Compromised the holdfast by not making them deep enough.
Had to patch damaged areas with gray fiberglass tape.
Made a lot of mistakes on these vamps. If you enlarge the images you can see the discolorations. Will need to redye them in the future to fix.
Trying out different laces.
From top to bottom Benchmark - Waxed 100% Kevlar Boot Laces Cobbler's Choice - Waxed Flat boot laces in Rust Cobbler's Choice - Waxed Flat boot laces in Yellow
Below are all the decisions and mistakes I made. I’ve learned a lot from finally finishing. It took me about 7 months to complete. I was on and off taking long breaks in between as this is only a hobby for me.
If you are a nerd like me, I did a brain dump of my experience. I wrote all this for myself and thought some of you might want to read it. I hope you enjoy all the details. Hopefully my writing makes sense and is not too hard to read.
I also listed all the materials I used.
Since this was my first full boot, I did not want to spend a lot of money. I decided to use some Economy grade tooling leather I had laying around. I should have left the upper in its natural color, it would have been cool to see how it patina over the years. But I wanted to try using dye for the experience. I deconstructed a pair of Red Wing Moc Toes that did not fit me anymore in order to learn by reverse engineering. I used this to create my upper pattern. Everything was hand stitched.
I had a lot of trouble in the vamp area. Had some wrinkles there when lasting. So I tried a lot of things to remove them.
On the left boot, I added some water, applying heat with a hair dryer, hammering very lightly. It was better, but not perfect. For some reason the water made the leather permanently darker. Not sure if the leather itself was the issue or the dye. But there was an obvious dark water stain that would not disappear.
On the right boot, instead of just water, I tried a mix of water, isopropyl alcohol, and a drop of soap. Same issue. In fact, I might have made it worse since the alcohol might have dried the leather more and the soap washed the dye a bit.
So now, I had little wrinkles plus the color was darker and dryer compared to the rest of the boot. I cleaned the boots with water and saddle soap in order to blend it all. Didn’t help much. But it didn't make it worse either.
To remove the last bit of wrinkles I tried using an Upper Iron that I heated over a flame on the back side of the iron. Added more water to the area and ironed the wrinkles out. This removed more wrinkles. Unfortunately it really messed up the dye. It made it way lighter in color. It also made the leather dry even more. I can see cracks in the leather now. When ironing, I did not use anything between the iron and upper. For the next boot, I’ll make sure to use something in between to protect the upper.
I’m mostly worried about the color since that stood out the most. I would have redyed the area but I actually ran out of the Pro Dye I used. And I can’t get anymore since they are no longer available in California. I didn’t want to use any other dye since it might not blend well with the rest of the boot. So I decided to add an insane amount of Mink Oil in order to hide it all. Like 10 coats of mink oil on the vamp. 1 coat on the rest of the boot. This made the vamp way darker. Which kinda hid the problem areas. I can still see it, but much better than before.
I will redye another time when I get some pro dye.
When I lasted the uppers and stitched the welt, I used a welt beater in order to flatten the welt. I did this by wetting the welt and pressing the welt beater at the top of the welt and hammering the bottom of the welt. Unfortunately when I wet the welt, I also wet the uppers a bit. When I pressed the beater on top of the welt, I didn’t have much control when hammering and the beater scuffed the upper. A really amateur mistake.
I cemented a piece of leather to the beater so this would not happen again. This makes the beater work just as well but now no sharp metal edges will touch the uppers.
I had to sand the toe area of the upper in order to fix the scuff from the beater. This removed the dye from that area and back to the natural leather. I didn’t want to sand too much as it would have flatten the area.
I did not have any pro dye left so I could not redye it. I tried blending it by first adding water to darken the leather. Then I tried using some brown polish. Then mink oil. The scuff from the beater is a little lighter in color. And the area I sanded is very dark. I couldn’t blend it well enough to the surrounding area.
So I’m just going to leave it as it is for now.
This is the third time I made a holdfast. First two were for my boots I was repairing. Somehow the first two were better.
First time it looked ugly but was really strong. Holdfast was maybe 6-7mm in width. And the inner channel I cut out was pretty deep. Ugly but strong.
Second time, 5mm width but still deep inner channel. This looked a lot nicer and still had the strength.
This time, I did 5mm width but the inner channel was a bit more shallow. I think I did this out of laziness. I was rushing myself. Because of this, certain areas of the holdfast had some weak spots.
