I recently purchased a few vintage shoe making tools and I figured I’d share them here. The tack puller and the hammer are from Bruce Johnson. I only came across him recently and he has some really great stuff, but the shoe tools tend to sell fast. On the hammer is written “ USMC 2” and “40”. My guess is it was made in 1940. The hammer appears in the USMC tool book but I couldn’t find when the book was published.
The rest of the tools were from various auctions on eBay. It seems like months go where nothing interesting appears until someone drops a bunch of stuff they get from an estate. I think I am most excited for the inner rasp and the leather trimmer. I want to make cowboy boots at some point and the rasp should make it much easier. The only place I’ve seen one is from shoemakercraft. I am concerned that the teeth are pretty smooth. If anyone has any experience with using it I’d appreciate any tips.
The Japanese shoemakers are my biggest inspiration. In most their videos you can see them use something that looks like a french edger to remove excess lining leather. After some searching I found Mamoru, one of the main shoe making stores in japan. They have almost anything a shoemaker could ever need, at very reasonable prices. I found a lot of tools that the Japanese shoemakers use, including the trimmer. You can see that unlike a french edger there is also groove in the bottom of the blade. The trimmer I purchased has the same shape and grooves so I think it serves the same purpose. Unfortunately, it is completely dull. Mamoru says to use a triangular whetstone to sharpen so I will that a go. If anyone has seen a video or more in depth description I’d appreciate the resource.
The last tool was labeled as a “welt plough” on the eBay listing. It has a completely different look from the other welt ploughs/knifes I’ve seen. Its basically a “V” that follows a spoonish curve. I’m not sure if this is just mislabeled or if it is actually used for shoe making. It is also completely dull. I can sharpen the outside but I couldn’t find a way to remove the burr. I will also try it out with a triangular whetstone.
I hadn’t heard of MAMORU. From photos online, they certainly look like a serious shoemakers’ supply! I’ve now added a very short entry to the wiki.
@lexar4h1, did you order from MAMORU’s website and have shipped to you in another country? If that’s something the store will do, I should make a note. I’ve had pleasant experiences ordering from some Japanese sellers with websites, but I understand that some Japanese suppliers deal only nationally.
You asked about sharpening the gooseneck trimmer. It seems the product page you linked to has a related-product link to a triangular sharpening rod, dimensions 100 by 13 millimeters:
The shape reminded me of the honing rods in the old Spyderco Sharpmaker sharpening kit that I’ve head for years. I just pulled it out, and those rods are indeed about 13 mm across the three faces:
I believe they also sell replacement rods:
There may also be cheaper alternatives without the grooves, and perhaps with sharper corners.
Of course, I don’t see why a fine-tooth triangular file wouldn’t work, as well. Cheap versions are sold at my local hardware outlet:
For really cheap, you might just rub abrasive compound on a chopstick or a thin stick of hobby wood, like balsa or basswood.
Thank you for the sharpening resources! I hadn’t thought of using a stick with some polishing compound. I think I will try that and if it doesn’t work Ill get a stone.
Unfortunately Mamoru doesn’t do overseas shipping ご利用案内ページ . I believe the only way to purchase from them is through an agent (basically pay someone in Japan to purchase it for you then ship it to you). I found 1 person that went this route to buy needles for a Seiko tf-6 (the sewing machine all the Japanese makers use). I have no experience with agents so I am a bit hesitant, in particular because most agents wont give you a shipping price from them to you until you have already purchased items and it’s in their warehouse. I found one agent that seems to keep a catalog from various stores. They have the same fudge and seat wheel Mamoru sells for a similar price and what looks like similar awls. The shipping seems kind of ridiculous though. For 2 awls and 2 wheels they want 6600 jpy ($42) to Illinois. They state the shipping weight is 3.2 kg but I have a hard time believing that since my large glazing iron from Starko tools only weighs 200 grams.
