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Shoemaking Techniques and Traditions--"...these foolish things..."

DWFII

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Here is an illustration of the technique that is/was used ffor thin insoles. "Do the name 'split and lift' (sic) strike a familyah note?"


inseam_6iron.png
 
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PhilJB

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Thanks, DW. That's much clearer. The picture is much appreciated.

I was aware that the illustration I reproduced was for vamps, but I'm pretty new to the world of hand made shoes and not familiar with all the terms and techniques. It was the best I could find on the internet.

Are there any practical examples of this split and lift in-seaming technique? I've searched the internet (including the HCC) but have not found any reference to split and lift outside of uppers (except of course in "split lift").

Just to add that I've learnt so much from this thread. My interest, though recent, is of a practical nature driven by an exacerbation of what I can buy in the shops. The best practices of DW and the other highly skilled shoe makers who contribute herein and the standards of excellence they achieve provide both inspiration and a standard to aspire to.
 

DWFII

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You're welcome. But just to be clear, it's not really "split and lift inseaming". It's just inseaming. I suspect (wasn't trained in that technique) that every time someone does a Norvegese(?) stitch--you know the macrame stitch--on the side of a shoe, the insole has been prepared without a feather. So fundamentally the same thing.
 

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One more follow up question on the 6 iron insole... I wondered what type of shoes have such a thin insole?
 

DWFII

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One more follow up question on the 6 iron insole... I wondered what type of shoes have such a thin insole?

I don't know anyone who is handwelting 6 iron insoles at this time (not to say there isn't). That said, I have handwelted at that substance, or close to it, and channel stitched 6 iron insoles for women's shoes. .

But my friend DA Saguto from Colonial Williamsburg (and one of the foremost shoe historians in the world) told me about the technique...so I suspect it was common in the 18th and 19th the centuries.

I also suspect that more than a few commercial shoes, esp. women's shoes, are using 6 iron or even thinner but none of those would be handwelted and a good many of those might not even be leather.
 

willyto

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DOES ANYONE KNOW WHICH BRAND STILL MAKING SHOE BY USING WOOD PEG?
I don't know of any maker doing a full pegged sole construction.

Saint Crispin's, Passus, Cowboy Boot makers and I guess some others use pegs for the waist. Vass Budapest also uses them for the heels and to attach the piece that covesr the shank.
 

the best leg

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I don't know of any maker doing a full pegged sole construction.

Saint Crispin's, Passus, Cowboy Boot makers and I guess some others use pegs for the waist. Vass Budapest also uses them for the heels and to attach the piece that covesr the shank.
Half wood peg will also be great, but I am not expect a cowboy boots, so would like to provide more brand please,thank you
 

Sinbios

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Is there any benefit to wooden peg construction? Seems harder to resole?
 

j ingevaldsson

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I googled Wieselman , but I didn't get any information, so would u like to provide more information on Wieselman please, thank you.

Here’s the website. A quite young Vienna-based maker, maybe 5 years old or so.

Is there any benefit to wooden peg construction? Seems harder to resole?

It’s cheaper than welted shoes and looks nice, but guess that’s about it. It’s an old traditional method to make solid but cheaper shoes (couldn’t only cement shoes since the cement wasn’t strong enough those days), was common among many of the combined cobblers/shoemakers that were found in every small village and in huge numbers in every town around the world back in the days and who made shoes for all the local folks.
 

bengal-stripe

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To my knowledge, the only firm to offer wood-pegged ready-to-wear shoes is the Austrian Handmacher:

 

DWFII

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Is there any benefit to wooden peg construction? Seems harder to resole?


It’s cheaper than welted shoes and looks nice, but guess that’s about it. It’s an old traditional method to make solid but cheaper shoes (couldn’t only cement shoes since the cement wasn’t strong enough those days), was common among many of the combined cobblers/shoemakers that were found in every small village and in huge numbers in every town around the world back in the days and who made shoes for all the local folks.

My whole career (50 years+) has been intimately associated with pegging. I may have driven more pegs in my time than any shoemaker posting here. You might expect that I would be particularly defensive about pegged sole construction, but I'm not...I prefer objectivity whereever I can find it. .

Pegged outsoles are, as mentioned, faster and cheaper to do than welting a shoe or boot. But they create their own their own unique set of problems and ultimately their own destruction--each resole...and fewer and fewer cobblers really know how to properly peg these days... makes more holes (on top of old holes) in the insole. It's like perforating a sheet of paper in the same spot over and over again. After two or three resoles the insole and lasting margins of the upper are so chewed up the job depends more on the cement than on the pegs. I suspect four resoles is about the limit before it all crumbles into tidbits and detritus.

All that said, pegs and nails go back a long time, probably before the common era. Somewhere among my books is a reference to Egyptian makers pegging sandals circa 15th century BC.

About the best you can say for pegs, besides being fast and cheap, is that they're better than nails. Most nails used in shoemaking are iron or steel. And iron rusts when it comes into contact with the salt water and heat of perspiration. Rust is a slow fire and in heavy use, iron nails can actually turn an insole black and brittle. The leather is, to all appearances, burnt--it can literally be carbonized.

Where pegs are not disturbed much in the lifetime of a shoe, such as in the heel seat and heel stack, pegging...as opposed to nailing...can extend the potential life of the shoe with no down side except for the extra preparation and time and work involved.
 
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willyto

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I own a pair of wooden pegged sole shoes and they squeak like crazy. Not sure if it's just my pair but it is very annoying and I don't wear them for that very reason but they are nice to look at.
 

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