Last

The last is a shaped piece of wood, plastic or metal, which is used for the construction of a shoe. The word originally meant track and footprint is related to the verb make ( create ), but not with bar. Craftsmen, manufactured strips which were designated Leistenschneider.

Form of meaning, function, types

Before starting a production of a new shoe of the strips is first made ​​to the so-called two-dimensional form templates ( on paper sheets ) of wood. Such a wooden model is used for the mass production of shoes as copy basis for the strips of plastic used in the mass production and also as a basis for grading in other shoe lengths and widths.

The shoe (more precisely, the shoe upper, in the jargon " shank " called ) is replaced by the last its final form. Thus, the last is on the one hand, a simplified representation of the foot and is responsible for the fit, but at the same time offers design possibilities, with its emphasis on the design of the shoe. For example, the toe vary widely provided that the area of the toe where the toes are in, the anatomical conditions contributes ( in height, width and length) statement. When changing the footwear consequently also change the preferred last forms, especially the strips tips are very variable. The strips form also specifies the subsequent heel height of the shoe with the so-called heel rounding.

The upper section of the shoe model and the slats must be coordinated, because the shoe is built around the last: Only the insole (insole ) of the shoe is mounted under the bars, then the shoe upper (shaft) pulled over the last ( " tweaked " ) and secured to the insole before the actual sole is applied. In this respect, the groin is the authoritative form to give the shoe his later appearance.

The strips are removed after completion of this work from the molded shoe. Many frames can be taken apart or folded for this purpose. Strips can be used repeatedly for shoe manufacturing.

One distinguishes the strips for retail shoe or boot from that of the orthopedic shoe and the custom shoe. When custom made shoe and the orthopedic shoe the foot measurements are recorded ( lengths, widths, heights, sizes ). The strip is then carefully adjusted according to the outer shape of the foot or in Maßstiefeln, also in part to the shape of the calf. Here, the wood strips is reduced if necessary by chipping and filing or enlarged by bonded leather finish. The orthopedic shoe or boot is made individually by a doctor for the patient's foot in question by the orthopedic shoe technicians. This requires a plaster model and a special after -formed last.

Phrase

There are German, the phrase: Shoemaker, stick to your last. In this phrase, it is probably the free transmission of a sentence from one of Pliny the Elder traditional anecdote about the ancient painter Apelles, who is said to have a shoemaker, who also criticized the anatomy of the person shown next to the painted of him Sandal, said "What is over the shoe cobbler can not judge ." This phrase is a call in which to stay, what you can and understand and not to comment on things of which you have no adequate (technical) knowledge.