How Western Boots are Made
Copy from How Products are Made *
Cutting out the pieces
Once
the leather has been selected, the process of making the top part of the boot
begins by cutting out the individual pieces. This might be done by hand in
custom shops, but in factories it is done by metal dies, which work like cookie
cutters. The top of a boot consists of three parts: the part that covers the
top of the foot, the part that encloses the back of the heel, and the part that
fits around the bottom of the shins. These are called, respectively, the vamp,
the counter and the uppers. The vamp is like the top and sides
of an ordinary man's shoe, but it is one piece instead of several, without lace
holes and a separate tongue. The counter covers what the vamp does not.
The uppers are cut in two pieces, one for the front and one for the back,
designed to join each other at the sides. At this stage, the lining for the
inside of each of these pieces is cut out and then glued into place. The lining
is particularly important for boots made of fragile skins such as snake or eel,
for the leather backing will provide most of the strength.
Decorating the pieces
If
the boot is to have any kind of stitched decoration—whether a simple pattern,
or an elaborate picture such as a yellow rose, an oil derrick, or the state of
Texas—this is done before the pieces are assembled. In custom shops, the design
is sketched on a paper pattern or stencil and then outlined with a series
of small holes. This stencil is laid over each piece and then sprinkled with a
marking agent such as white powder, so the design can be followed by someone
operating a sewing machine. Factories tend to use computerized sewing machines
for this task, with preprogrammed designs, so marking the leather isn't
necessary. Any additional colors the design requires are dyed into
the leather at this stage.
Assembling the top of the boot
The
boot is initially assembled in two halves, front and back. The vamp, the part
that covers the top and sides of the foot, is sewn to the front upper; the
counter, the part that covers the heel, is sewn to the back upper. Excess
leather around the stitching is then trimmed off. A long strip of leather
called the welt is then attached to the back of the counter
and left hanging there. The welt will be used at a later stage to attach the
top of the boot to the sole.
The
front and back halves of the boot are then glued and sewn together. These seams
are made first on the inside, so the boot initially takes shape inside out,
like a shirt. Leather is, however, harder to work than cotton, and once the
seams are made the top of the boot must be soaked in water until the leather is
flexible enough to be turned right outside out again. At the end of this stage,
the top part of the boot is complete; in a custom shop, the work of a top man
would now be done.
Attaching the insole
The
first step in building the bottom of the boot is attaching the insole to the
vamp and the counter. The insole, in any shoe or boot, is the
part you see when looking down inside it; it often bears the imprint of
the maker's name. A key component in this part of the process is the last.
The last is basically a model of a foot—an anatomically accurate
version of a shoetree—which is left inside the boot during the rest of the
manufacturing process. In a factory, lasts are standard sizes and generally
made of molded plastic. In custom shops, they are made of hardwood and adjusted
to the precise shape of an individual's foot. The workshop of these bookmakers
may contain thousands of lasts, hanging from the walls and ceilings,
available for the customers they expect to reorder.
* How Products Are Made
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