Dead or perhaps dying craft

[Curley Cole]

I have an old Russian guy that is very old school. in fact he bought his shop from his uncle Boris (we always wanted him to say: "moose and squeeil", he couldn't get why we wanted it. anyways he just resoled/heeled my roughouts and said they are gonna last me 40 more years. I can't wait to take my mule-ears in for him to work on

there has got to be an old tymer in your area..look in the small old malls.

curley

[Slamfire]

 Yours ,,truly ,, lives in a small town in s.e. Okla. "I" own my own boot & saddle repair shop,,.Boots don't leave my shop , half done. All get repaired to customer's request,,,plus,, they are polished. Nearly all boots today are sq. toed & 2 row's of stitching ( on the welt), those w/ plastic welts are harder to repair because they are prone to get brittle and break. I ( when I feel like it or have time) make hand crafted ( every piece cut and made by me) working "COWBOY" boots, ,,,if they don't fit when you pick them up ,,,"YOU DON'T OWN THEM". And yes the shoe & boot repair business is about gone ,,but look at the krap they are making today, it's not about quality ,,it's about money. Even the big boot co.'s ,have their boots made in foreign countrys. ( rant,,rant). My personal boots are 10-14 yrs. old,,yes they have to have new heels & soles ever so often, they have full 16 in" tops w/ 2-21/2 " heels ( I have a high instep). The largest boot i'v ever had to make was a size 18 eee (  the lad was 16 yrs. old). The summer is a slow time for my shop,,so I do other work ( like rebuild sq. hay baylers,& work other folks twine ties),but I love to do repair & BUILD BOOTS ,,,QUALITY BOOTS. Oh yea, the closest shop to me ,,,,,,,,,45 miles, if you can catch him there.

   Hootnix aka. slamfire

[Major 2]

Curley

There is place, Castle Shoe & Boot, I had them in there. The claims are they are the best around...
I had asked for two piece leather, he wanted to install new rubber Virbam soles with an intrigual heel.
Not what I was looking to do with them...so I passed.
I know there is place in town , owned by a old black Carib Islander, he's does some repair for me before, but he hard to catch open.
I think he has scaled back much of his work load, perhaps for health.

I had kind offer, but realistically, shipping @ $11.00 + X 2 ways and the cost of repair, just is not worth the cost.
If these fit better,  I might have mess with them further.

[Mean Bob Mean]

I would ask my guy in Tallahassee.  He has a facebook page so should be easy enough to contact.  His name is Bill:

https://www.facebook.com/TheCobblersShop

I have had him make me a couple items, he would do anything I asked. 

[Don Nix]

Slamfire. i sent you a pm. I sure need to holler at you about some boots.
Thanks

[Octagonal Barrel]

There's a place near me (Sacramento, CA area) called "Mike's Sole Provider."  The guy does good work, and he does it in leather.  I needed some too-short heels built up on some work shoes.  Most places wanted to glue two thicknesses of rubber heels together.  That never even occurred to Mike.  He wanted to build up the heels with stacked leather - the way it should be done.  He isn't cheap, but he isn't as expensive as he could be, either.  A little more than I want to pay, but he'll do it right.

He's also probably half my age, so in at least some places, the art isn't ready to die out just yet.

[Massive]

Some good shoe videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MarcellHUN/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/artzend01/videos

Boots:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClXtsAqKKXWLA-TDnOoSkUQ