The Counter (also called Heel Stiffener in Europe) is the firm piece of leather or synthetic that supports the heel area of a shoe or boot. Cowboy boot counters are made from the same heavy, 1/4″ thick leather as soles. Leather shoe counters in bespoke shoes are about 1/3 the thickness and they’re typically dampened and then split (made thinner, if the leather’s too heavy) and skived (thinned along the edges at an angle). Cowboy boot counters are skived along all the edges but they’re left full thickness in the center. It can be done with a knife but most boot makers use a sander to do the shaping.

Making counters is one of my least favorite jobs in boot making. My hands are always cramping by the time I get a pair sanded, especially if they’re large and I’m doing more than one pair. It’s important to get it right; you want that thickness in the center but you must carefully calculate where and how much to sand away. Leave it too thick and you’ll never get the boots on the last in the heel area, take away too much and the boots won’t properly support the heel.