Custom Made Wide-Toe Boots Built on a Casting

This is how I got into shoe making: I had a roommate who's feet were 10-1/2-EEEE, basically duck feet. He was forced to learn to make shoes if he wanted to have any, turned it into a business, and taught me.
Much of what he knew came from The Make It Yourself Shoe Book by Christine Lewis Clark, modified with a lot of mistakes and experience. Everything here is assembled by hand, with a few simple leather-work tools and common household tools.

This is a remake and update of Wide Toe Leather Shoes Built on a Casting. I've added a few tips and trips as well as what I've learned from making boots.

My feet are wide. I am developing bunions. I hike, backpack, and bicycle a lot. Podiatrists (the good ones, at least- the bad ones just want to do surgery on me) recommend using shoes that are widest at the toes and having no heel - completely flat to help with these kinds of foot problems. I use the recommended toe spreaders to ease my problems, but they require wide shoes. Since I started making my own shoes, my bunion problems have eased and cause no pain. I've actually needed to make new foot molds for this build because my toes are straightened out and the hammertoes are gone, after wearing toe spreaders and proper wide shoes for some years. There are some other foot issues which have at least stabilized, without the surgeon's knife.

Dr Ray McClanahan says:
The first and most important step in the conservative and natural management of bunion formation involves a departure from conventional footwear and toward naturally shaped footwear. Avoid toe spring, heel elevation, and tapering toe boxes when selecting footwear. Naturally shaped footwear possesses a toe box that is widest at the ends of the toes and allows all the toes to spread

These shoes will fit when we finish making them. That's guaranteed, because we're building over a casting made directly from our feet.

The foot casting we will make can be used on multiple shoe builds. You might want some hiking boots, some dress shoes, some work boots, all can be made from the same basic pattern. In my world, dress shoes are just hiking boots that are shined up and not muddy.

This is not a beginning leatherworking project. If you haven't done leatherwork before, try something simpler first before you tackle shoes.

OK, we're not making these shoes out of crap we have laying around, tile sponges, stuff from the craft store. These are real, lifetime shoes and boots using first class materials that will last many years if taken good care of.

Sources for the material include the following suppliers:

Any local shoe repair shop! Shop local!

S&T Leather, St Louis, MO

Tandy Leather

Southern Leather Company

Ruby Orthopedics

Panhandle Leather

Some really useful materials:

These instructions describe a rather elaborate arch support. I need this because of some medical problems in my feet (which is why I make shoes in the first place). If you don't need fancy arch supports and metatarsal supports then you can just build a shoe with Soletech Cloud EVA on the bottom, it will mold into a footbed over time. You can add some commercial products such as gel soles or Dr Scholl's if that works for you. But none of those things work for me.

Orthotic shoemakers use thermoplastic products and vacuum molding to make a custom arch support for their clients. One of the geniuses at the orthotic suppliers decided their thermoplastic material would make a great craft supply, and made a mint off it. it is called Worbla, and I used sheets of Worbla's Finest Art to make shoe stiffeners and toe counters (a.k.a toe puffs).

Cellulose Stiffener Boards can be used to provide stiffness. You'll want this under your heel to spread the heel strike force, in shoes that don't have a raised heel. Alternatives include various types of nonbrittle fiberglass boards. These stiffeners take A LOT of abuse, you stomp on them with every step, and many otherwise durable materials fail quickly. Here is a list of things that don't work: Kydex, 3D printed PLA, 3D printed ABS, brittle fiberglass GR4 boards. I found Texon brand cellulose boards on Ebay.

A seller Avetco usually has Celtec cellulose stiffener boards in stock or in their Ebay store.

Soletech Midsole Sheets: You can use leather for a midsole, but Soletech midsole sheets will stand up better under wet conditions and hold the sole on better. Leather tends to shrink and then the sole becomes delaminated. They are pretty much the only supplier of midsole material I am aware of. Panhandle Leather

Soletech Cloud EVA: This is the foam that you use for your footbed. It will mold to your feet after a time, and can also be molded under heat and pressure. You'll make one or two footbed inserts out of 35-40 Durometer Cloud EVA. Sources: Spsco Ebay Panhandle Leather My Cloud EVA footbeds are sandwiching a layer of Worbla, all custom molded to the bottom of the plaster last.

