Cutting the grooves

[ShaunPug]

Ok, so I had finished covering my boots a while back and got involved with school, etc., and forgot that I still wanted to cut the grooves. I have since started, and have finished cutting the front half of my right sole. It looks really cool, but I want to ensure that its being done right.

 

 

I drew out how I wanted to cut it out first, and used an X-acto blade to do the cutting. I do however have some questions about the back half of the sole

 

How can I remove the stuff inside the area I cut? Also, how many 'ribs' or 'raised' areas should there be? Looking at my boot compared with the reference photos of the shoe, it looks like my boot has to many existing cut ins on the sole...

What would be the best option here?

Thanks for the help!

[Fettski]

Wish I could be more help. They look good so far. To remove the material, a little unconventional, but something similar to a cuticle cutter might work well.

[Andrew]

dont even worry about it lol.

[ShaunPug]

haha, well, I'm definitely a perfectionist and like to have things...well, perfect. lol

I would really like to shoot for Lancer, and just really want to make sure that I have acceptable boots w/ the proper cuts and grooves so I don't need to start over. The fronts look pretty good, but I want to know for sure a good way to go about doing the back sides before I start

[Chex]

While doing my Shadow Scout boots, I used a squared off hobby blade. I have some of varying sizes, cut the outline to the depth I wanted, then just slid it up or down to cut out the groove. Pain in the but, but it worked and looks good.

[Witness]

Just the bottom cuts in the heal are acceptable for lancer. When I started doing my boots, I only did the bottom cuts. I switched to a boot with a more uniform sole that is easier to cut. Now I am doing the tops as well.

 

Original:

 

New:

[ShaunPug]

Oh ok cool. I'll start on the bottom cuts then. Is there a specific amount of areas that need to be cut on the back half?

[Witness]

Oh ok cool. I'll start on the bottom cuts then. Is there a specific amount of areas that need to be cut on the back half?

 

 

No, just try and make it look as even and neat as possible. I make my cuts at the existing sole ribs and then in between.

[ShaunPug]

Sweet! I'll post my completed pics when I'm done!

 

[Andrew]

Sweet! I'll post my completed pics when I'm done!

can't wait to see

[tuskenfett]

you dont know anything drew

[ShaunPug]

Done! Took a while, and was really a pain (physically and mentally, I cut myself BAD because of a lack of intelligence on my part )

 

 

 

Just for comparison purposes, here is a before shot:

[Chex]

Looks good. Like I said before, I don't know how Witness deals with all the cutting. No one ever said looking good was easy though.

[Witness]

Looks great! Skin on fingers is overrated.

[ShaunPug]

haha!

I plan on going in the seperate grooves I cut with a small dremel sanding head to clean things up.

Another thing to do as I wait to pay for the rest of my outfit :/

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

[Spectre5549]

Excellent work! It isn't a hobby unless you put your sweat and BLOOD into it! Figuratively and literally of course*

[ShaunPug]

Excellent work! It isn't a hobby unless you put your sweat and BLOOD into it! Figuratively and literally of course*

 

This fact is definitely something that has been brought to light in my endeavors haha

[THAWK819]

Nice job on the cuts. Don't sweat the blood man, probably the first of many if you enjoy this hobby. I'm still working on my boots and actually managed to stab myself in the belly with a #11 exacto blade doing my lancer sole cuts, lol. (Not too deep, didn't hit anything vital, lol)

 

I could only think to myself, "I lived in Brooklyn for 25 years and THIS is how I get stabbed?" I think the attending PA in the emergency room wanted to have me comitted, lol. My wife was surprisingly understanding though.

 

Good times, good times.

[ShaunPug]

Dude, no joke I stabbed myself in the belly as well when I first started doing the cuts. haha, I just mentioned the good slice in my thumb because it was the worse of the 2 injuries haha

[Darth Voorhees]

Nice job on the cuts. Don't sweat the blood man, probably the first of many if you enjoy this hobby. I'm still working on my boots and actually managed to stab myself in the belly with a #11 exacto blade doing my lancer sole cuts, lol. (Not too deep, didn't hit anything vital, lol)

 

I could only think to myself, "I lived in Brooklyn for 25 years and THIS is how I get stabbed?" I think the attending PA in the emergency room wanted to have me comitted, lol. My wife was surprisingly understanding though.

 

Good times, good times.

 

That brooklyn comment cracked me up Tom! LOL! Yea ive cut/stabbed myself a few times in my almost 3yrs in this hobby...comes with the territory i suppose..lol. Its all worth it though Tom....all worth it...lol

 

Facechubb...the boots look great!

 

I really need to get started on mine. My old ones looked good, but a little rough on the sole cuts. Hopefully round 2 will be neater!

[303trooper]

Shaun, just saw your thread.. Nice boots and has helpedme alot with mine as I'm after Lancer status at some point too..

 

Did you get status approved as I'm curious about the sewing to hold the velcro on your boots? Did you have a ref pic for this at all..??

 

And did you go any deeper at the back of the soles with a tool of some description and more to the point. Do you have any recent pics...??

 

Cheers..

[ShaunPug]

I still have yet to complete my costume. Money is tight! But I will finish eventually!

As for the velcro and how it's sewn to the vinyl, I basically just followed the boot tutorial on the forums here and looked at the reference pictures on the gallery here.

The photos on here are the most recent pictures of my boots that I have. For the grooves, I just studied the reference pictures closely, counted how many "grooves" there were on the original shoe, and compensated space on my boots so as to have the right number of grooves. I first drew them all out using a pencil, and then used a normal x-acto knife. My process for each groove was to score along the pencil lines I had drawn with the knife, and then slowly cut deeper with each pass. After I got to a point that I thought was deep enough I would leave the knife where I cut down to, then angle it to cut across the the other side of the groove. This way I got an even depth across the whole groove. The smaller ones were kind of tricky though.

 

This is by no means the "official" way to do it, nor is it the easiest. It was just kind of what I did haha. I am sure there is a simpler way haha. Hope this helps!

[Witness]

The only official way to have the grooves on your boots is to actually own a pair of Sierra Sneakers like below and use them as the base for your boots. Anything else as an attempt to make it look as close as possible is a plus. Those of us putting cuts into the soles are doing so to emulate. In the costume standards, there is no pattern or measurements for cut soles. Close is good, like horseshoes and hand grenades.

 

[303trooper]

Thats cool... I know theres no official way of doing it but the tutuorial is the only way to get to lancer level. Cheers guys... I followed the boot tutorial myself but must have not seen the bit about sewing the Velcro on to the vinyl.. Guess I'll have to pull them Apart And redo them... Whoopsy!!!!! Will put some pics up on a separate thread go show you guys.

 

All the best with the rest of your build dude...