How to Make SHTF Shoes

[Mortblanc]

This is a spin off thread from another question so that the material can be presented with only the needed information and the questions relevant to this particular topic.

I am going to keep this simple and divide the topic into tools, materials and instructions. The instructions will mostly be links to other sites where they have done the massive amount of typing and explaining already and I will make myself available for questions as things move along.

Tools;

For most simple primitive foot gear tools are simple and can be gathered in most homes or workshops.

1. You will need a pair of scissors, good sized ones. They do not have to be top grade. Throwaways from the dollar store of a set of Fiskars are plenty good enough.

2. You will need a sharp knife. A utility knife or a box cutter will do the job, even a straight edge razor blade. No half sharp serrated blades on a Micky Mouse multi-tool or some huge chopper from your survival gear, thank you. You need a usable good sharp small knife capable of detail work.

3. You will need an AWL. Not a fancy stitcher, or that thing on the back of your Swiss Army Knife. Just a good simple piercing tool made from a #6 finish nail stuck into a simple handle will do. In a pinch it can be any piece of slender good hard steel, even a good piece of fence wire will work. Take a file and sharpen a diamond point onto the tip. Diamond points work best for me anyway.

4. A small mallet or hammer. A stick of hard wood about the size of a hammer handle or such will also work.

5. A palm protector. A piece of leather or rubber will work. Anything that will protect you palm/fingers as you force awls and needles through the leather as you work.

6. A block of wood or a small piece of plank. This serves as a wooden anvil, as a work surface and as protection for you or the table top you are working on. I do most of my leather work as I sit in front of the TV in my recliner and the plank keeps me from perforating myself on a regular basis.

7. Leather working needles. Needles are nice to have but they are not a necessity. they speed things up greatly and make life much easier. You can find them at almost any craft, hobby store or fabric shop. You can also order specialty needles from leather working companies but what you buy at the sewing center work just as well and are cheaper.

We are having a storm here so I will do materials list when the lightening and thunder are no longer placing my computer in danger. Be back in a bit with more.

[Skean Dhude]

This sort of thing should go on the main site. It'll soon fall off the radar on the forum.

[Mortblanc]

Transfer it to where you want it SD. You could make it a sticky for permanent reference here on the board. Many forums use that method.

MATERIALS

#1=LEATHER

Materials used successfully for foot coverings are limited. All are a poor replacement for LEATHER.

Sandals can be put together from any number of materials, but coverings for the feet need to be made of some durable, flexible material that will protect the feet and allow air circulation to some degree.

The best material is leather. I keep leather in my supplies. when I say I keep leather I am mean that I keep half an American elk hide, two or three boar hides and several deerskins. That is due to the work I do and all the uses I put these items too. I have regular suppliers of these items and I also keep an eye out at what you people call "boot sales". I can use these sources in secure times but what about SHTF?

I have considered the SHTF supply of leather for many years ad realize there are two basic sources, you can make it, someone else can make it or you can "find it".

Making leather is a long term activity. Here in the states there are numerous people that make various kinds of leather as a hobby. It is a long, arduous, nasty and very smelly process. In preindustrial times the tannery was set well away from the dwellings and the people that worked the tanneries were not welcome in polite society due to being saturated with the smell of rotting flesh, stale urine, tannin and all the other chemicals and smells of the tanning process. Of all the "surnames" attached to a craft I have always suspected that "Tanner" was one of the first.

At the very least the tanning and curing of a hide will take two weeks. That is if you have access to the hide from a hunting kill, a road kill or scavenging. At the end of the hunter-gatherer phase and emergence into the agricultural phase hide supplies dry up. One is growing food using large draft animals, killing only the bare minimum livestock to amass wealth on the hoof so dead animals are something one avoids. Suddenly the people outnumber the animals and leather becomes scarce. With that scarcity comes increased value.

So making or producing leather will be a long term activity and needing foot coverings might be an immediate need. Where do you "find" leather in a SHTF era?

There is an immediate and plentiful supply. It is to be found over on the motorway where all those gridlocked automobiles are setting abandoned. It is the leather covering the seats of all those upscale automobiles. There is a secondary supply available in the top line furniture stores covering all those high end sofas and chairs. Take out your knife and skin those car seats like they were a road killed badger!

The average automobile will have enough leather covering the seats to put shoes on every member of a family, or it will clothe an individual from head to toe. A full sized sofa will do the same.

