| Introduction This report is going to tell you how shoemaking is important in colonial times, how a shoe is made, what tools were used to make it and what raw materials were used to make it. You well also see a picture of some of the tools a shoemaker used. For a fact, did you know that glue was made from rabbit skin? I hope you like my report. Why a Colonial Shoemaker Was Important A colonial shoemaker was very important because a lot of people needed shoes. There were many different shoes a shoemaker would make for different people. A solider needed boots that were conferrable. A headborough had very different shoes then a solider she had fancy shoes for when she goes to court. Other people needed good working shoes like the farmer and the tanner. Doctors needed doctor shoes so it would mach the uniform. The blacksmith had hard working shoes so if one of the tools fell on his feet it would not hurt. Tools A colonial shoemaker had at least nine tools. He would measure costumer’s feet before he made the shoe. He would use one of the nine tools. It was called a size stick. These are some of the tools. Awls were one of the tools. It was used for punching holes into shoe leather. It was a pointy and small tool. A burnisher is an iron tool. It is used to rub soles and heels to a gloss. It is medal with a wooden Handel. A marking wheel is used to mark the points on a sole, where needle should go. It is a pointy object. A sole knife is used for shaping the sole of a shoe. It is different from a regular knife. It looks like a u shape and the Handel is wooden. Stretching Pliers are used for pulling the leather of the upper part of a shoe. It was made of metal. It looks like the pliers we use today. Raw materials A colonial shoemaker had used raw materials to make the shoes of a customer. Raw materials are materials from nature. Raw materials are very different then man made materials. Rabbit skin was used to make glue. Other animal skin was used to make part of the shoe. Thick cowhide was used to make the sole of a shoe. The sole is the bottom part of the shoe. Wood was sometimes used for the heel of a shoe. It was the shape of a block. Leather was used to make the upper part of a shoe. Leather is cow skin. The Process A Colonial shoemaker had to do a lot of things before he could make a shoe. The first thing he did was measure a customers’ foot with a size stick. Step 1. A shoemaker would make a model of the customers’ feet with a wooden block. The model was called a last. Then he would make two pieces of the upper part of the shoe. They were called couter and vamp. Step 2. Then he would sew the two pieces together and put them in a wooden last. Then he turned the last upside down and placed it on the lasting jack. He would use stretching pliers to pull the upper part tightly over the sides of the last. Then he trimmed the extra leather from this second row of tacks. Step 3. After that, he would select the thick leather from the sole and put it in water for many hours to make it soft and workable. Then he would remove the leather from the water and cut it into the shape with a sole knife. After that, he pounded the sole leather with a metal hammer and a wooden mallet. Step 4. Then he glued the rim of the extra leather and place the sole on top of it. When the glue cooled it is time to sew the upper part to the sole, but first the shoemaker cut a feather around the entire sole. After he ran a marking wheel along the groove and used an awl to punch the hole he had made; the linen was passed through these holes. Step 5. The shoemaker nailed the heel in layers to the shoe and trimmed the sole evenly all around with a carving knife. After all this, he removed the shoe from the last. Then he punched two holes in each of the shoes, latchets for their tie strings and burnishing the sole and heel. The work of a Colonial shoemaker was hard and slow. Most of the Colonists could neither afford the high price nor wait out the weeks and months that would pass before their order could be filled. A shoemaker had to make his shoes himself; he would take more time than we do today because today we make shoes with special machines. Shoemaking today A shoemaker in colonial times was some way the same and some way different from the shoemakers we have toady. For example most shoes are made by machines but in colonial times the shoemaker had to make shoes with his hands. Another thing is that we have basketball shoes and baseball shoes in colonial times they didn’t know what that were. The shoes we have today have zippers, laces and velcro but in colonial times the shoes had buckles. The shoes we have today are sold at stores, but in colonial times the shoemaker went house to house asking if a family member wanted a new pair of shoes or a old shoe repaired. Another thing is that we have shoes for each foot left and right in colonial times they used the same shaped shoe on both feet. Some of the things that are the same are that in colonial times most of the shoes are made of leather and some modern shoes are made of leather too. Another thing is that in colonial tomes a shoemaker had tools and in modern times we do to, but they are not the same. Some other way it is the same is that in colonial time the shoemaker measured the customers feet first and today we still do that. . |
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