[captainawesome]

Hey everyone, I would really appreciate everyone's input/advice on a project that was dropped off to me earlier today.

Short story:
I need to duplicate a boot remover made out of rosewood. The original design has some flaws that I need to eliminate in the new design (arms are a little too thin which led to one of them snapping, the wedge for the bottom is attached with through dowels, and the leather surrounding the openings is held on with screws and washers). I only of the one plank of rosewood to work with and I need to get at least 2 of them out of it, but would like to have a good bit leftover to keep.

Slightly Longer Story:
My dad brought over this boot remover earlier today along with the plank of rosewood. The guy who made it originally didn't take a whole lot of care when laying it out, and as a result an arm snapped off that was reattached with glue and an awkward screw.

He wants me to make two of them for him, but improve the design. The size of the openings work well, but the shape of the outside is uneven and I'm not sold on the method of attaching the wedge to the piece. I'm also wondering if a shorter wedge would suffice. I could easily copy the design without the curves on the side and it would work perfectly fine. However, I would like to add some curves or some sort of shape to the outside to add a little aesthetics to it. I'm also wondering if the leather around the openings is really necessary. I think it would look a lot better if there were no metal fasteners holding it together, and I feel like if I sand the openings smooth enough, the leather wouldn't be needed. If it is, maybe there is a less crass method of attaching it?


Here are some pictures of what I am working with. I don't have exact dimensions just yet, but you should be able to tell the basic size in comparison to my TS top.

Top: You can see the dowels that are attaching the wedge.


Bottom:


Side:


Rosewood:



Thank you in advance for any advice you have for me! I've also never worked with rosewood (nor can I confirm that this is actually rosewood) so any tips on that would be appreciated as well.

Thanks,

Sean

 

[rayking49]

I think you could leave the leather off. I think I would just make the arms a little wider for strength, yet leave the overall shape as it is. I like the through dowel myself, but that's me.

 

[captainawesome]

I think you could leave the leather off. I think I would just make the arms a little wider for strength, yet leave the overall shape as it is. I like the through dowel myself, but that's me.

Thank you for the response rayking. I actually have never done a through dowel like that which may have been one of the reasons why I was shying away from it. The look of it is growing on me so maybe this wood be a good time to try my hand at them.

 

[joshua.ackley]

My father in law has a couple of these. He's a big guy, so these make it a lot easier for him to take his boots off. If I remember correctly, his have a solid wedge that attaches to the piece that you fit your foot in, that then attaches to the base. It's pretty sturdy, he's about 6'5, and 300lbs.

Like I said, if I can remember correctly, it looks something like this.

Guitar fingerboards are commonly made out of rosewood. And that looks rosewood to me. http://www.supplierlist.com/prod_img/tropicalb/137365_Indian_Rosewood_Fingerboard.jpg

 

[captainawesome]

Thank you for the response and for the confirmation that it os rosewood. The more narrow side is meant for regular boots while bigger side is meant for waders. I'm thinking about putting a roundover on either side of the wedge piece so it can be used in either direction.

 

[Stodg73]

The leather is to protect the leather of the boot from the harder wood. You can use tacks on the outside of the curves to attach the leather protectors.

 

[joshua.ackley]

Thank you for the response and for the confirmation that it os rosewood. The more narrow side is meant for regular boots while bigger side is meant for waders. I'm thinking about putting a roundover on either side of the wedge piece so it can be used in either direction.

You're welcome. I like the idea of the dual sides. A roundover would make it nice to more easily stand it up when flipping to the larger side for the waders, although I'd imagine that the regular boot side would probably be used more often, so if it were me, I'd have it where that side was up with it just sitting on the floor. But I suppose it's all on what the customer actually wants.

 

[Midlandbob]

I'd make the wedge with the grain running the same way as the main piece. It would avoid movement issues and could be glued to the bottom firmly with a G2 epoxy.
I would have been tempted to resaw some 1/8 inch veneer from some of the wood and laminate it onto good Baltic birch to make boot jacks that dis not have the splitting risk.