The production of my last pair of cowboy boots was held up last week because Lee and Carrlyn Miller were hosting the Bootmakers’ Gathering in Saledo, Texas. You can see the beginning of my boots in a previous post, which also links to posts about my earlier visits to Lee Miller’s shop in Austin to see the operation and then to get measured and fitted.
As you’ll see over the next couple weeks, making a custom boot is a laborious and complicated operation that takes great skill and experience. In my opinion, think Lee is the best cowboy bootmaker in the U.S., which means in the world. First, let’s review the parts of a boot:
There are four pieces of leather that make up the visible part of the boot: the vamp, or footpiece, the counter, or heelpiece, and then two pieces of leather that constitute the shaft. The two halves of the shaft are joined and then covered with a “bead” (“side seam” or “piping”) in the photo above. There is also beading to cover the naked leather around the boot opening (“scallop” in the above, but mine won’t be scalloped.) Other leather is used to make the pull straps, which is the way you put the boots on, as well as the layers of the heel, and the nonvisible parts of the boot like the insole and lining.
The boot above has fancy inlay, and mine will too, though not inlay like the above. Right now I won’t reveal the design, but the boot is made of kangaroo: rich brown for the counters and vamp, and navy blue for the shafts. Carrlyn was kind enough to send some photos of what is happening; her notes are indented:
Here are your measurements and the last that Lee is working on for you. [JAC: the last is the three dimensional model made to my foot measurements; the boot will be constructed around it.]
Your pull straps have been cut out.
This is the front and back of your order ticket that will follow your boots as they are being made.
As you see from the design below, I’m having a 3/4″ box toe, which requires the complicated construction of a “toe box” to maintain that boxy shape.
Here you can see the vamp and vamp linings that have been taken off the crimping boards. Below that are the counters for your boots.
Charlotte [an apprentice] is preparing to sew your pull straps together.
Charlotte is sewing your pull straps.
We use a silver marking pen to draw the design on the pull. We rub it off after the pulls have been stitched.
The chain stitch sewn on the pull straps.
We make our side and top bead. We use a metal strip as a template to cut out of the leather. [JAC: I didn’t know this, but the piping or beading is made of strips of leather that are rolled, apparently around a string.]
You can see the strip has been cut out. There will be a total of four side beads made.
We cut a string that is the same length as the leather.
The strips are laid out.
We then put cement on the wrong side of the leather strips.
And, we put cement on the strings too. Everything then is allowed to sit and dry.
I am promised more pictures as the boots continue to be made, and of course will post them here.
The anatomy of a boot. I sure hope there is not a test. Soon you will be hopping happy.
Never having owned a pair of fancy boots, I had no idea how they were made. A very interesting process! My boots had a LOT of cow manure inflicted upon them, so fancy boots were never an option. My uncle’s cattle ranch in southern Montana was a real unforgiving place for boots…
Wait just a minute! You said there was no such thing as Intelligent Design! I guess all cowboy boots aficionados are creationists at heart.
Although I can appreciate the skill and craftsmanship in these boots it’s undoubtedly an American thing, I think I’ll stick to me Doctor Martens.
Thank you for telling us that you don’t like cowboy boots, which surely furthers the discussion. However, it’s not true that Europeans don’t like them. When I lived in France I saw a lot of young locals wearing them. The reason they’re not more popular is simply that cowboy boots aren’t made by European companies, and aren’t available in Europe. I’ve also had many Europeans admire my boots when I wear them there, and ask me where I got them.
Forgive me, I’m sure you look splendid in them,
Very, very cool. I love hand-made artisanal (and useful!) products.
Thanks for sharing this series of your boots coming together. Do they provide photos like this for all customers?