Soling: For a truly flat shoe with no heel, you are either going to get a flat sheet of soling material, or a pre-made lug sole. Vibram makes a Kletterlift 148 lug sole for boots that is 100% flat. Get it three sizes larger than your regular size to go wide. For a less aggressive sole, Vibram makes a 4mm Cherry soling material in a sheet. For an in-between, Vibram 7170 Lisk has a little more tread than Cherry and comes in 4mm and 10mm thicknesses.
Sources; Frankford Leather several Ebay suppliers

Metal eyelets, D-rings or shoelace hooks can be found at Tandy Leather, Ebay or Amazon

Tools:
Scissors

Duct Tape

Drill with mixer

Clean Bucket
Knife
Rasp
Sureform file

Heat gun

Leather sewing awl
Leather hole punch
Leather shears
Large sheetmetal shears
Leather marking wheel

White cloth marking pencil
Metal ruler
Rotary cutter
Self-healing mat
6" grinding wheel

Belt sander with 80 grit paper

Leather rivet-set punch

Materials:

Posterboard or thin cardboard

Smooth-On company Algi-Safe brand mold making compound, or any rubber mold-making compound

Plaster of Paris
Food coloring

Three feet of sisal rope
Soletech Cloud EVA - this is a spongy material used for padding and insole
Cellulose stiffener boards (Texon or equal)
Soling (I'm using Vibram Lisk 10mm, previously I built boots using Vibram Kletterlift and Vibram Cherry 4mm)
Soletech midsole, 1 sheet or two oversize foot-shaped pieces (any shoe shop can provide these)
Leather:
I am using 4oz Elkhide (1.5 mm) for most of the boot, toe and heel counters are 5 oz (2 mm) stiff vegetable tanned cowhide, tongue gusset is 3 oz (1.2mm) Elkhide.
Heavy waxed nylon leather sewing thread
Iron shoe nails, 5/8"
Barge Cement
Brass D-rings and/or brass hooks for shoelaces
Worbla sheet.

91% Isopropyl Alcohol

We'll make a quick form for our mold. You'll want a cardboard-and-duct tape boot, that will fit over your feet with about an inch of space. It needs to be as tall as the boots or shoes you want to make, or a little taller. It needs to hold a casting material we'll mix up in the next step, which will be the consistency of jello. It is a one-time-use tool, so it doesn't have to be fancy.

Start by standing on a piece of posterboard, and trace a rough outline about an inch larger than your footprint. It can be boxy, but more than an inch or so of space wastes your mold-making material.

Use duct tape and scissors to quickly assemble the overboot as shown in the photos. Make sure it is large enough your foot can easily go in and out of it.

We are going to use a product called Algi-Safe "crystalline silica-free Alginate" to make a mold. Alginate is a material used in the movie industry to make casts of actor's hands and faces and so on. It is basically powdered seaweed, and is safe to the skin. Craft stores have other materials that will serve.

You'll need a friend to help you. Do this outside or use a big tarp inside - it is messy.

You will need about a kilogram of Alginate to make a pair of low-top shoes, and about 2 kilograms to make a pair of boots. If you come out short you can quickly mix a little extra to fill out the top.

It sets up fast! Use cold water to mix it, and a mixer on a drill. Work fast and pour as soon as it is pretty well mixed. Don't overmix or it will set up on you. Instructions say 5 minutes pot life but it's more like 2 minutes.

It's safe for your skin, but not easy to peel off if you are hairy. Wear an old pair of socks that you don't want anymore, or cover your skin with vaseline to make it easy to slide off. Cut the toes out of a second pair of socks if you want taller boots, hiking them up as high as you want. Wear rubber gloves if you have hairy hands, like me and my gorilla friend here, so cleanup isn't so hard.

If you use toe spreaders like me, wear the toe spreaders when you make your foot mold so your shoes will fit. The whole reason I make shoes is, I can't find any good quality shoes wide enough for my feet with the toe spreaders. Toe of the shoes should be wider than the ball of the foot.

The instructions recommend making a test mold of your thumb before continuing. Use this thumb mold to make a handy hitchhiking aid.

