Now that I have your attention

Our daughter is a "Maker", and makes virtually all of her own clothes.  Top to bottom, if she is wearing it she made it.

She has most recently been enjoying the making of shoes and has made some few pair already.  From a kit obtained with an online shoe making course she got two sets of plastic heels and has asked if I can replicate and then teach her how to replicate these from wood.

I believe that from a turning blank I can cut to length and shape with a sanding drum.  My question is the top of the heel is actually cupped out.  How would you tackle that part of the heel?  If it doesn't show to well in the pic, it is cupped out like a mini chair seat.

 

Would this be a project that a CNC could handle?  While I do not have a CNC, there is a Firestarter lab nearby that I have been itching to check out.  They have 3D printers there that I thought might do the job, but the daughter says no plastic - she wants wood.

 

Looking for a nudge in the right direction.

 

 

My thought was a mop sander, but can be pricey.

Maybe @difalkner or @honesttjohn might chime in and help with the CNC idea. 

You could certainly do it on the CNC or you could make a fixture to hold the heel and use a router to do it by hand (well, except the router is powered).  Before I built our CNC I built a fixture to cut a radius into a sanding block for sanding guitar fingerboards.  Here's the short video on that project - 

 

David

I recently acquired some small carbide carving burrs for my Dremel that would probably work. Not too expensive and come in several shapes and sizes.

Thanks fellas.  Bob & Tony - I've considered any number of (hand) tools but "I think" my problem would be in getting them to a pretty close match or it could end up with an uncomfortable pair of shoes.

David, I will watch your video and likely have a question or two for you.

Looks like it will be May now, my April deck just got reshuffled!

Maybe ask the question:  why is that surface cupped, and "just how cupped is it?" Might not have to copy exactly.  Example:  is that the bottom of the heel (where the rubber meets the road)?  The cupping might be either to allow shock absorbance and/or avoid flat/flat fit problems.  IOW, when you duplicate in wood, might a chamfer around the edge have the same effect?  (Similar to table leg construction:  chamfer prevents chipping.)  Maybe just chamfer the edges and add a "rubber" pad to the heel?  When you change materials, sometimes the design needs to be re-understood.

I would agree with Headhunter and do it with a dremel. You could build a router jig to do it if you were going to make lots of them but if it’s only going to be a few the dremel should work fine. 
Paul

If that curve can be eliminated you could do the curve on stationary belt sander. Just do a long piece then cut to length needed.

@PeteM - the cobbler will be here this weekend, so I can bounce a couple ideas around with her.  The cupped part is the top part.  The bottom is flat so as to allow gluing a piece of rubber or other non-slip something to it.  Comparing the two, the shorter heel has a very shallow cupping, the taller one is more pronounced.  I'm thinking it is simply to keep your foot centered on the heel of the shoe.

 

Will keep y'all posted.

[Oy, story of my life:  I'm 180 degrees out of phase!]  That curvature might be really important, or at least a big selling point for some:

https://www.kurufootwear.com/experts-corner/top-of-foot-pain#:~:text=The magic is found in,or even eliminate foot pain.

But it does look like a bowl cutting router bit would do it.

Try a drum sander bit on your drill press. Or a grinder with a masonry blade.