Building Heels & Shaping Soles for Handmade Bespoke Shoes

Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette and our series on bespoke shoes. If you're just joining mid-series, you can find the rest of the videos here. Today's video is all about building heels and shaping the soles, which doesn't sound sexy at all, but actually, heel building is one of the most fascinating parts of bespoke shoemaking. Why is that? Well, we don't just use a heel block, but it's actually built layer by layer. And this heel in particular is special and you'll see why in this video. Now, last installment, you could see how the outsole was added, cut to shape, and wooden pegs were added in a heel area. When you go to your cobbler or even at shoe factories, typically, the heel comes pre-made as a block. Sometimes, it's made of all leather, leather fiber, or some kind of leather product. In bespoke shoes, the heel is typically not just stacked layer by layer out of high-quality leather, but it's also shaped in a much more elegant way. Also, for example, it's tapered a little bit. Sometimes, that's also called a Cuban heel depending on how far in you go. The more extreme version you can see, for example, in cowboy boots. Most people in the street will never notice the heel, while bespoke shoe aficionados really can recognize and see a lot in the heel. Why is that? And it makes a big difference, but usually, you can't quite figure out what it is about the shoe, but frequently, it's the shape of the heel that really just makes it look great. I've also had slippers that used a wooden heel, but leather is better because it dampens it. The sound is nicer when you walk, and it's just a traditional material of choice for heel building. St. Paul shoemaker Amara Harg-Weber specially treats her leather before she starts building the heel. First, they're pre-cut into a rough shape. The quality of the leather is pretty much outsole leather, and you can also see that reflected in the thickness. Once the heels are pre-cut into a rough shape, they are sanded to break down the surface, which increases the glue adhesion capability. In order for the leather to be malleable, Amara wrapped them in damp newspaper for about 48 hours. That way, the leather is not completely soaking wet, which wouldn't be ideal, but it's also not dry and a lot more flexible than in a dry state. So, obviously, it increases the pliability and the flexibility, but it also helps leather to remember the shape of the final heel better. It's amazing how this, you know, all of these leathers that are fairly stiff really become malleable when they're wet. This process can be done by machine or by hand, and Amara Harg-Weber did it by hand. Probably 99.999% of all men's dress shoes have the typical crescent moon-shaped heel. Now, this was a bespoke shoe, and so, I talked to Amara and was like, wouldn't it be cool if we copied the design of the faux toe cap with that point also to the heel to create somewhat of a consistent detail that is unusual? At first glance, it may not look like they're the identical shapes because on the toe cap, the leather and the last is just a little different. But, in fact, these were the exact same patterns. When handling the heel leather, I was surprised how malleable and pliable it had become, even though it wasn't fully immersed in water. But, it was even more surprising to see how hard it dried later on. If you haven't noticed yet, a bespoke shoe project comes with lots of decisions. So, for the heel, you have to decide if you want a rubber cap, no rubber cap, if you want decorative nails, or maybe a little metal plate, or maybe a triangle that keeps the heel from wearing quickly. Most men's dress shoes out there have the black rubber cap set at a diagonal. It helps to maybe cushion your spine a little bit when you walk, and it also prevents the heel from wearing prematurely. For bespoke shoes, they come in different colors, especially something like brown. So, it's not so obvious that there's a non-leather element in your heel. Frankly, in most cases, it makes sense to have that rubber cap because your heel will last longer and you'll have to repair it less often. Of course, I, in my infinite wisdom, wanted to do something special and opted against one for this pair of shoes because I thought I already have so many other shoes, I don't wear them a lot, and it's not that big of a deal. Turns out I was wrong and I'm bringing those shoes back to Amara to add a rubber piece back on. It's a little bit of work, but I'll also have her work on another pair of shoes. Honestly, it will be an interesting project and different than this one. So, stay tuned. Before building the heel, it has to be positioned in the right way. Some makers position the heel outwardly and then shave it down. Amara prefers to do it in a different way. The location of the heel is also known as the heel rest, and Amara likes that there is a smooth transition from the heel cap into that heel rest. Because of that, she uses a pencil to mark the start and the end of the heel rest. Then, she places the first layer of heel leather called rand and traces its outline. She breaks the surface with a sandpaper because there's a smooth finish that she wants to get rid of so the glue adheres better. The special glue she uses here is called Hirschkleber, and it's non-toxic and dries really hard. It's also fun to say, It means as much as buck glue, hence the logo. Once the rand is glued on, Amara presses it firmly into place, assuring that it's exactly where she wants it to be. That's why she traced the lines. The next step is the layering of the heels, and to do so, Amara uses wooden pegs instead of nails because the advantage