Find a clean bucket, use a drill mixer, and mix Alginate 1:1 by volume with COLD water, or 4 parts water to 1 part Alginate by weight. Instructions say to use warm water but this makes it set up too fast. Use COLD water.

Pour half the mix into the molds. Sit in a chair. Place your socked feet in the half-filled molds. Put your feet flat on the bottom, lightly touching the floor, not much weight on them so we can use the bottom of the mold to form arch supports later. Have your friend pour the rest of the mix into the molds, and help you to make more if you run out. When the mix is still fresh, wiggle your feet and toes to work out any air bubbles, then sit still. Be ready to mix some extra if you didn't make enough.

Pot life of Alginate is 2 minutes. Cure time is 8 minutes. Sit still until the mix is set to a firm rubbery consistency.

You won't be able to pull them off easy. Cut the back of the paper mold and the Alginate rubber with a pair of scissors, but don't cut any more of the socks than you have to. Tape the posterboard mold back together with duct tape. The socks will help the inside surfaces line up properly.

Clean up - what a mess! Hope you used a tarp. Fortunately Alginate doesn't stick to anything except hair.

The next step we will pour a plaster mix in these molds. Do this within four hours. Alginate is a natural product and will spoil.

Do this outside or on a tarp.

Put on a dust mask. No arguing - you've just survived a global pandemic, I know you have a mask. Silicosis is no joke, we'll wait.

Use a large bag of Plaster of Paris, and have the recommended amount of water measured into a bucket. You'll be using four liters of dry material.

While the measured amount of Plaster of Paris is still dry, snip about two feet of cheap sisal rope or other source of fibers into half inch lengths. Fluff it up as much as possible and mix it into the measured dry plaster. This will make the plaster stronger.

We'll end up needing about four liters of plaster mix for two boots, it's cheap so mix up plenty. Start with the water, and slowly mix the dry material into it, instead of the other way around you'll get a more consistent mix this way.

Pour the plaster mix into each shoe mold, making sure the socks are spread out properly and the sides are properly aligned where you had to cut the mold to remove it. Agitate the mold once when the toes are full, then again when the heel is full, and then once again when the whole mold is full. Use the handle of a long spoon or a one foot length of wood to agitate the mold further, making sure you drive all the air bubbles out. Vibrating the mix quickly will make the bubbles rise like it is water. Let the plaster molds set overnight.

Remove the rubber molds and discard. Oh my gawd what a mess again - clean up time!

Pull the rubber and the and the old socks off the plaster by cutting, ripping, or otherwise abusing them until you are left with the plaster casts of your feet. Saw or break off any large pieces of plaster that are obviously not the right shape. Grind off any other areas that are obviously not the shape of your foot, like sock wrinkles or other lumps.

Smooth the plaster casts with a rasp, a sureform tool, or heavy sandpaper. Don't grind off any anatomy that pokes out - like bunions, knobby anklebones, or prominent toes, you'll need to allow for those spots. Otherwise, the pattern left by the sock can be removed and smoothed out.

The plaster form does not need to be perfectly smooth, we're not carving Michelangelo here, but it is nice if at least the top of the foot and the heel are pretty smooth, those places will have to be pulled out of a finished shoe eventually. Rasp off a little extra in the arch if you need some arch support there. My shoes need to include some metatarsal support, not going to explain this but if you use metatarsal supports, this is where you start building comfortable ones in.

Next we need to add plaster around the toe to build a toe box.

Start by placing your plaster foot cast on a piece of posterboard. Draw a smooth curve from the joint of the big toe, around to the joint of the little toe, that extends 3/4" in front of your longest toe. This curve should come straight forward from the big toe joint, or even splay out a bit, and not taper in at all until it is past the end of the big toe. Give that big toe plenty of room to spread out sideways. Bunions come from tapered shoes that push on the big toe. Cut out this curve and enough paper you can tape it to the bottom of your foot casting.

Cut some posterboard that is as tall as the tallest thing from the ball of your foot to the end. This might be a prominent big toe, the ball joint, or whatever lumpy bump that which we call by many names but no one can know has blessed your feet with. Form a curve that follows the curve you drew earlier. Tape this all together into a form that will start to shape a toe box.

