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Lasted Shoe Tree = Shoe Last?

post #1 of 3
11/27/11 at 1:23pm
Thread Starter 
Is a lasted shoe tree a last? In other words, can a shoe be recreated from a lasted shoe tree alone?
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post #2 of 3
11/27/11 at 1:33pm
Good question. I've often wondered this.
A couple of shots for comparison:

DSC_0653.JPG
DSC_0654.JPG
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post #3 of 3
11/27/11 at 2:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NAMOR View Post

Is a lasted shoe tree a last? In other words, can a shoe be recreated from a lasted shoe tree alone?

A lasted shoe tree is not a last, although the (bespoke) shoe tree might have started off as an absolute and identical copy of the last, which got (mechanically) produced on a copying lathe. The last is bigger than the tree: it does need pretty great effort and force to remove the last from the finished shoe; you shouldn’t have any difficulties to insert the tree into the shoe.

So, you start with that copy and you remove as much wood as possible to reduce weight: carve out from underneath and reduce most of the wood between vamp and heel, just leaving a ‘bridge’ and in case you employ metal springs, you even cut the bridge away. Then the shoe tree gets rasped down in every dimension until it fits smoothly into the shoe.

http://www.springline.net/shoe-trees.htm

A skilled last maker might be able to reconstruct a last from a given pair of trees, but at best it will be guesswork. He couldn’t be certain about the heel, the top line or (if springs have been used)the correct length of the last. It will be easier to construct a last from those three-piece trees, as virtually no wood has been cut out of the body of the shoe tree.
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