When one is scavenging there should always be a series of levels of usage in ones mind. You might be looking for food, or clothing or tools, but always keep your eyes and your mind open to the secondary uses of things you are not specifically searching for.

FABRIC

There are some fabrics that can be used as short term foot coverings.

Canvas=Heavy canvas is one. Canvas has been used as shoe material for many years. Canvas tennis shoes have always been popular and quite durable for light duty use. It is not very good for cold conditions and it wears quickly. It also requires a separate sole to make it usable at all.

Nylon=Various man made fabrics are major components of modern shoes. They are also usable for fabricating SHTF footwear. The heavy nylon and kelvar used for soft luggage makes excellent shoe material. The heavy fabric used on the automobile seats that are not "upscale" enough to qualify for leather also made excellent foot wear. Any of those long wearing and durable fabrics will suffice for short term footwear.

Naguhide= Stay away from it. It does not last, is not strong, does not breathe, and is not durable. Same for the other artificial leathers or vinyl materials.

WOOD=Yes wood! Remember those Dutch boys and girls wearing those pointy wooden shoes? They are for real! I have a pair and wear them on a regular basis during wet weather or for quick trips around my camp when the dew is heavy. It saves my moccasins and pegged leather shoes. They are labor intensive but they last for an eternity. You can also use them to wreck the machinery in a factory, committing "sabotage".

Right up to and during WW2 wood was used for shoe soles. Not only was it used extensively for shoe soles, nails and metal plates were secured to the wood to extend its life.

Wood can also be used to make "mules". Simple flats of wood lightly sculpted to the shape of the foot with a wide strap across the top as a securing device. They are quick and very easy to make, long lasting and save your other footwear for harder use.

EXPECTATIONS

I put this as a separate consideration. In the modern world we have certain expectations of footwear. We expect it to look a certain way, feel a certain way and last for a specified time.

SHTF foot wear has one purpose, it protects your feet!

Looks do not matter. How the footwear feels is only relevant to comfort and foot health. Durability becomes a relative term.

In this situation wearing shoes becomes either optional or a luxury. One saves his shoes for specific use, preserving them for that use. One goes barefoot as much as possible or uses a special foot covering indoors or in specialized conditions.

One also gears the expectations to the materials available and the labor invested in the foot covering. One does not spend all day making a shoe from materials that will not last but half a day. However, one might invest two hours in a foot covering that wears out in a single day if that covering protects the foot from harm for the entire day.

This is the economics of survival.

[Skean Dhude]

In which case I'll post it there in a few weeks when it goes quiet.

[Mortblanc]

I now have to include one material I did not include in the materials list, that is thread. You will have to have something to sew your creation together.

I like to use artificial sinew for sewing up my moccs and shoes. I also use course linen thread and occasionally cotton. Waxing any of these threads with bees wax helps the construction process and extends the life of the thread.

Thread is where you find it SHTF. If you have exactly what you need in your supplies fine and dandy but you may have to improvise that also.

Probably the best substitute you will find will be dental floss. It is an excellent binder for shoes.

Another option is those inner strands from 550 cord.

fishing line is an option.

Primitive people used sinew. sinew is the connective tissue that connects the muscle to the bone. In several animals there are long strands in the legs and along the spine. Butchers refer to this material as silver strip. They consider it waste. when you kill large animals and skin them out you can salvage this sinew, dry if and pound the fibers. They will separate in to small threads that can be softened and used for sewing.

Intestinal tissue can be used in the same way.

There is also the possibility that one can use leather laces. Laces can be hand cut in several ways. Many improvised shoes work very well when sewn up with coarse leather laces. In the instructions these laces will often be referred too as thongs (the real meaning of the term) and sometimes as wangs.

[River Song]

Any Thoughts about using old car tyres?

[Mortblanc]

Mortblanc Online
Member
Posts: 447
Joined: Nov 2012
Reputation: 10
Thanks: 2
Given 307 thank(s) in 160 post(s)



RE: Shoe making
INSTRUCTIONS;

Time for the real work to begin now. I am going to do this in a strange way, by giving written instructions, then links to written instructions and then links to U-tube videos.

From past experience I realize that the links may disintegrate over time and be irretrievable.

First one must remember that these shoes are carryover from the stone age. Each pair is made for the individual. this pattern is the most simple I am aware of.

First we will start with a piece of cardboard. You will need a piece large enough to stand on with both feet.

