I have some really killer uppers, they're some of the most comfortable boots I've ever owned, and I picked em up at a thrift store for a song. Truly fine quality black leather and superb fit. But I freakin' HATE the soles. They're first of all, about a half-inch larger than the shoe, all the way around. The soles are thick and the heels are massively chunky. The toes are way oversized, unles you have four-inch-long toes. You can tell by the shape and where the 'ball' of the foot is made to reside, they are definitely made to have an inch or two, of 'extra toe room' out front. Who knows why. In every way, they seem to be made for someone very insecure about their foot size, or envious of a sasquatch?

If I could learn how to shorten and re-shape the toe areas, and get rid of the BigFoot soles in favor of some more western cowboy boot style, these boots would be my favorites of all time.

Sorry Achbar, wish I had some advice to give. But I do hope some help shows up on this thread!

Achbar,
Here is a good primer for making a workable mock boot. It will help get you started. Lemme dig deeper into my backups and see what else I can find
sithcamaro.com/boottut/index.htm

Unfortunately I didn't download or do a copy and paste thing. I wrote out all the instructions in a notebook. I can see about scanning the pages but I tended to inject a lot of speculation and thoughts about variations as well as simplified sketches. Not sure when I'll get to the scanning. Possibly this weekend.

My boots are coming along. All the stitches are hand done saddle stitches so it's making the progress slow.