What you’re building
A boot jack is a lever. The notch catches the back of your boot at the heel, the block behind the notch holds that end up off the floor so the heel can drop, and your other foot on the low end keeps the whole thing from lifting. Pull your foot up and the boot stays behind. This one is the shape people have been making for two hundred years: a single board, a U-shaped notch, and a block.
The body is 22 inches of 1x6. The notch is 2½ inches wide at the throat and 5 inches deep, which takes a work boot heel with a little room and a cowboy boot heel with a lot. The block is three short pieces of the same board glued face to face, so nothing else has to be bought. A few shallow saw kerfs across the standing end give your sock foot something to grip.
Pick the board
A 1x6 is ¾ by 5½ inches. Pine is fine; poplar or oak is nicer and holds up longer under boot heels. Sight down the board and take a straight one; a cupped 1x6 rocks on the block. This project uses 34 inches, so a 3- or 4-foot board is enough if the store sells them, and you’ll have plenty left from an 8-footer.
Cut
Cut the body at 22 inches and the three block pieces at 4. Cut the block pieces last from the same board so they match in width.
Cut the notch
Mark the centerline of the body at one end. Mark 1¼ inches either side of it for the throat, and a line 5 inches in from the end for the bottom of the notch. Draw the bottom as a half circle, 2½ inches across; a roll of tape is about the right size to trace. Cut it with a jigsaw, staying just outside the line, then rasp and sand to the line. If you have a 2½-inch hole saw, drill the round bottom first, then saw the two straight sides down to it; the notch comes out cleaner.
Round over both top edges of the notch well. That’s the edge the boot heel rides on, and a sharp one will scuff leather.
Kerf grooves
On the other end, saw six or seven shallow grooves across the board, about ⅛ inch deep and ½ inch apart, starting 2 inches from the end. A hand saw or a circular saw set very shallow does it. They stop your foot sliding, and they look right.
Glue up the block
Stack the three 4-inch pieces face to face with the ends flush and glue between each layer. Clamp and let it dry. Sand the sides flush. The block should measure 4 by 5½ by about 2¼ inches.
Attach the block
Flip the body over. The block goes under the solid part of the board just behind the notch, not under the notch itself: the heel has to be able to drop below the board once it’s hooked. Set it across the underside with its far edge 7 inches from the notch end, flush with both sides. Glue it, then flip the whole thing back over and drive four 1¼-inch screws down through the body into the block, countersunk. Two near each edge of the block.
Finish
Sand everything to 150 and break every edge. Oil or leave bare. If it’s living by the back door, a coat of exterior oil once a year keeps it from graying.
If something goes wrong
- Heel doesn’t catch. The notch throat is too wide for the boot. Nothing to do but make the next one narrower; 2¼ inches suits a dress boot.
- Board splits along the tines. The tines are only 1½ inches wide with the grain running along them, which is strong, but a knot in that zone will let go. Pick the notch end of the board to avoid knots.
- Jack skids on a smooth floor. Stick a strip of rubber to the bottom of the block and the low end.