Stand on the cardboard with your feet together but separate by 1/2" at the ball of the foot and by 1" at the heel. Stand with your heels 1" from the edge of the pattern flat.

Using a marking device trace around the feet with 1/2' allowance. Include the dip between the large toes.

Smooth out the tracing lines and cut out the pattern.

Using a cheap substitute for leather, something like canvas or heavy fabric, cut out the pattern.

Fold the pattern over on itself and sew from the V at the toe in a continuous seam all the way to the top of the arch of the foot. Use a simple running seam.

Turn the moccasin inside out and stick your foot into it. This is when you tweak things so they fit. Close things up or let them out but keep in mind that when you switch over to leather it will be thicker and make a smaller shoe than the fabric.

Now tack up the heel in a single seam from bottom to top.

After all the fitting has been done and you are happy with the fit take the fabric shoe apart, lay it on the cardboard pattern and trim the pattern to the new fit.

Now transfer the pattern to the leather. Using your awl, punch holes through both sides of the leather at the same time, then follow with needle and thread. do not attempt to force the needle through the leather without a pilot hole made by the awl. If you can force the needle through the leather your leather is probably too thin.

Sew the leather just as you did the fabric. Go slowly and check the fit as you progress. Sew the center seam up the top and then the heel. Turn the moccasin so that the seam is on the inside and check the fit.

After one has made two or three pair the entire job can be accomplished in about 1/2 hour.

Using this system one can make a moccasin using the most primitive tools and worst materials. One can use a pocket knife to do the cutting and make the holes for the seam and then use a thin strip of leather for the sewing.

You should note at this point that one can use a very heavy fabric if you equip this shoe with a separate sole. Upholstery fabric with a sole cut from a rubber welcome mat or any other durable combination might work.

I sometimes cut a sole from heavy leather and wear it inside the moccasin until it takes the shape of my foot, then remove it and sew it to the outside.

I will post links with patterns and instructions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+ma...66&bih=643

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxgTdrT3UQg

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the patterns and video all I want to add is that you can ignore the flaps on the sides. They simply complicate things and require more leather.

The flaps were originally intended to turn up over the cuff of the pants and keep twigs and trash out of the shoe. they can be eliminated or they can be added as a tack on or even extended up to the knee.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the basic shoe of all primitive people. It may be modified, a vamp/tongue added, the seam pulled to "pucker" the toe, leggings added, soles sewn on linings added and the materials changed, but it is a remnant of the flat technology that was shared world wide 10,000 years ago.

It is the pattern of the shoe Otzie the Iceman wore and it is the pattern of the oldest archeological item present from the frozen tundra of North America.

One must also keep in mind that these shoes are not durable. They require constant maintenance, patching, greasing, re-stitching and avoidance of dangerous obstacles like glass or sharp metal. They will not last long on pavement or concrete. They are fantastic for "off road" use.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you can't laugh at yourself don't worry about it, I can do it for you.



Send this user an email Send this user a private message Find all posts by this user Give Reputation to this user

---

the instruction link went goofy, as I had anticipated, here is a replacement.

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+ma...66&bih=643

---

http://www.nativetech.org/clothing/mocca...instr.html

[Grumpy Grandpa]

Thanks Mort. That's going to take a bit of studying and a lot of practice. It's appreciated.

And next weeks lesson will be...

[Mortblanc]

They usually take on failed attempt in fabric before you get a good fit.

The guy in the video also uses a whip stitch and if you use a running stitch your can tug the stitch tighter and make the seam zig-zag and give a better fit on the top.

The next lesson will be a foot covering called a shoe-pack. It is made from two side pieces and a separate sole. It can be made from more durable materials and a hard sole.

Their construction makes them an excellent SHTF option due to ability to attach a separate sole very easily and the multitude of materials one could use in their fabrication.

I am trying to find links/instructions to the style and not having much luck. They are also known as Ft. Legionare boots after the archeological site where they were first discovered. It is a North American site that dates to the 7 Years War (1754)

The shoe-pack is my favored home made footgear. I make mine from North American Elkhide with boarhide for the soles. I keep two or three pair on hand since I use them continually. I have worn them on extended hikes and at almost every training session I teach for the past thirty years. They are both tough and comfortable. When I am not in modern gear these are what I am usually wearing.

I may have to wait until I get my big computer back on line with photo capabilities for that one.