why we do something this way :) This was just a demonstration of making a 4ply thread, and, yes, thread is sold in many different numbers of plies. But I construct everything from 2ply to 16ply threads in making shoes, and one ball of single ply thread is used for all of those. The tapered ends are key as it means that the two ends of the thread together, with the bristles on, equal less, in bulk, than one part of the main thread. This means that the holes you make in the leather only have to be big enough to comfortably let the two bristles through, but smaller than the thread's full thickness. The wax/rosin mixture (with a smidge of tallow) melts as you pull it through the leather, protecting the thread, then when you complete the stitch it cools down and glues the thread in place, and there are no holes visible in the leather. For example, the soles of a pair of ankle boots I made years ago: I made the thread 14ply thick, the holes I made through the welt and sole with a home-made awl were around 8ply in size, comfortable for the two bristles and the first part of the thread's taper, so, with the bristles being passed through, one from the welt side and one from the sole side, I was having to pull a total of 28ply through 8ply holes (the leather is damp while doing the sewing, so it can move and stretch a little). They were my every day boots and I wore the sole and stitches through, almost to the welt (not good practice, but, you know, crash testing my work :) ) and the remains of the stitches held. If some accident happens in use, and a seam needs repair, you need to cut nearly every stitch , and physically pull them out, one at a time, sometimes with pliers, which is what I had to do when re-soling the above boots. By contrast, a sewing machine's needle is larger than the eye, the eye is larger than the thread, and the thread travels through the leather, loops around the lower thread and then is pulled back up and re-emerges out the same side (the lower bobbin thread doing the same and re-emerging out the bottom). Thus the holes in the leather are larger than the thread, and the threads are made to do a 180deg turn, in the thickness of the thread, in each hole. If there is damage to a thread/seam, the large holes/small threads ratio means the seam can come apart easily. In hand sewing the thread is wrapping around the leather as it goes from hole to hole which is much gentler, and is completely swapping sides with each stitch. I'm afraid I don't have any videos up that show me sewing with heavy threads, but I do have one where I'm sewing two pieces of 1mm thick leather, edge to edge, without going through to the other side, with no folding over. Here's a link to my playlist ru-vid.com/group/PLZ0PKJnDuou47-RXM7zY8sGZOPf-w98Dw Hope this has been informative, and you've been able to stick it out to the end :D Cheers Duncan

Duncan McHarg wow, what a thoughtful and detailed answer. I really do appreciate it! This is definitely going in my notes :D if it isn’t too much trouble, could you give a general recommendation on the number of plies for inseaming/welting thread vs. outsoling thread? I’m sure it varies based on the shoe and personal preference, but maybe you have a go-to

​@@briandalponte5898 No Probs :) The inseam tends to have a few more ply than the outsole, so, around 16ply for the In. and 12 - 14ply for the out. Here's an excellent book from the late 1800's that you can download for free as a PDF. My father found an original printing of it in an antique bookshop back in 2000, and it's been my go to book since. All the Best. Cheers. archive.org/details/bootmakingmendin00hasl

G'day Douglas, Unfortunately bristles and long fibre linen thread are very hard to come by these days. My thread is about 40years old, and the bristles came from the surplus of a couple of other shoemakers, some over 20years old. Sorry.

G'day Daphne, Glad you liked it. I realised, after posting the film, that I'd neglected to say 'Do the same with the other end, with a second bristle' :/ Ah well. Here in Australia it's possible to get bristles from these guys www.mainlymedieval.com/product_info.php?products_id=3970. Thankfully I've been able to 'downgrade' my iPod to an earlier version of iMovie, so I have the full features back again :) No more upgrades for iMovie. Cheers Duncan

Hi, Duncan! TY so much for the link. How excellent that you've been able to reclaim the prefered tool for your educational art; this is indeed a very good development for us subscribers. :D Daphné

Yeah, I'm pretty happy too :)

G'day Nico, I'm afraid it is very hard to get quality single ply Shoemaker's Thread. Often the modern thread has been badly processed and has very short fibres, which is sad as one of the benefits of flax ( the raw fibre that linen thread is made of ) is that it has very long fibres (nearly a meter in length) making it very strong. The thread I'm using is around 50 years old; I keep an eye out at flea markets etc., hoping that the thread is in good condition. When looking at buying thread, if possible, do the rolling to break off a small length (around 60cms) to see how long the fibres are. If you get a taper, like I did in the video, that's around 20 - 30cms long, it will work well. I hear that hemp thread can be bought with long fibres. Hemp thread was common in shoemaking in the 1800's at had a good reputation, and there are people making it again. The single ply thread needs to be, what they call, a 'Z' twist. This means that if you hold a length of the thread up in front of you, the fibres will wrap around in the same direction as the diagonal line in the 'Z'; in other words, the fibres come into view up on the right, and travel down to the left. In an 'S' twist thread the fibres start up on the left and travel down to the right. Hope this has been helpful, and all the best. Cheers Duncan

