I ran into probably the most detailed introduction to handwelt insole carving that I’ve ever seen today, and also realized that we don’t have a running topic for sharing blog posts like this yet.
I used Google Translate for Japanese to English, and that worked well.
Photos of materials. Materials lists. Diagrams. Formulas for guidelines. Links to many videos. It’s really something.
Wow great find!! Was this just grinding or are you searching shoemaking terms in Japanese now?
One thing I’ve been doing for foreign language materials, I fed gpt a bunch of my old shoemaking pdfs and then I ask it to translate but interpret using English shoemaking jargon and to provide notes for beginners where the material may not be clear, as well as a glossary so I can see how it translates things (in case I’m suspicious or just to learn new terms.)
Here’s a sample from this blog:
4) Extra steps for hand-sewn welted construction (making the rib/holdfast)
If you’re doing hand-sewn welted, continue into rib/holdfast formation.
4.1 What the “rib” is (terminology clarification)
The author says the thing you’re about to create is called リブ (rib) and is sometimes also called ドブ / 溝 (“ditch/groove”). For clarity, the article defines:
“Rib” = the entire raised rail/holdfast feature formed by carving the insole,
“Outer groove” and “Inner groove” = the two step-downs on either side of that rib.
Beginner note: In traditional English hand-welted talk, what you’re creating is essentially the holdfast / inseam rib: the structure the inseam stitches bite into to attach upper + welt to the insole.
This is one of my favorite blogs! It is super helpful for understanding what materials and tools used in Japanese shoemaking.
There are tons of Japanese blogs but MSY is more detailed than most.
That blog is fantastic. Going to deep dive it later tonight.
When I used Google Translate on Mamoru’s homepage, I found they gave a link to MSY as a source of shoemaking info. Of course that piqued my interest.
I’d already found Kotaro Murayama’s YouTube channel and gone through some of his videos. But I hadn’t realized he was making them as supplements to blog posts.
I’d be really careful relying on LLMs for shoemaking terminology. There is lots of input content for certain concepts familiar to shoe buying enthusiasts, and therefore abundant in marketing materials as well as forum and Reddit posts. But there is scant little info out there about finer points of the making process. I’ve seen a lot of bad made-up terms and misapplications of vocabulary come out of chatbots, even out of the ones you have to pay for.
I can say this from experience, since I’ve had a number of shoemaking questions in my lists of test questions for new LLMs for a couple years now. I reliably get credible-looking but substantively hollow output for questions anywhere near the boundaries of obvious usage. Increasingly, I also get what little I’ve put out on shoemaking.wiki thrown back at me in corrupted form. The data hunters are scraping my site just like everybody else’s.
As for handwelting, I’ve very rarely seen English written sources give names for the various parts of the carvings. When I have, they haven’t been consistent, one to the next. Not that I can blame them. I have to put something in my own notes, and I can’t pretend I’ve been totally consistent, either.
What do you call the part that’s carved away around the outside edge of the insole, starting from the featherline and moving inward across the plantar surface? Feather. Bevel. Rim.
What do you call the part that’s carved away furthest inward from the edge of the insole? Channel. Groove. Ditch. Trench.
What do you call the part that’s uncarved, left standing proud of the plantar surface of the insole after it’s completely carved for handwelting? Holdfast. Rib.
The key for me is always just speaking and writing to be understood. Accepting there are multiple, overlapping terms for things makes that a lot easier to get right.
Share your favorites! I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d appreciate.
It’s not an enormous burden to run Google Translate or similar on Japanese websites. But it does make them that much harder to dig up.
Even with MSY, I’ve had some duds. Some posts about renaming the blog of finding someone to make its logo, for example.
That’s why I get a glossary for its translation so I can double check. But works better than direct translation word for word
It hasn’t been very helpful to teach me anything about shoemaking. But by giving it the books I have and letting that inform its translation, the translation has been much higher quality than untrained translators alone Even if there aren’t single right answers for English terminology, it usually picks one of the terms that is accepted well enough to be in a book, something that communicates the idea better than the literal translation
These are great resources, my goal with gpt approach is instant translation that is more fluidly readable to me than google or DeepL, and for sharing requires fewer corrections. I’ve been thrilled with it for that purpose.
Another MSY “wow” moment: 3D printed shoe lasts…back in 2021.
Japanese trained Singaporean shoemaker Tor Cheng Yao has a nice blog post on heel finishing. I used his process (with Columbus wax) to restore the edge on some worn out boots and it came out great.
Japanese blog post on online shoe making tools and supplies.
It helped me find a made to order last maker that takes orders online.
They have a large catalog and show what a finished shoe looks like. They also allow a ton of customization. Not sure if they ship overseas but I sent an email to check. They have another online store that has an overseas shipping option but it says its EMS which has been shutdown to the US since the tariff wars. Crossing my fingers that it isn’t a mistake and they ship overseas.
Great find!
Their catalog really is something. Showing shoes and boots made on the lasts—what a concept!
This is sort of a blog? From the heirs of the Kagami method of shoe making
Nice! Just bookmarked.
And I think this may be the original research paper/system they are referencing
Thanks for sharing!