When I made the holes with my flat welt awl, I popped the holdfast in a few areas. You can see where in the image I have for the right boot. The areas on the holdfast with the gray tape is where I popped it. The tape is a fiberglass tape to patch it up. I should have used a piece of leather and cemented on top of it for a stronger patch. But the fiberglass tape I had on hand was the first thing that I could think of. Next time I will just make sure not to rush and make the same mistake again. I’ll do 5mm width and deeper inner channels.
Normally I would use a single Sole Bend midsole for my boots, but tried something different this time.
I tried using the same leather I used on the uppers for my midsole. This was a mistake since the temper of that leather was semi soft. Good for an upper, but thinking about it afterwards, not so great for a midsole. I was trying to save money by using the upper leather instead of the Sole Bend.
Even though I used a thick Sole Bend with a stiff temper for the insole, having a semi soft midsole might feel uncomfortable walking on rough terrain. So I decided to add a second Stiff Sole Bend midsole. This one is slightly thinner compared to the insole. I feel more confident with this setup especially since I have a Vibram Cristy outsole. It will also help keep the shape better which is important since I did not add a shank.
I have single, double, and triple ribbed steel shanks in my workshop.
But I decided to not add a shank to these boots. Mainly because I thought it might have been too much since this boot has a wedge sole.
The fact that it doesn’t have a heel stack, and I’m not using this as a “Work” boot (not climbing ladders, etc) I figured adding a steel shank would be overkill.
I thought about using a wooden shank. But I did not have any on hand to use. I didn’t want to purchase them online and wait a week to be delivered. So I decided to move on.
Plus with a super thick insole and double midsoles, I think it will hold its shape pretty well. Also, breaking in the boots might be easier. I don’t have a super high arch so hopefully this won’t be a big deal. No shank also means the bottom of the boot will be light which is a plus.
If I were to build a boot with a stacked heel, I would definitely add a steel shank.
I used cork filler to fill in between the insole and midsole.
I prefer to use cork filler for a few reasons.
The main reason is it is easier to use for me.
Just spread the cork filler in the space, no gaps, 100% filled, easy. No need to rasp or sand after, or cut to size. No mess to clean up afterwards.
The other reason is, because I used a very thick insole, I did not want to use a leather filler. This would have made the break in period more uncomfortable. Cork is easier to break in and more comfortable under your feet.
I decided to go with a Vibram Cristy Wedge sole to give it a more casual look.
I have two other boots in my rotation.
Black custom made Cap toe Service boot with a black Dainite full sole and heel.
Reddish Brown Alden Indy with a black Dainite half sole and heel.
I used two different brands of contact cement for this project.
This wasn’t part of the plan. I just ran out of Barge Cement while working on the left boot.
I had a can of PLC Cement since it was cheaper compared to Renia and Barge. I used PLC on the right boot. I used Renia in the past. So going through a can of Renia and Barge, I didn’t notice any difference in quality with the three.
To me, they all seemed to have the same strength and flexibility which is the most important to me. Application method was the same as well. Color and consistency seemed similar. The only difference I noticed was the smell. Renia had the strongest smell. Barge was in the middle. PLC seemed the least. Or maybe I’m just getting used to the smell after using 3 cans. I’ll be only using PLC moving forward since it is cheaper and seems to be just as good as any other contact cement.
I’ve always had trouble getting proper fitting shoes. It is one of the main reasons I am making my own shoes.
On the Brannock I am a 7.5US and EE (Extra Wide) width.
On the small side here in the US but really really wide.
I made a mistake when ordering the last from Springline. Since they are based in the UK, I was not familiar with their sizing system and ordered a last slightly too small.
I ordered a 6UK / G (Wide) width.
I should have ordered a 6.5UK / H (Extra Wide) width.
That would have matched my US size.
Because of the mistake I had to modify the last. To make it wider and a tad bit longer.
After completing the boot and trying the fit for the first time, it is very comfortable with thick socks. Totally wearable. I don’t expect much of a break in period for the uppers.
Left boot - 930g
Right boot - 915g
Overall, I think I did a pretty decent job for my first pair.
I made way too many silly mistakes but it still turned out okay. I took a bunch of time trying to fix these mistakes. But it has made me a better shoemaker.
I noticed that the left boot doesn’t match the right perfectly. That’s because I did the left first and made most of my mistakes there. So the right boot is a bit of an improvement. Still made mistakes on both though.
For my next pair, I think I’ll try to use nicer leather for the uppers.
My Brannock Scale:
Last:
Modifications:
Collar, Vamp Lining:
Back Stay, Heel Counter, Heel Counter Cover, Quarters, Tongue, Vamp, Toe Puff:
Eyelets:
Thread (Majority of Upper):
