People keep sending me photos of cowboy boots that have been cut down into sandals with long tops, or “golf boots” with cleats on the bottom. No more! The only good cowboy boot is an old-style cowboy boot. Is there any reader who would wear these, which I saw on eBay?

My custom boots (real boots) will probably come tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Time to prepare the boots for inseaming and the laying of the shanks. You can see Lee is whip stitching in the shank area.

Around the heel as well.

Almost all the way around.

Lee inseaming.

And, here he has finished one.

He trims the welt with a lip knife.

Next come the outsoles.

He has marked the leather for the sole and is trimming the excess leather.

Checking to be sure he has the correct length.

Cutting the piece in half.

Now to make the shanks. Lee takes a “timber nail” and heats up both ends. [JAC: Note that in a real custom boot the shank isn’t a pre-ordered strip of metal, but is constructed from hammering flat a large nail.]

Once the nail is heated, he pounds both ends on an anvil.

And puts the nail in cold water to temper it.

In the meantime, the boots and different components are outside drying in the sun.

Now, he lays the shank in.

He hammers the nail in place.

And, takes leather pieces and puts one on each side of the shank.

Trims the leather pieces.

Hammers the leather pieces.

Puts the shank cover on.

 Hammers the shank cover down.

 Sands the piece to shape it.

 And, checks to see that it’s level. Tomorrow, the outsoles.

The boots have been lasted and are now ready to have the toe boxes put in.

The leather toe boxes have been cut out and are now soaking.

After a bit, the toe boxes are taken out and wrapped in newspaper to “mull.”

 

Meanwhile, the leather is pulled back from around the toe.

The excess lining leather is cut away.

The area is now ready for sanding.

And, the lining is painted with cement.

As well as the toe.

The boots sit to dry a bit.

The leather toe box has been wrapped around the toe and nailed on.

And the toe has been sanded and shaped. Left boot has not been sanded and shaped, but the right toe has.

The toe has been painted with hardener.

The toe is painted with cement.

Cement is also applied to the leather.

And, the leather is pulled around the toe.

As the leather is pulled over, it’s also nailed down.

A string is wrapped around the nails to help keep the leather pulled down.

And, now it sits to dry.

But, first we need to stitch the toe flower on.

Here you see the vamps, the hard counters and the pattern for the toe flower (upper right).

Lee stitching the toe flower.

Another view.

The underside of the vamp with the toe flower sewn on.

Now it’s time to attach the hard counters.

The hard counters are on, cemented and drying.

Ready to put the kangaroo counter on the hard counter.

Lee applying the kangaroo to the hard counter.

It’s on.

Time to sew everything on.

 The counters are sewn on the back panels.

The vamps are sewn onto the front panels and are now ready to be side seamed.

The boots have been side seamed and are now ready to have the pull straps attached.

Lee sewing the pull straps.

Again, another view.

Pulling the tabs of the pull straps through to be sewn down.

The pull straps are on, and the boots turned. Ready to last. [JAC: In this photo you see how the mirror writing appears from the side: a true mirror image of the script that makes it look more like art than calligraphy.]

Here we are going to begin to stitch around the name.

 At this time we’ll also sew the linings to the back of the tops.

On the right side, you can see that the name has been stitched on the outside with blue, and the “stitch in the ditch” in rust, blue around the rose, with the detail and again the “stitch in the ditch” on the stem and leaves of the rose. The left side name only has the blue outline of the name.

Here is a better view of the stitching around the rose.

Charlotte is trimming the excess lining from the top panels.

 Here’s one panel done and ready to start the fancy stitching. [JAC: All the stitching is fancy, of course, but Carrlyn’s referring to the decorative stitching on the shafts.]

 Here Lee has started stitching. One row at a time.

A closeup.

One panel is done! [JAC: the clefts are at the front and back of the boots, with the panels sewn together at the sides. Thus the names will be mirror images of each other along the sides, forming two divergent curves that touch in the middle. This style, in which a name is turned into art, was pioneered by Charlie Dunn, with whom Lee apprenticed. The pinched yellow roses in leather, whose construction is a trade secret, also came from Dunn. Note that there are 4 rows of “fancy stitching,” all perfectly lined up, and all done by hand on a single-needle sewing machine.]

 Now he burns off the thread ends.

 And Lee uses this particular hammer to press them down.

This is the fifth post about the making of my Last Pair of Boots, under construction by Lee Miller of Austin, Texas. I hope by now you’ve gotten an idea about how complex the whole process of making a custom boot really is. I was just told that the pictures are behind the boots, which will be done Friday, so there will be more to come—right until they’re put into the box. I’m also told that the leather tannery is no longer making rust kangaroo color, so these will be the last ones in rust Italian kangaroo—for everyone. The photos and captions are by Carrlyn Miller.

Here the wrappings have been taken off, and you see the insole that has been nailed on. As we get into making the boots, the nails will be removed.

Lee is skiving the rust kangaroo for the name.

Skived pieces are waiting to be put in.

The pieces for the name have been cemented in.

The reverse side.

Preparing to put the rose in.

The rose plug that you saw earlier is put back in. This helps the rose to puff out.

The piece cemented in.

The green was put in for the stems and leaves before putting the plug back in.

The yellow has been put in, with the detail of the leaves drawn in.

Lee is sewing around the stems and flower.

A close up view.

Around the rose has been sewn in. The flourishes for the name have been drawn in.

When doing fancy stitching, the pattern that you saw earlier that had the pin holes marking the design is taken and laid on the tops, and a bag with powder is rubbed on the pattern. When you pull the paper pattern away…

Here’s a Wall Street Journal video about Lee and his work. at 2:31 he shows some Italian-tanned kangaroo which I believe is my rust color. And note the pinched yellow roses at the end; I have four on mine.