For most of my life as a shoemaker, I worked in one workshop and had all my tools and equipment in one place. I imagine this is the case for the vast majority of shoemakers around the world. But since we opened our workshop at Gieves and Hawkes on Savile Row, we have had to start making shoes in two locations. Now this presents a few problems. If I was a cabinet maker or a jeweller, for example, I could simply have bought a new set of tools and equipped the new workshop with a second set.
But, as with all things shoemaking, it is not that simple. Shoemaking tools were once cheap and easy to find because there was a shoemaker in every town (almost). But as the trade has shrunk to its present niche size, the availability of tools has become ever more scarce.
Most shoemakers starting out now spend a lot of time scouring the world and Ebay for old tools. One, because new ones are often not available and two, because the new tools you can find are often inferior to the old ones.
I spent most of my apprenticeship collecting a decent set of tools, particularly edge irons. John Lobb helped enormously with this because they have a collection of old tools especially for this purpose, but I also went to old shoemakers, car boot sales and flea markets trying to complete the set.
When the two workshop conundrum arose, we decided that the simplest solution was to buy tool rolls and travel between the two with our tools. You might think that we could simply have split our tool kits and used each other's tools but it does not work like that. You get very used to your own tools and your making develops to in line with the tools that you use, so that changing tools is not easy. This might sound very fussy, but it is absolutely true. I even take a simple nail hammer with me because I like the way it sits in my hand and the weight of it. Other hammers just don't feel the same - weird huh?
So below are images of what I take. I think it is illustrative of what you would need as a basic tool kit. There are some tools not here which we had duplicates of and have at both places.
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| Tool Roll One |
Contents of Tool Roll One from left to right
Welting awl
Sleeking bone
Dividers
Stitching awl
Broken awl with sharpened tip for making a groove in the channel
Feathering knife very kindly given to me by Marcell Mrsan
Plough
Fudge wheel
My favourite Japanese rasp
My flat paring knife which is the most important and most often used tool I have.
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| Tool Roll Two |
This tool roll has all my edge irons and two seat wheels. As you can see, they are all antique and very precious. Contents from left to right
2 seat wheels, a big one and a fine one
3/8" edge iron
Full 5/16" edge iron
Light 5/16" edge iron
1/4" edge iron
Single lipped iron
Full 3/16" edge iron
Light 3/16" edge iron
This is enough for most soles that we make, but we have more irons for other sizes too.
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| Tool Roll Three |
Sharpening stone
Lasting pliers
Welt beater
Small screwdriver
1/8" waist iron
3/16" waist iron
1/4" waist iron
5/16" waist iron
Last, but very much not least, are the tools too big to go in a roll. These travel in a bag with the rolls. And they are from left to right
Leather mitt for welting
Nail hammer
French shape hammer
Heel iron
Deer bone
Nippers
Nail puller
Next week, I will start going through all these with a description of what they are used for and other useful, interesting or amusing information.
We hope you found this interesting and or useful.
Until next week, happy shoemaking!