Mix up plaster that is a different color than the first plaster. Either use food coloring, or get a different plaster product such as Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty. Mix according to directions and pour into this toe box mold. Duplicate on the other side, and if your feet are relatively symmetrical, make the toe boxes symmetrical.

Once dry, start sanding off the toe box to a smooth curve. Use the contrasting color plasters to avoid sanding into the foot mold you already made. We want this toe box to be smooth and round, but not constrict our toes at all. Plenty of room for them dogs to get some air. Make them both symmetrically round if your feet are close to the same size. My feet, like many people, run a half size different, a problem exacerbated by commercial shoes which are either too small for one foot or too large for the other. Spend some time to make a pleasing shape that is symmetrical in both shoes if that is possible. Remove a bit more material under the arch and under the metatarsal area if you need metatarsal support.

Lots of people make perfectly good shoes with little or no arch or metatarsal support. You can just cut a flat piece of Soletech Cloud EVA to fit the inside of your shoe. It will mold into a satisfactory footbed over time. I like two 4mm layers in my shoes, you can use one or two.

If you really have to have arch support, there are a dozen cheap products you can buy from Dr Scholl's to gel soles. IF they work for you then use them and read no further on this step.

However I've tried all that stuff and I have some very specific needs for metatarsal support. All the commercial metatarsal support products hurt my feet. We're going to build a custom arch and metatarsal support molded to our feet.

We are going to use a toaster oven, a plastic bag and a shop vac to make a cheap one-off vacuum mold of our foot.

We'll start by cutting out a sheet of Soletech Cloud EVA foam bigger than our plaster last by at least an inch all around. Cut it generously, it shrinks 10% in the oven. Place this foam in the toaster oven and bake at 85C for about five minutes. Turn it over several times, and monitor closely to make sure it doesn't burn. If you can smell it, pull it out immediately. Handle with thin gloves or barehanded, it isn't that hot.

We'll use our plaster last/mold, this heated sheet of foam, a bag and a shop vac to custom mold it to the exact shape of the bottom of your foot.

Arrange the plastic garbage bag with a sheet of cotton cloth at the bottom, to keep heat away from the bag. Get ready with the vacuum and the plaster last/mold handy. Pull the foam sheet out of the toaster oven - it should be very floppy and pliable - place it on the cloth in the bottom of the bag, place the plaster last over it, pull the bag tight around the vacuum hose and turn on the vacuum. Use hands as well to arrange the foam around the last/mold so that it curves up around the heel and the instep. You have about 15 seconds before the foam is cool and has taken a shape. If you mess it up, you can bake it again, but watch that the curled up edges don't burn. If an area needs a little more help you can fix it with a heat gun and mold it again with vacuum or by hand.

Now we have a piece of sturdy foam that exactly matches our instep and arch.

We'll support the arch and the edges by a time-honored simple shoemaking technique - add too much material and then grind it off. Use a high temperature hot glue (not that low-temp crap from the craft stores) and an 80 watt glue gun (once again not those silly little ones that are good for gluing hearts onto valentine cards). I don't usually recommend hot glue for shoes, but it is just perfect for EVA foam. It bonds stronger than the foam, stays flexible, and sets fast. Industrial shoe manufacturers use a lot of hot glue, but they are using the good stuff - glue we can't even buy! Surprisingly, hot glue and Cloud foam are made of the same chemistry - EVA.

Glue pieces of foam across the arch support, instep, and around the edges of the heel. Sand them with 80 grit sandpaper and an electric sander until the bottom is flat. Carefully sand the edges until the edge of the foam is flush with the edge of the plaster last/mold. Curve in on the arch so the shoe wraps around this area and is cut inside the edge of the shoe by about 3/8". Flatten out the toe area with a heat gun so that the toes are not constricted in any way by the footbed. You can make the sanding process easier by temporarily attaching the footbed to the plaster last with two large dollops of hot glue. Don't overdo it, you will have to remove this later.

The bottom of the insole should now be completely flat, while the top is shaped to your arch.

Cut out another piece of foam just bigger than the footprint of the foam you just ground down.