Yahoo auctions in Japan also has great shoe making tools for sale at really good prices but it also requires an agent. Given the abundance of resources available from Japan, I will probably bite the bullet with an agent at some point. Unfortunately, the end of de minimis in the US makes it less attractive. I’ve talked to Victor from Starko tools and he has a lot of exciting stuff in development (awls and more rasps) so that might keep me from ordering from Japan too. The main things I am interested in from Japan is the famous “The Book of Men’s Shoe Making” and Mamoru’s premium narrow lasting pliers (They call them crocodile in Japan). I have only found one english review of this book, but it is extremely popular in Japan and contains popout patterns. I saw that Amara Hark Weber owned the book and when I asked her about it she recommended it. There are several people selling it on eBay but I found the best price from Amazon Japan. I have lots of good experiences ordering action figures from here and my total including shipping and tariffs comes out to $67 . I have been planning on making a post detailing all the Japanese shoe making resources I’ve found but I just haven’t had the time to organize and write down my thoughts.
I feel I’m really behind on Japanese resources. I can use Google Translate like anybody else, but my sense has been that it is easy to create an awkward situation when trying to be too clever ordering through a foreign online store. That’s not specific to Japan, by the way. My worst mishap of the kind in shoemaking so far happened to be with an Italian finder.
I have a local friend here in Northern California who I believe was planning to go to Japan to attend one of the shoemaking programs there. I can e-mail her a link to this discussion thread and ask about agents. I believe she already resells some shoe supplies here in the United States when she’s in-country. Perhaps she’d be interested in making a connection to the suppliers she’ll see and use at the school after she returns to the States.
For what it’s worth, I have definitely ogled those gooseneck trimmers watching videos online. But I’ve never had much trouble trimming linings with the kind of edge beveler you can get from Tandy or any number of other places online.
I made some purpose-built strops for mine out of thin strips of sole leather glued to popsicle sticks. Anything to get abrasive compound rubbing on the width of the cutting edge.
I appreciate Japanese shoemakers openness to sharing their techniques through videos. The language barrier makes things a little difficult but since there is so many videos if you look enough you can piece things together. This channel is really good for understanding some of the techniques or tools you might see in Japanese shoemaker videos. For example in this video he shows the needle commonly used for welting and how they bend it to the desired curve. For some reason a lot of the videos are unlisted but if you go to the playlist tab you can find more videos.
If you turn on English subtitles, they are excellent. I’ve never figured out why, but I strongly suspect someone very competent is translating them manually.
There have been a few times while trimming lining that it would be nice to have my hand coming in at the steeper angle the gooseneck would allow. Don’t think it’s a must have, but would be nice to give a try.
Ken is my favorite shoemaker. His dedication to the craft and spreading it is immense. I am actually working on my first shoes (derby from HJ Patrick book) and I want to follow his Reddish Brown series.Thank you for the notes on the wiki, they have been immensely helpful. I keep waiting for Kirby Allison to get a pair of bespoke shoes from Ken. I don’t know how he manages to produce such quality videos and shoes while charging so little for his work (500,000 jpy, around 3200 usd). I doubt he makes much money from Youtube.
Thank you for the resources! I hadn’t thought of using folded sandpaper to remove the burr. I actually managed to find another website that sells the trimmers and ships to the US.
They have a few other shoemaking related supplies:
Glue (Y-6) and Water (Y-10) brushes:
Compass with silver pen:
shoe hammer:
I purchased a few things including the trimmer. It took almost a month for me to receive my items and they would take like a week or more to respond every time I sent an email. On the bright side, they sent it as a gift and I wasn’t charged tariffs.
I’ve only used it on a failed test upper but it works well out of the box. Its important to peal back the lining and upper to the topline stitch. I didn’t do this and the glue was pretty strong so it ended up looking really uneven in parts.
. I have been planning on making a post detailing all the Japanese shoe making resources I’ve found but I just haven’t had the time to organize and write down my thoughts.