The level of skill to even choose the leather pieces properly, cut the leather in the correct places and directions and to the exact right shape with the exactly needed margins for stitching and/or tool grip I’m sure is prodigious. And projecting from a set of measurements to the final, comfortable, boot surely takes great experience. And building the last from the measurements, and, and, and …
I always enjoy how things aren’t “perfect” in an artisanal object. They shows signs of being made by humans, not machines. For instance, the stitching on the pulls won’t be perfectly symmetrical (OK, we try for perfect; but in the end it’s not; a CAD-CAM driven sewing machine would be essentially exactly symmetrical to unaided human VI.). I love that!
My mother has a sofa with hand-carved frame, made in England more than 100 years ago (which was saved from a fire in a house (that our ancestors owned) in the US South). The scroll work is gorgeous — but not exactly symmetrical. Beautiful. Just like nature — not perfect.
Thanks for sharing these.
I asked them for photos. They were glad to oblige, but I don’t think they routinely do that for customers.
They’re getting a tremendous amount of free advertising. But you implied in an earlier post that they’re working to capacity already, so they don’t actually need advertising.
Don’t forget the people who prepare the leather. I have relatives who lost fingertips to the leather-skimming machines at Doc Marten’s suppliers, back when they made their boots in Britain.
“Clicking” in British terminology. (I suspect that’s what the “crimping boards” mentioned are – different terminologies for similar jobs.) And yes, very skilled. Which is why volume manufacturers outsource the task to computer-guided knives.
The only thing that slightly concerned me was the use of newsprint to keep the bench clean when soaking the pull straps and strings for cementing. Those glues (again, various compositions) can be good at taking stains, dyes and inks from one place to another. They seem clean by the time they’re on the (laminated PU?) drying board, but I’ve got burned by that one before repairing things myself.
Love seeing the process! The rich brown leather looks sumptuous – nice choice! I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.
I bet there is a whole plethora of smells in that facility. Since I started drinking scotch my nose loves to do detective work.
“…think Lee is the best cowboy bootmaker in the U.S., which means in the world”.
My ignorance of cowboy boots is virtually complete so I would not presume to challenge this statement but I am just wondering if high quality boots are also made in Mexico?
Not so much; I have Mexican boots and the quality isn’t as high. For one thing, many of the best bootmakers work in El Paso for American companies (sadly, they haven’t–or can’t–start their own shops), and Mexican companies also produce a more inexpensive product that can’t compare in quality to that made by the best US bootmakers. I’ve never seen ANY non-American boot to compare to the quality of those made by, say, Tex Robin, Lee Miller, or Ray Jones.
If you drive through El Paso, there are a number of outlets for Tony Lama and Justin, which are really the same company. A bit higher end is Lucchese. I find it harder to get a pair of off the shelf boots that fit as my feet age and change and the ones I have used to be fine, but no longer. Getting boots custom made is the way to go, and when next I get to Austin, I will have to stop in at Lee’s shop.
So what boots are you wearing in the meantime, Jerry?
My other hundred-odd pair. . . .
Don’t judge me!
Any judging would be purely positive – I fully support (and empathize)! 🙂
I always enjoy watching a craft like this in process. It is certainly an art, but science and or engineering is also a major aspect of it. The combination is what makes it so interesting. The best science and engineering also has a major aspect of art to it.
My wife graduated from FIDM with a degree in fashion design. Like boot making, making fine clothes is a combination of both art and science / engineering. It was eye opening and fascinating for me watching her start by hand drawing a conceptual sketch, taking measurements of a body, creating a pattern completely from scratch (very technical! math & geometry) selecting fabric, cutting the fabric, sewing the garment, fitting it and ending up with something extraordinary.
There is the obvious artistic aspect of this kind of craft, but I can’t stress how highly technical every step of the process is. If you don’t know the technical aspects, or are not proficient in them, there is no way you will be able to create your vision or even merely a decent quality of product.
Shoemaking is an old art, and I think I see some of those deep roots: what is called “last” here is, I believe, what we call “läst”.
There is even a saying: “Skomakare, bliv vid din läst.” [Roughly, ‘stick to what you know’.]
[ http://herrskobloggen.blogspot.se/2009/12/skomakare-bliv-vid-din-last.html ]
That saying is in English as well: Shoemaker stick to your last.