We'll sandwich a piece of Worbla between the insole you previously made and another piece of flat foam.

Heat a piece of Worbla cut to just a little smaller than the edge of the foam, and short enough so it doesn't quite come to the ball of your foot. This will be a stiffener that protects the heel, but doesn't prevent the toe joints from moving freely. Heat it in the oven at 85C on a small sheet pan covered with parchment or a sheet of foil. Remove it without letting it touch itself (it sticks to itself tenaciously) and place it on the top foam. It's fine to do this with bare hands it won't burn. Place this immediately on the second piece of foam that you cut out and press firmly. Worbla will partially adhere to the foam. Use hot glue on the edges (not the field) to secure both pieces of foam together. Trim and sand the second piece so that it is flush with the first.

Congrats, you have now vacuum molded something by the quickest technique available, and made an arch support completely custom made for your feet.

Try your foot in the footbed. It should feel very comfortable.

Make another footbed for the other foot.

The footbed will simply be trapped inside your shoe, it does not need to be fastened at all and can be replaced later if it gets worn. The Cloud EVA will conform to your foot over time and become even more comfortable if that is possible.

Leave the footbeds attached to the plaster lasts by two dollops of hot glue toe and heel. We'll remove these later but for now it will be handy to leave them in place. Don't overdo these globs of hot glue, they need to be removed later. A half inch bead is plenty.

One of the attached files is a set of patterns for tall boots. The height of the boot is up to you - can be easily adjusted. Make sure the top of the boot is the same as the circumference of your calf where the top of the boot will land. The pattern is universal so it can be used as-is unless your feet are very small or very large. It will work for most adults as long as the calf is properly adjusted. We'll stretch it around the last for a custom fit.

For the main parts of the boot - the toe and the upper, I am using 4 oz. (1.2-1.6mm) elkhide, which is a soft and durable leather. You can use cowhide for these parts but use a thinner grade for flexibility - 2-3 OZ or 0.8-1.2 mm. Thicker cowhide will be too stiff and cause problems delaminating the upper from the midsole.

If your feet are large, make the main parts of the boot larger. These patterns will work for small feet up to about size 11 without modifications.

The counters need to be thicker leather. Use cowhide for the heel counter. These provide stiffness to these parts and prevent the toe from collapsing, also protecting the front of the foot from a stubbed toe. 4-5 oz (1.6-2mm) cowhide is good for toe counters. We'll also stiffen these up with a sheet of cellulose stiffener board. We'll stiffen the toe ("toe puff" or toe counter) with Worbla.

The tongue needs to be very thin leather. 2 oz or 0.8mm and very soft, if you can find it. Elk hide might be fine for this but a soft cowhide will work as well.

Print the attached patterns so that the scale comes out right. They are 11X17" paper size, so you may have to go to a copy store to print them, or else guestimate from the given dimensions. Leather patterns are very forgiving of small errors.

Cut the leather with a rotary cutter against a self-healing mat for best results. If that isn't available you'll need good quality heavy shears.

We'll be using a sewing awl to punch holes in our leather and sew it together. I like the "Speedy Stitcher" kind with a spool built in. Others may prefer another type which is more of a hook. You'll need extra needles because they are liable to break. We'll be using waxed nylon thread with a breaking strength of at least 35 lbs - fairly heavy. You may want a lighter gauge for working around the tongue area.

Each time you make a seam, start by gluing it together with a light coat of Barge cement. Be very careful to avoid getting glue all over the leather - it does not come off easily and makes an ugly stain. Carefully apply glue just to the area where it is needed, and keep your hands clean of it.

In order to glue a seam, start in a well-ventilated area. Using a small cheap artists brush, or an old paintbrush for larger areas, paint Barge cement on one piece of leather, then on the other. Let them dry for a couple of minutes. Two minutes is the time according to the box, but really wait until the glue stops being shiny and moist. Place the glued sides together and clamp or whack with a light rubber hammer. Barge is contact cement - once they are together they are stuck.

Pre-gluing like this makes sewing much easier. There is an optional tool called a spacer, looking like a little gear, that can mark regular spots for your needle to punch. I'll not instruct folks how to sew leather, but I usually use a stitch that runs a back thread through a separate needle. Some also prefer a lock stitch that uses only one needle and one thread. Sew each seam neatly and double sew (two seams) the major ones. Only a single seam is needed around the tongue gusset. See pictures for clarity.

