Hello everyone! My name is Zach Christiansen. I’m a bootmaker, but I work in manufacturing/engineering to pay rent:P I live in New Jersey, with a move to either NYC or Philadelphia in the works as I search for a new job.
I became interested in bootmaking over ten years ago when I saw a bootmaking video on YouTube. I’ve always been a maker, and that video pricked every maker neuron I have. I was an interested observer until I graduated college and got a job, which supplied me with the money I needed to buy tools and materials. At that point I became an interested participant.
My first pair of boots took about a year to make. I spent most of my time researching and comparatively little time actually making. I credit the success of my first pair mostly to my slow, patient pace.
This is by far my best-fitting pair, and probably my best-executed.
I love what Kyle is doing with this forum. I’ve dreamed about compiling all my research into one place, but I don’t have the know-how or patience for it. The Colloquy is amazing, but as you’ve also observed, mostly defunct. Reddit and Instagram are useful but there’s so much fluff to wade through. I look forward to participating in this growing community and (hopefully) contributing meaningful content!
Let me know if there are any gaps that need filling or slack that needs taken up. I have a lot of free time at the moment and I’d love to help.
That’s a pretty incredible first pair of boots! And jumping right into making it your day-to-day pair of shoes is awesome. I got some great advice to try wearing my own first pair, at least a few times, even though they look pretty hideous. I learned a ton, though I’m still working up to a pair that can compete for my feet with the commercial stuff I have in the closet.
Those Chelseas look super slick, too. Could I ask a couple questions about them?
How do you like the taller shaft height?
It looks like the gores go pretty low, close to the featherline. I think that looks great. How does it wear for you?
As for the forum and getting more discussion going, I’ll steal a phrase from my friend Allen Gunn: What this forum needs most now is a little constructive selfishness.Please feel free to make posts asking questions, documenting progress on your pairs, or just bringing up shoemaking things that are on your mind—whatever would be valuable to you.
It’s usually easier to reply than get a conversation started. Even with just the few of us here so far, it’s been amazing how much I’ve gotten out of discussions.
I love it. The fitting pairs I made had a shorter shaft height and I hated that the top of the shaft would catch my jeans when I squatted or sat down. The higher shaft was a lot more difficult because of the wholecut pattern, but totally worth it.
Incredibly well. I did seven or eight fittings before committing to the lasts, and it totally paid off. They don’t fit perfectly, but they fit better than any other pair I’ve made. The low elastic makes it easier to get them on and off, and the large negative space in the leather upper gave me a lot more wiggle room for the wholecut pattern. I’ll make a post soon about the patterning I did for these boots, because it was pretty interesting.
Are those side seams shown in the photo the only seams of the uppers? If so, those pattern pieces must have been huge!
Really great example of what hobbyists can do that very, very few bespoke pros could even justify. Mind me asking if those test fittings were glass slippers, test shoes, or some other method?
I’m really focused on refining my way toward making boots better than what I can buy. But it’s in the back of my mind that I’m going to need to think more about test fittings as I get away from modding shelf lasts to sculpting my own. Maybe even warm up to doing cemented with some simpler patterns, just for shape.
That would be awesome. Clearly, we could have a whole discussion topic about that pair.
