"Polishing calf"

[Concordia]

One of the tidbits that Paul Davies likes to bring out of his sample book is a fairly neutral-colored (or uncolored) calfskin that he likes to call "polishing calf." With neutral wax polish it looks sort of like a chestnut color. With black or other treatments, it apparently can be nudged a lot of other directions.

Has anyone seen this from any other shoemaker? Had experience with it?

[lancepryor]

This sounds like the leather that E Green uses for many/most of its shoes, perhaps excepting the black ones -- EG calls it 'crust' leather, as it has been tanned but not dyed, so it is in a crust state -- this is a term used in the leather industry. EG can then apply polish and dyes to yield the exact color and burnishing that they want. The crust leather is a light tan color.

I don't know that other bespoke makers use any or much of the crust leather; I assume Tony G had access to it because of Green's use of it for their RTW shoes, and that he was familiar with how to finish it because of the company's expertise. Most of the British bespoke makers tend to buy finished leathers from merchants/brokers like A&A Crack of Northampton.

[dopey]

If you look at illustrations 10 and 11 of 14 in Davies's bespoke shoe gallery, http://www.thelondonshoemaker.co.uk/examples2.htm, you can see a pair he made for an LL member in polishing calf. I saw the pair in person and it is really quite beautiful. The design itself is one of Paul's own, although it is obviously just a wholecut with decorative punching. Still, the pattern itself is quite striking. For example, while I don't think it is really visible in the photo, if you look carefully at the punching of the cap in 11/14, you might see some decorative mini-punches around the center-most punch. Since the photos on the website are small and not that detailed, perhaps their owner will provide us with some larger ones.

[Concordia]

Thanks. That adds a fair bit of information.

I wonder what produced that particular color? I doesn't have a lot in common with the raw material, at least superficially.

[bengal-stripe]

Just go a bit further down here to T4phage’s thread on Paolo Scafora.

Apparently Signor Scafora is very fond of crust leather:


I saw a picture somewhere else, showing his workshop and a rack stacked with shoes of different designs in various stages of production, but all in the same pale-beige colour.

[bengal-stripe]

Just have a look at the Saint Crispin site, describing the various leather qualities (including crust):
http://www.saint-crispins.com/e_pret/index2.html

For those who haven’t seen the site before, it is a treasure trove of information about shoes and shoe making.

[Concordia]

Just go a bit further down here to T4phage’s thread on Paolo Scafora.

Apparently Signor Scafora is very fond of crust leather:


I saw a picture somewhere else, showing his workshop and a rack stacked with shoes of different designs in various stages of production, but all in the same pale-beige colour.

That's lovely, and the pale unfinished version is close to the John Lobb "Cuban" color, which I love even though I have no conceivable need for it. Davies' version, however, is more orange or mid-tan in character, however.