For heavier leather you may need to pre-punch holes, especially when we get to putting on the midsole. I dont' really recommend heavy leather with shoes - it can be too stiff and hard to work with.

I find sewing leather to be a calming and peaceful activity to do by a wood stove on a sold winter's night.

Our heel counter is heavier, stiffer leather, with an optional stiffener of cellulose stiffener material. It shapes the back of the boot, and helps keep your heel from slipping.

Both leather and cellulose stiffener can be easily molded to any shape by first soaking them in 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. Once wetted like this they will hold any shape that you stretch or push them into and hold until they are partly dry.

With the smooth side of the soaked leather in toward the foot, Wrap the heel counter around the heel of your plaster last/mold so that the bottom of the leather comes down to approximately where the midsole will be. Wrap it in place - I used that shrink wrap that they wrap commercial packages in, tight Saran wrap or a tight ace bandage would also work. You want the heel counter to follow the curve of your heel, and pinch in just a bit to follow the curve of your achilles heel. This will help keep the boot from slipping up and down at the heel and causing a blister. Let the wrapped leather dry for a while (the plaster will soak up alcohol and let it dry). It can still be wet when you unwrap it, as long as it dries sitting in the correct shape.

The heel counter will be sewn at the top and just trapped (meaning it is pinned between layers of material but isn't really fastened) at the bottom.

Our toe puff or toe counter will hold the toe of the boot away from your actual toes and create a nice looking shape. I've used leather for this, but the simplest and easiest way is to heat up a sheet of Worbla in the toaster oven at 85C, on top of some foil, and then just shape it barehanded over the toe of your plaster last/mold. Make sure it comes behind your toe joints, and that the last has the foam insole attached. The toe puff needs to extend all the way to where the midsole will be. It will be glued at the top and just trapped at the bottom.

We will glue the toe puff in later. For now, sew the heel counter in place. I like to put a bit of glue on it first just to hold it, then use sewing to keep it where it belongs. The heel counter should protect your heel, achilles tendon, and the sides of your ankles, and the seam should not rub on any of these places. If you decide to use a cellulose stiffener, shape it to the heel of the plast cast with an alcohol soak, let it dry then simply glue it between the heel counter and the back of the boot.

Now we're ready for the step that really makes it into a shoe - the midsole!

In order to remove your plaster last/mold later, you'll need to cut it in sections with a saw and pin it back together with a dowel. See the pictures, but make a cut right through the top of the instep, about where your shoelaces would tie, first drilling a hole at right angles to the cut where a dowel will insert later. I used a 3/8" wooden dowel. Make a cut across the ankle about where the top of a low-top tennis shoe would come to, also drilling a hole for a dowel first. With the dowels in place, you have a good mold of the shoe, but when you pull the dowels it will come out of a finished shoe with some struggle.

Trace your foot mold onto a piece of Soletech Midsole material, or heavy leather if you are using leather midsoles (I recommend the midsole material, it deals with water much better and doesn't shrink.) Add about 3/8" all the way around, except at the heel (the furthest extent of your heel should be the same as the furthest extent of the midsole) and at the instep, where the midsole should come under the edge of your foot by a little.

You'll use a little Barge cement around the edges of the midsole, and also on the inside of the leather upper where you estimate the midsole will join. This is mostly just to keep the materials together while they are being sewn. Let the Barge cement dry for two minutes or until you can't see any wet areas.

Up to this point your foam insole has been glued to the plaster last with a spot of hot glue. Break this little glue joint now, and remove any residue of glue from the foam insole without damaging it. The insole and plaster last will need to be separated later, and it is easier of you break the glue joint now. Don't forget to build the insole into the shoe!

Place your plaster last/mold and insole into the leather upper, and place it where it will go on the midsole. STARTING AT THE HEEL, use your fingers and then a pair of smooth jawed pliers to stick down the upper to the midsole right at the back of the shoe.

