Turning turn shoes?

[tombear]

Less fixing on the toggles and the loops I've done all the sewing on the Mk II turn shoes ( the Mk I having miraculously shrunk a size and a half while in storage

The soles are 5mm veg tan and the uppers 1 mm lined with lovely soft 1.5 mm goat skin, sewn together with 1mm ( sold as thin string) linen rubbed with beeswax.

Tomorrow I will be turning them right side out.

So, before I start wrestling with soggy leather does anyone with experience of making turn shoes have any advice, please? The sole leathers quite soft and I may have used smaller stitches than the originals. Once turned I will paint hot bees wax onto the soles to harden then some but I'm mildly worried the wet leather will rip on the perforated line when being turned.

atb

Tom

 

[tombear]

Nobody? Ok I've read soak in cold water from 45 mins to 5 hrs, depending on the source, so will try it with 2hrs and will put it back for longer if its a struggle.


atb

Tom

 

[Dreadhead]

I have done this a few times by soaking them for an hour then turning them whilst still soaking. Nothing much you can do besides go slow and be careful but then i don't have that much experience with shoes

 

[tombear]

Cheers! In the end due to gardening they ended up soaking for 3.5 hrs. I staggered in and after a shower did a you advised and took it slowly. It wasn't a bad as I had feared and no seams popped.

ill let them drain for a bit and then dig out the Sealskinz socks and put them over them and let them dry on. Ill probably bind them on with some clean rags to keep them clean before I wax them.


And yes my feet really are that wide.

ATB

tom

 

[Clouston98]

They're looking great mate!

 

[tombear]

In the end I've stretched two usually saggy old socks over the lot so am sitting here watching repeats of QI with mummified feet. Hopefully they will dry in shape.

atb

Tom

 

[Dreadhead]

nice they look superb mate

 

[tombear]

Thanks!, as always the second one looks better than the first. Since I'm not going out today, got in half a hours raking after the kids went to school but it looks like the sky will open any second, I will be wearing them over a thick pair of socks with the baggy socks over the top to hold them on. I ain't going to fix the toggles etc until they are absolutly dry.

Herselfs had a few gos at nalbinding, in the hope of making me some socks, a few weeks back. She's now waiting to get a lesson off of a work colleague who's done lots of it , when she sees her next. My brain trips a fuse when I just read how its supposed to be done, let alone do it!

Tom

 

[British Red]

In the end I've stretched two usually saggy old socks over the lot so am sitting here watching repeats of QI with mummified feet. Hopefully they will dry in shape.

atb

Tom

I am laughing at the mental picture Tom

 

[tombear]

Good job you weren't here for the actually turning then, since I'd just showered and last time I got wet through, I did it buck naked. It's the joy of the shed being the top floor and the house high on the valley side, only low flying aircraft can see in!

atb

Tom

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Ah, I see you have managed already. When I make turn shoes I tend to use an old broom handle to help invert them. I find it makes the job a lot easier.

Nice looking pair of boots. What pattern did you use?

Cheers

J

 

[tombear]

Cheers! I based them on a pair in that report on excavated leather from the York dig thats on line and used the gaffer tape over a old sock method to do the pattern since I have short wide feet with a high instep. I made up quick and dirty prototypes out of some chrome tan I was given and modified the pattern, twice, before I was happy to cut the exensive veg tan. Thankfully I saw one example that had the flaps and toggles on the inside which for a unlimber fat git like me is much easier to do up.


i suppose strictly speaking the'rea a hybrid from several pairs from the 950s, the side seam isn't really right but the correct edge to edge join that would be most right is just beyond my skill level for such thin leather.

Need to source some winnegas next I guess. The army puttees I have are unfortunately the short ones. I just don't fancy the idea of rigging up a table loom we have and making 18 foot of it! Actually if I do some work on the I inkleloom I made for T ( the dowels too thin to work right) that would be handier. Doubt ill ever get around to it so ill have to buy in for once!

ATB

tom

 

[Quixoticgeek]

I thought I recognised the pattern. I have the same, and a pile of leather waiting for me to pluck up the courage to make them.

How comfy do you find them?

J

 

[tombear]

To be honest, just off the last two days its like wearing a pair of comfy slippers. Very, very light compared to any shoes or boots I have worn. The triangular turned up heal, which I've not done before, is making a big difference. The pair I made before which shrank, the chrome tan prototype and the centre seam pair I made for the lad when he first got into Anglo Saxons all lacked the triangle and you can feel the turned in seam at the heal.

Depending on how loose they get once dried completely I may glue in a insole.

atb

Tom

 

[tombear]

Now dried and with toggles and loops attached. Tomorrow I will apply the waterproofing, bees wax brushed on hot to the sole and a mix of tallow, beeswax, pine resin and a little neetsfoot oil and turpentine to the uppers.

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Oh, hadn't realised you had them that way round. Do the toggles not knock each other and experience more stress than if they were on the outside of the boot?

Julia

 

[tombear]

Yeah, I had real trouble doing up the toggles when on the out side of the trial pair and pair that shrunk and since they have dug up ones with toggles on the inside I thought I'd give it a go this way. The fact that I walk like a duck anyway ( the outside of the heel wears down so fast is hardly worth buying good boots its that bad ) means there's less chance of them rubbing anyway. I used slits and knots to hold the toggles and loops on rather than sew them on so they are easily replaceable and can upgrade to thicker/ stronger materials if need be.

if I'd gone for a true rounded toe I could have always swapped them over occasionally to even out the wear but with my weird flipper like feet there would have been a huge empty bit at the front so I ended up doing them handed.

ill let you know if I have any trouble with them set up like this.

The sole has dried gratifyingly hard even before I apply the beeswax, not so much it would snap or crack but I was a bit worried the leather was a bit on the soft side.

The main thing is I'm really happy they didn't shrink to child size this time!

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

It took 3 hrs and about the sme as 2 tins of G Wax and about a candles worth of beeswax but they are now done.

A open fire would have been better but I used a hair dryer to drive in each layer of wax until it was a good even colour, first off painting the sole with molten beeswax. Just about worth it for the colour!

ATB

TOM

 

[Quixoticgeek]

By chance do you have pattern pieces that you based this on? If so could you photograph them so I could get an idea of the shapes you used?

Cheers.

J

 

[Big Stu 12]

They look great bud.. I am so going to have to make some soon