And in German too: Schuster, bleib bei deinen Leisten.
This seems to be an international proverb.
Cool.
Is Schuster an informal form of the noun? I would have thought: Schumacher. (?)
Thanks!
Basically just two versions of a term meaning the same thing, “shoe-maker,” that have survived into modern times. “Schuster” means exactly the same thing but is a contraction of Middle High German “shoe” and an Old High German word that means something like “closer.” That happened a long time ago but has survived.
Yes, like cobbler and shoemaker.
I had just never heard Schuster before (but Schumacher many times).
My German teacher was very concerned that we learn on the most proper Hoch Deutsch. Though we did get a little Plach Deutsch at the very end so at least we would have heard it. IIRC, it was much like Dutch.
When I heard Dutch, I could understand most of it, with my knowledge of German and English — it’s sort of in between. Same with Flemish. I’ve also heard recordings of Friesian, which most English speakers would understand I think.
Living in Germany back in the ’70s Pälzisch (Pfälzisch) was the local dialect and I learned that pretty much fluently, no problems, just by day to day living there. But we also had a German culture and language course that was required in school and there we were taught Hochdeutsch. That was a pain in the ass!
I’ll also never be able to think of a shoemaker again without remembering M. Manette in A Tale of Two Cities which I recently read for the first time.
Tap … tap … tap.
I’ve seen this equation applied to bicycles and to fly rods (two things I have multiples of)–“the proper number of bikes (or rods) to own is n + 1, where n = the number of bikes (or rods) you currently own. Are you confident that you will not be tempted in the future to add yet another pair (+ 1) to your collection?
Huh. I thought that equation was for motorcycles.
And I thought the algorithm was for cookery books!
Since your boots are being made from ‘roo skin, will you be travelling to the Land of Oz?
My father is totally into cowboy boots, too (and incidentially the first antitheist I ever met). I always liked the design and the craftsmanship that can go into them, but haven’t seen how they are made. I am pleased to see that the best bootsmakers in the world trust in German shoes from Adidas. 😉
I’ve always liked how cowboy boots feel, and I like the look, but the two pair I’ve owned always felt like slippery ice skates when I walked on carpet, sidewalks, roads and some other surfaces.
Was that just my cheap cowboy boots?
Leather soles I think …
The front half of the boot serves no purpose without the back half, yet they are made separately. This irreducible complexity surely betokens an intelligent designer!
For the love of humanity please don’t wear those boots on your upcoming visit to Australia! Nothing you say will be heard above the laughter!
Hmmm. . . do I really want to visit a country that will laugh at cowboy boots but whose inhabitants wear hats with corks dangling from the rim?
Errr….
Now might be a good time for me to change the subject….
As another Aussie, I disagree with aussiebloke, they would be as admired as they are in the US.
Are we going to be tested on the intricate making of such a boot?
Honestly Dawn Oz, can you imagine Jerry going into an Australian pub wearing a pair of boots like that? I’m trying to save him from a faux pas from which he’ll never recover! Imagine the field day the creationists in Queensland would have? I think you and I should start a crowd funding project to buy Jerry a pair of genuine ‘Orstraylyan’ elastic-sided Blundstones (Made in India)for his visit. We can even rub some kangaroo dung onto them to make them a bit more authentic. What do you say? Are you in?
My answer was careful – those boots are meant for show – and not everyone in the US will appreciate them either. And I can’t imagine Jerry will be supping with creationists! Which pubs are you thinking of subjecting him to?
I note that the pub count started in the plural. Jerry had better pack rehydration mixes and headache pills.
Dawn Oz, you are a true diplomat – unlike me. I will leave you in charge of the pub crawl. And Jerry, the offer of a free pair of Blundstones remains open – a small compensation for letting Ken Ham escape from his cage here in Queensland and go feral in the U.S.
I think the Adidas shoe box is perfect irony.
For the offcuts and rejects.
Adidas…lol
Why your last pair of boots?