Now move to the toe area. Place your Worbla toe puff on the plaster last. Put a liberal amount of Barge Cement on the toe puff, but not so much it will squeeze off the edges. This is the only thing holding the toe puff in place, besides being trapped.

STRETCH the toe of the leather over the toe puff and stick it down on the edge of the midsole. Make sure you don't drag the toe puff out of place. The more you stretch the smoother the final shoe will look. Pinch the toe onto the midsole with smooth jawed pliers. Now your upper should be glued at the toe and heel.

There is now a great wrinkle of leather on both sides of the shoe. Find the middle of this wrinkle, stretch it over the last, and pinch it down in one place with smooth jawed pliers. Repeat on the other side. Then find the middle of the next wrinkle (there are two of them on each side now) stretch it over the last and pinch it down in one spot with smooth jawed pliers. Repeat this process until there are no more wrinkles and all of the leather has been stretched over the last and glued to the midsole.

Use a sewing awl and heavy waxed nylon thread to sew the midsole onto the upper. Use the awl at an angle to pull the leather in under the curve of the foot.

Trim the edges of your midsole and upper so that you have no more than 3/8" extra around the edge of the shoe. Trace this midsole onto some soling. It will be easier to glue if it is oversized. I had to cut it out with a bandsaw, heavy shears can also work.

If you decided on classic wafflestompers (Vibram Kletterlift is a pattern with no heel that is recommended) then you'll likely need a sole that is several sizes larger than your foot. I used a 14 and I wear 8's to 10's.

Vibram Cherry is a thin, flat soling material (4mm) that is great for dress shoes but not enough tread for a good boot. I found a Vibram Lisk 10mm that seemed like a good compromise between traction and not tracking mud around.

You'll glue the sole onto the midsole with Barge cement. This is the most critical glue joint in the shoe. Put an even layer of glue on both surfaces, and let it dry. The glue it ready when there are no shiny wet areas left.

You get one chance at this, so make it good. Line up the upper and the sole, and stick them together. After that, any pressure you can get on the surfaces will improve the bond - stand in the shoes, hammer on the soles, squeeze them by hand.

I decided to nail on the soles as well. GLue doesn't hold thick soles onto boots very well - they tend to delaminate at the toes and at the middle of the shoe. Nails can take the stretching and bending without letting go. Using a clinch nail from a shoe supplier, I made sure the nails are bent over and recessed on the bottom, using a hammer and a pair of vice grips alternately to make sure the nails were clinched and not going to scratch up floors. I only used clinch nails around the edges, so as to not risk the possibility of a sharp edge inside the shoe.

After the glue is set and the nails are in place, trim the edges of the sole and the midsole until there is a neat rim around the edge of the shoe about 5/16" wide. You can use shears or a jigsaw, but make the final cut by sanding the edge with a sander. Be careful not to sand the face of your leather, only the edge of the sole and midsole.

Wait 24 hours for glue to dry. Remove the plaster last/mold by removing the wooden dowels, then pulling out each section of plaster. The toe will be the hardest to remove, but will eventually come out by twisting and pulling. The shoe is plenty durable now it will not be damaged by some force.

The shoe is ready to try on fir size. Check to see if any adjustments are needed, usually they are not.

I like using brass speed hooks and D-Rings on boots, but others may prefer eyelets. The eyelets I have are a bit tight on a heavy boot lace, which is why I like D-rings.

About ten hooks and four D-rings were adequate for each of my boots, you may want more or less. Using a ruler, lay out a regular pattern on the lacing area of the boot, I put them about 4cm apart. Punch holes with a leather punch, just big enough for your rivets or eyelets, and use a rivet setting punch and a small mallet to install the eyelets or speed hooks. Carefully check that they are symmetrical as you lay them out.

Lace up your boots and try them on!

If you need any adjustments, now is the time. Worbla that needs an adjustment can be shaped using a stone heated in boiling water. Handle it with a thin glove, place ithe hot stone against the Worbla until it is pliable, and shape the Worbla between the hot stone and your hands. I had a little spot that rubbed one of my toes that I fixed this way. You can also shape leather areas by soaking them in 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, then shaping them to your foot or a plaster mold, or stretching them around a stone or another object while they dry a bit. I usually don't find much that needs any adjustment.