G'day Garrett, Glad you liked it. I forgot to comment on the video that you need to fit another bristle on the other end as well :) Here in Australia it's possible to get bristles from these guys www.mainlymedieval.com/product_info.php?products_id=3970. They may be able to post to you, or give you a supplier closer to home. I bought a couple of balls of Coats single shoe some years ago and was dismayed at the tiny taper I got with it. The problem is in the modern processing of the raw flax; they treat it more like cotton, which is a short fibre, and is totally wrong for the beautiful long fibres of flax. If you're able to, at the store, pull out the end of the Coats thread from down in the middle of the ball, bring out about a foot of it and, holding the ball end of the thread in your left hand, roll the tip of the thread down your thigh with your right hand until it unravels and you can pull it apart. If the taper is only an inch or two long, it's going to be fairly poor to work with. If it comes up with something like what you see in the video (or even half that length) your in business. I'm actually looking at getting an experienced flax spinner to make the thread I need for my shoe work from 'line flax' fiber. All the best with your projects.

Hi Garrett - give me a call as I can help you out.

Hello! This way the ends of the threads, with the bristles attached to them, are very fine, so I can make very small holes in the leather and pull large threads through them, making the seams water tight. If I used a thread that was already 4 cords thick I would have to make large holes like a sewing machine. All the Best.

@@duncanmcharg This video and your answer helped me a lot. Thank you for uploading a good video. I want to keep seeing your many works👍

That is very interesting, John. Hemp was commonly used in the Victorian era and before for shoemaking. How long would you say the fibres are? In the old days 'They' spoke of fibres up to 2 - 3 feet in length, but I'd settle for 1 foot+. Is it single ply? How much (cost) for how much (weight)? The questions could go on all night :) My stocks of antique single ply thread are diminishing, so tell me more. Cheers Duncan

Hey John, I'd really be interested in more details on the European hemp thread :)

Duncan McHarg Hi Duncan. Ted Anderson at www.piperssupply.com is my source for the stuff. The fibers are not as long as 2 - 3 feet, as far as I can tell. The fibers are longer than the Chinese hemp, however. Ted was expecting a new shipment of hemp from Eastern Europe when I visited him a few weeks ago. He also makes excellent black wax. All the best, John

Thanks very much, John.

G'day Al, There were 4 ply in this instructional film, which would make a heavy ish thread for hand sewing uppers (I would normally use 2 - 3 ply sewing between 14 - 24 stitches per inch). For inseam stitching, up to 16 ply, and for outsole stitching, around 12 ply. Glad you enjoyed the video. I'm actually going on extended Sabbatical from shoemaking which is why nothing's gone up for ages :) Cheers

Thanks for the information. It is truly appreciated! I take breaks too.. I do it for fun, so when I’m very busy or it starts becoming stressful or like a job, I walk away for a bit too. Hope to see you back posting when you are ready.

G'day JH, That would be the same as using fine, flexible, needles (which I used in the early days before learning how to use bristles). All the strain on the thread is focused on the tiny area where it goes through the eye and the areas immediately before and after, creating premature wear and prospective failure. I found I needed to move the needle further up the thread several times during the sewing of each seam, and if I didn't catch it in time, and it broke, I was stuck with pulling the needle up into the thicker part of the thread to re-secure it, making it harder to pull through the small holes in the leather and increasing wear. Wire, and needles, will dig into the leather during sewing; a pig's bristle will follow whatever shaped hole you've made. Also the bristle is tapered back from the root end, so, even with the thread's taper bound to it, the total thickness stays fairly even the whole length. The whole design enables holes in the leather that are only large enough for the two bristles, and the first part of the thread to fit through, and then the main bulk of the thread can be two or three times larger that the hole, with the result being water tight seams that can take a real beating without letting go of the leather. Some shoemakers have used fishing line, split on the end like a bristle, but the issue with that is the line is even in diameter and so when the thread taper is added it increases bulk, making pulling it through the holes difficult/hazardous. I tried this out in the days before getting access to pig's bristles. Having tried all three methods, I can say that the pig's bristles win hands down for ease, and quality, of use. All the Best.

@@duncanmcharg wow, thank you so much for the very detailed reply. I'm on my third pair of handmade boots that utilize a hand sewn welt instead of glue or stitch down construction. Your videos and this reply are extremely helpful. I really appreciate it.

Sorry to hear that, John :( The bristles I have were passed onto me by other shoemakers. Will try to keep an ear to the ground. Cheers Duncan

@@duncanmcharg I found a US source that I'm going to try : www.etsy.com/listing/157133307/wild-hog-boar-bristles-hair-10g-7-to-8?ref=shop_home_active_1. thanks, and great video BTW.

@@johnviel3398 Elden from Mainly Medieval here. Sorry about that! Francis from Raised Heels is my supplier, so please do order from him via Etsy or Ebay.

@@metacruft thanks, already got a couple of years supply.

G'day Super Dutchman, Thanks for watching my videos, but it's a little rude promoting your channel on someone else's without permission or explanation (like dangerous spam). I'm not teaching 'Speedy Stitcher' methods of sewing, which gives a result like a sewing machine, but traditional two handed sewing that is entirely different, stronger, and watertight, and requires pig's bristles (or fishing line treated the same way) for the complicated seams that are made; for instance one of my other videos demonstrates joining two thin pieces of leather edge to edge. All the best with your endeavours. Cheers