Shoe Craftspeople At Work & Busier Than Ever
Making shoes and leather products from scratch is a lengthy process that requires patience and skill. Advances in technology have rendered a large majority of leather workers obsolete, but leather repairmen and designer shoemakers still operate in specialized businesses that still adhere to the old techniques of leather working.
Shoe and leather workers use a number of hand tools in order to create leather products. For instance, leather workers may deploy hammers, knives, skivers, and awls. Skivers are hand tools that split leather in order to make the material more workable. Awls, likewise, are used to punch holes in leather in order to help in the sewing process.
Decades ago, technological advances during the Industrial Revolution created large sewing machines that allowed shoemakers to work at a much faster pace. Today’s sewing machines have advanced even further and perform many of the steps in the leather working process that were once performed only by the hand of a craftsman. Other machinery a leather worker may use includes sole stitchers …
Read more here …