It's long and may take a day or so to be posted. I'm always open to feedback. Send me a note. I don't want to post everything just a representative sample to help with choosing shoes. So it is with tap dancers.
Tappers have choices in shoes and taps.
In order to have screws hold adequately leather soles often with a thin fiberboard spacer are used. The spacer is glued and tacked down. Unwanted rubber heels are replaced by stacked leather heels constructed by a cobbler. Heavy would assist in structural support for specialty moves like toe stands. There are also fiber or metal shanks that add stiffness along the length of the shoe.