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Shoe Repairing
The first operation in half soling a shoe is to cut off the old portion from “a” to “c” as shown on diagram No. 1. The shoe is placed in different positions and corrected in every way before putting on the new sole. It is generally better to wet the shoe in order to put it in shape.
The leather is skived thin and accurate enough to make a neat, comfortable joint, and yet thick enough for the nails to hold.
Then the filling is added before placing on the sole. The sole is trimmed and a guide line drawn around the edge, so that the nails may be properly arranged.
Finishing the sole is an important part. If everything else is properly done, this part becomes comparatively easy. See that all nails are clinched. With a level bottom, smooth joints and edges, the shoe can be made to look like a new shoe and yet feel like an old one.
On account of the heel being more directly under the body and the first part to strike the ground, it generally wears out first. For this reason in repairing a heel great care must be taken to see that good leather and solid work are put into it. Pull off the worn top piece and see that what is left is hammered down solidly. Next split a piece of solid, easy-cutting, scrap sole leather, so that two pieces can be made out of one. Put them on the shoe and fasten them on well, piece by piece, with tacks. See that the heel is level before putting on the top piece. (If necessary, a small piece may be put under the top piece.) After it is level, put on top piece, trim in shape, then draw guide line and nail down. The nails are placed thicker on the side that is worn down most, to protect the heel. The heel is next rasped, and smoothed with a buffer and sandpaper. When finished, it should set level.
Modern Method of Repairing Shoes
As the shoemaking industry has become more and more perfect, there has been an increasing interest taken in shoe repairing. A medium-priced shoe as it is made to-day may often be in good enough condition to be heeled and soled a couple of times. Hence, although in the past many shoe stores and departments have had their shoe repairing done by outside shops, the tendency to-day is for every shoe store to have its own repair department. This method has resulted largely from the development of machinery for shoe repairing, which is revolutionizing the business to such an extent that in a few years repairing by hand will be among the lost arts. With the new inventions for restoring upper leather, and the improvement of machinery for shoe repairing, repair departments will very soon be but little short of miniature factories.