of pegs is that you can even hammer them in on top of each other without creating any issues, whereas metal nails, you can't do that. And no, you can't just hammer the peg in. First, you have to use a pegging awl, and then you hammer in the peg. Where the pegs go may seem random, but there's a strategic method behind it. Basically, Amara wants to achieve a very secure fit, and that starts with the first peg. You can see Amara even cutting down the heel a little bit so the peg most closely follows the edge. You want the pegs as close to the outside as you can get them, but you can't have them showing. During this step, Amara cut herself. She was like, no worries, it's just part of being a shoemaker. When you start talking to shoemakers about their wounds, it gets like really grisly, really fast. People take a perverse pride sometimes in battle scars, and this job is no different. Once all the pegs are in, Amara uses a special hammer to ensure the layer is fully flat and adhered the way it should be. And again, Amara sands down the rand to make sure it's ready for the next layer, and the glue can adhere here, too. You can also see Amara using a pin hammer to flatten and neaten the edges of that layer. Because, earlier, I wanted this really pronounced fiddleback, which she had built up, and then we also went for the pointy shape where the fiddleback would meet, the outside layer of the heel would be thicker than the inside, which will result in a really nice fan pattern down the line. Frankly, I've never seen this done before, and it's certainly not something you'll encounter every day. As you can imagine, she has to check many times to ensure everything is flat the way it should be. Once she gets there, she uses the next layer and uses it in the same way as the rand. It is first shaped, then glued into place, and then awled and pegged. Amara is really careful to keep everything properly aligned because if one line is out of whack, the following ones will be, too. And then, of course, the second layer is flattened and treated and neatened in preparation for the third layer. The third layer is applied the exact same way as the second layer. But, since shoes come in pairs, Amara constantly compares the heels between the shoes because if you have uneven heels, you will walk unevenly. Also, for the fourth and penultimate layer, Amara wants everything to be super flat. The difference with this layer is that the pegs she uses are quite a bit longer because they go through more layers of leather. The extra length of the peg gives each peg more grip, so you can have fewer pegs at this stage. Now, for the fifth and final layer of leather, Amara put them on and looked at it from all angles because she wants the shoe to stand in a certain way. She also accounts for the effect of all the layers above and how the final product will look like. That's a sassy heel. That is a sassy heel. I assume that's a good thing. Amara now uses the grinder to thin out and smooth the previous layer. In this case, she used the height to make sure she has the desired height after the final layer is added. Basically, she wants there to be one millimeter of space on the heel breast, which is the front of the heel, when you don't stand on the shoe. Once I stand in them, it will perfectly flatten out. I need to make both of these heels the same heel height. I want there to be just like one millimeter of space at the heel breast and I want to be even on both ones. And I can see right now there's a little bit, it's a little uneven. Amara proceeds to go back and forth from the grinder, ensuring that she gets it just right without taking off too much. Oh, man, building heels is hard. This is, that's one thing I, like, building heels is hard for me. It's just so much back and forth. When she's satisfied with the height of the previous layers, she traces the fifth layer. After achieving her desired shape, she now adds nails to the heel block. These are the bridge between the block and the last layer. She also doesn't hammer the nails all the way down, so they can be cut off and become invisible once the final layer of leather is there. And then, once again, she applies the glue, adds the leather, shapes it to perfection, hammers it on there. During this somewhat longer process, Chris, our cameraman, got distracted by Amara's dog, Elvis. Now that all five layers of heel leathers are built, Amara puts the shoes under a press, which she likes to call the smusher. As you can see, the shoes are pressed down in the vamp area to keep the shoe in place and then also pressed down in the heel area to really compact that heel. Of course, the uppers are protected as to not leave any marks or nicks in the upper leather. The shoes are left to dry in the press for about 15 minutes. After the heels have fully dried, it is now time to shape the heel, waist, and fore. First, the inner part of the heel is shaped and evened out. Amara uses very special knives like this rounded head knife and a rasp. She also uses various kinds of sandpapers and glass, all in pursuit to create a smooth surface that looks the part. Also, any excess leather on the outside is now being cut away. I mean, just look at this. How the fiddleback waist centerline aligns with the center point of the heel and that flare fan pattern. Not something you see elsewhere. But, hold on for a second. We're not done yet. Now, Amara will shape the waist and the fore. In other words, the front of the shoe. But, why is she doing that? So, now we're going to shape a little bit more in the fore before we move back to the heel because I want to make sure that things are proportionate to each other and that the heel doesn't somehow end up smaller than