Tools
- harness needles - These needles have a big eye and a blunt point, so they aren't likely to split the plies of a thread that may already be in a stitching hole. Order #3 "egg-eye" needles from: https://www.mainethread.com/index.php/tools/needles/product/92-harness-needles-517
If you're stitching felt or fabric uppers to the soles use a sharp needle. For thin leather, glover's needles are recommended. These needles have a diamond-shaped point, which fits easily between leather fibers. Unfortunately they also fit easily between skin fibers, so I bleed a lot when using these needles.
- leather scissors - Tandy's basic with red handles is satisfactory. Better scissors tend to loosen.
- cement brush -
https://www.springfieldleather.com/Renia-Aquilim-Silicone-Flat-Brush for applying Aqualim 315. The fun part is pulling the dried cement off of the brush to return it to "good as new." You can make brushes from silicone kitchen spatulas.
I appreciate Lisa Sorrell's demonstration in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ComqLvptUxQ of how she applies Aqualim 315 contact cement. She keeps it in a plastic ketchup bottle, and squirts a bit of it on the piece she is working with. She then spreads it with this silicone brush. I use a silicone kitchen spatula for bigger areas. After it dries, you can easily peel the cement off of the brush.
You can't pass a needle through shoemaking leather without making holes first. Here are tools you can use to punch them. You can use a hammer and nail to make stitch holes, obviously. If you go this route, make little punch boards to go under the leather from slices of a thick tree branch - end-cut wood makes the best hand-made punching surface.
- 00 spring punch - Use it to make stitching holes on your soling and the bottom edge of your upper, and for any stitching on the uppers. Always place a scrap piece of leather under the material you are punching through, and the punch will make a cleaner hole.
You can use a 00 drive punch as an alternative or an addition to the spring punch. You need a mallet to hit the punch with and an appropriate pounding board underneath the piece you are punching holes in. It could be a thick plastic cutting board, an end-cut wood cutting board, or the cut end of a log, shown here.
This tool needs to be thinner at the tip than the rest of the punch. Do not get one that is totally tapered for punching holes in two layers of soling. You might choose to use a diamond-shaped punch, a one-prong thonging chisel, or a stitching awl needle inserted into a drill press as alternatives.
rotary punch - The inexpensive punch from harbor freight makes bigger holes than the 00 punch. The biggest tube can make holes for laces to go through on a tie shoe.
- silver or other gel pen - for transferring outlines of patterns and placement of stitching holes on shoe components. It can be washed off with a little soap and water (check it on a scrap first for stains) or use a "magic sponge."
- brown paper bag - for burnishing the edge of a leather sole.
- compass - for increasing or decreasing the size of patterns
- sandpaper - or sandpaper sponge - for smoothing edge of soling - in 600 grit (although other grits will do).
- skiver - also called safety beveler - a curved piece of metal with a single-edged razor blade inserted in one end, used to thin the edge of leather. A piece of safety glass from a junkyard car makes the best surface for skiving.
- thonging chisel - This is used for making stitching "slits", an alternative to stitching holes. I use a one-piece Osborne thonging chisel with three 1/8" wide prongs and 1/8" between the prongs. (on the right in this photo). This makes your stitches 1/4" apart.
Use this chisel for making slits instead of holes for all stitching on the uppers. When you have made your first three slits, move the chisel so the first prong is in the last slit that you made - that way all the slits are equidistant.
Use a one-prong thonging chisel (on the left in photo) for punching curved lines. Keep 1/8" between slits as there is between the three-prong chisel slits.
- 1/2" Osborne oblong punch - (in the middle of photo above) This punch is used for making an opening for the tongue of a buckle to pass through.
- wing divider - Like a compass without a pencil, it is used to press a groove into leather a certain distance from its edge.
https://www.springfieldleather.com/Awl-Scratch. This or other Osborne awls are the best. You will need it to pull out stitches and poke holes.
- lasts - These are plastic or wood objects shaped like the inside of shoes. Each set of lasts has a distinct toe shape and style. The lasts that I used to create all the patterns in this book form shoes with no heel, or up to a 1/2" heel. They have a wide, oblique toe area that is longest at the big toe. It is a healthy, natural shape for your shoes.
You can make the same lasts by using directions and patterns in this book, or you can follow directions for making custom lasts if your feet aren't shaped like my generic lasts.
Lasts are available from https://sorrellnotionsandfindings.com/product/vantage-athletic-shoe/ - this is the last that appears to be the closest to the lasts that I made my shoe patterns over. Used lasts are sometimes available on ebay.
- stitching awl - It can be used for stitching the uppers to the soles when making stitch-down shoes.
You can make your own. To make a stitching awl, cut a section about six inches long of a hardwood branch. Drill a hole in one end, fill it with epoxy, then insert a stitching awl needle in the hole, using pliers. The needles can be ordered from Tandy Leather or Springfield Leather in the listing for a stitching awl.
- grooving tool - If you are using a vegetable-tanned leather bottom sole and want to cut a groove in the leather that you can protect your stitches in, you need a grooving tool. Tandy Leather and Springfield Leather sell these.
- rotary cutter - I cut most of my leather shoe pieces with a rotary cutter. Using it requires a plastic mat underneath the leather you are cutting. A wide plastic ruler made for use with a rotary cutter is needed for cutting strips.
- burnisher - To slick the edges of leather soling. You can apply beeswax and rub it furiously with a piece of canvas, denim or a paper bag, or purchase a burnishing tool like this one. Your leather sole should fit nicely in the groove.
burnishing tool for inserting in Dremel or a standard drill press - https://www.amazon.com/Burnishing-Burnisher-Leathercraft-Supplies
- Dremel tool with drill press - Using a Dremel tool with a drill press is a simple way to make stitching holes, but it doesn't have the power of the drill press from Harbor Freight. Insert a needle from the Speedy Stitcher into the Dremel instead of a drill bit, it might make a cleaner hole.
- belt sander - very useful for sanding the edge of a sole
- patcher - This hand-cranked stitching machine can be ordered from http://www.bantamsaddletack.com/Hand-Crank-Industrial-Patcher-Sewing-Machine_p_37.html. It sells for less than $200.00. It can be crudely-machined, so you might need some knowledge of mechanics of stitching machines to tinker with it. The facebook page "China Leather Shoe Patcher" can give you the pros and cons of this machine.