the waist. Or, you know, every time that we change one aspect, then it changes the proportions of everything. So, we're going to work a little bit back and forth. But, again, the next step will be to move into the waist area. At this stage, Amara will go back and forth between both shoes to ensure they will match in a final look and result. Amara allowed the heels to drive her nut, so she really knows what the final product looks like. In this case, my pair of shoes looked somewhat high up or floating because the middle area was higher than the front. Amara did this intentionally because it helps a wider foot get into a smaller area and it's not necessarily visible outright. Don't worry, I won't look like a ghost floating above ground while wearing these shoes. At this stage, the lines were a little straight and Amara was ready to cut everything at an angle. And as it was a bespoke shoe, I could be part in determining this angle. As the dried heel leather is now very tough, Amara had to work with really sharp knives and be really careful so she wouldn't cut herself again. After she got the angle exactly right, it was time to finish up the area again. Again, she used special knives, sandpaper, and a rasp. In the end, everything looked smooth and elegant. But to ensure that the angles are the exact same on different shoes, she used some cardboard to help her with that. It's basically a cardboard guide. Next, she used an edge trimmer to slightly bevel the bottom layer so there's no harsh corner. You might notice lots of terms are being thrown around here. Not all are industry terms. For example, smusher is something Amara just came up with, but I think it should definitely be an industry term. During the entire process of shaping the heel, Amara repeatedly puts the shoe back on a flat stone to ensure she gets the balance and the height and everything just right. She checks the shoe individually, but also the two shoes in relation to each other. As you can see, she used a pencil to freehand draw a line on the heel about one millimeter in. And she didn't use a compass because she felt like freehand, she could more accurately be in line with the natural shape of the heel. But once she had a line there, she used a grinder to basically grind things down. Now, since I was present when all this happened, I could give real-time feedback. We went back and forth and discussed it. She told me what was possible and what wasn't, and ultimately, we decided to increase the height by three millimeters. That's about an eighth of an inch. Now, when you change the heel height, you also have to make sure that you're not impacting things like the toe spring too much. And as a professional, she, of course, understood everything in that process. As a skilled shoemaker, she really helps me to find the aesthetics I want without sacrificing the comfort. In order to get those additional three millimeters, we needed to add a rand. So, in order to get there, the final layer has to be taken off. Nails that were already in were just cut off, everything was smoothed. Again, the surface of the last rand is roughened up and blow-dried to help with the glue and allow for the breaking or the sanding, so the glue can once again adhere well. So, then the new rand is glued on, the new rand is pegged, and everything is smoothed down with a grinder. And then, of course, it's a check for the proper height because the only reason we're doing this step is because I wanted three more millimeters. So, it's time to add the last extra layer of the heel. The area is blow-dried, roughened, attached with glue, hammered to attached formed heel, and sanded to shape. Just like before, various tools are used to achieve the final result. The exterior of the leather is trimmed and cut, and Amara shapes the heel with a grinder, rasps, scrapers, awls, sandpaper, and glass. She even uses elk bones. Why that? Well, the texture of the bone and the friction against it helps provide a nice finish. Apparently, the bone structure impacts the leather fiber in a certain way. You'll see, once the bone runs over the this finished leather, it really brightens up. It really almost starts to sparkle. And so, especially in the areas of the heel breast in here, it's hard to get sandpaper in there. As you can see, it's all about the right finish, shape, and gloss. Takes a lot of effort to make things look effortless. With modern means of communication, it's very easy for shoemakers, even if you're not there, keep you updated about the status of where they're at. And more importantly, if decisions have to be made. For example, when Amara was working on the stain for the heel, she could send me pictures just so we get an idea of what the final result might look like. The other thing I noticed, oftentimes, water is involved quite a bit because using it helps to reduce dust while working on the shoe. It also makes it easier to shape the heel leather because it's softer. Last but not least, it also helps the leather fibers expand and it improves compression. The top of the heels were straightened with a special kind of file, also known as ran file. Frankly, it may seem like the heel is done, but there is extensive sanding, glassing, and rasping going on back and forth to get the desired outcome. Once it seems like everything is in its desired shape, Amara lets the shoe sit for 24 hours. To compare the finishes, Amara glassed one side and sanded the other to see the difference. I felt the glass will look beautiful and so everything would be glassed eventually. You can see a lot goes into it, but we're not done. So, stay tuned for our next installment, where the finishing touches like wax are applied to get that final end result.