Pumps of their Own Manufacture Part 4: " for want of a proper needle or awl"

 

Andrew foster Moccasins 1790s

Knots on pucker threads like Ny Cabin Mocs

“Many of the men, in their hard march on an icy road, were entirely barefooted. I got a raw hide to make them moccasins; but made a bad hand of it, for want of a proper needle or awl” Charles Wilson peale On the march to the battle of Trenton

So We made it out the other side Folks the 4th and almost final Instalment. Pat yourselves on the backs We all kept this from careening into off the rails into the sad level of performance art. I’m proud of Us, all of us, even Duane. Who in spite of his Ethnic handicap of being Uber Deutsch can be a useful member of society. I mean not polite society obviously but That’s Neither Here Nor There.

                So There are two more Cabin Found Moccasins from Pennsylvania I’ve seen but I’m not in a position to publish the images in a public forum such as this. So in typical reenactor fashion I will state they 1) are both sewn using leather whang 2) 1 has 4 holes around the flaps for what appears to be attaching a “moccasin string” 3)one is whip stitch The other has baseball stitching 4) stitching on heel on both only goes to ankle bone. Sorry Best I can do for right now but hopefully sometime in the near future that will change.

So Lets look at the common features in all These Moccasins:

All Sewn with Leather Whang (as mentioned by Doddridge)

Majority had some type of Moccasin String attachment

Flap only sewn to ankle bone.

 basic pattern

Ok Common feature #1 Leather Whang. Most folks are probably thinking this is easy. Cut leather and sew Moccasin done. I’ve found that this takes a little more Prep work then that. So we’ve all learned to cut leather lace by simply cutting along the edge of a circle of leather round and round until we have enough lace. Easy, no thought right?  I’ve found that this is a terrible idea with any of the German tanned leather that folks commonly use. It is also not a great way to cut thin lace/whang with brain or bark tan leather.

             

   For sewing whang I have found it best to cut long sections of lace with the grain of the leather. For most Moccasins you don’t need more then 8-12 inches of lace for each center seam of the moccasin. I cut the lace with the grain of a piece of leather Then I wet that piece and stretch it out. I will run it back and forth over a piece of wood to get all the stretch out I can. The friction also starts to dry the whang. I will then cut a point on one end of the lace and lay it out to dry. Once its dry I rub that point over a piece of bee’s wax and roll it between my fingers into a point.

                I repeat this with a number of pieces of lace and then store them all in my Moccasin making kit. You now have pre stretched moccasin making whang to sew up moccasins or attach soles to Moccasins. The waxed tips act like Needles and make it easier to sew thru the awl holes. This will break way less then the whang cut in a circle method as cutting with the grain removes the weak spots. For Moccasin strings Or other long pieces I still cut it in the circle method as I’ve found it doesn’t  go through as much tension as sewing Moccasins into puckers requires.

                ***The best stuff I’ve found for making Iron cable like lace is Squirrel or Ground hog Hide cut along the grain. Super tough stuff and I’ve used it in the rawhide form and it’s tough and awesome to work with. So don’t tosss out those squirrel hides tan them or rawhide them they are usefull)

   

Moccasin Kit on Left of Image

    I'd also like to Kind of address a an Item that drives me crazy..Scissors and awls. Ok so honestly all you need is a sharp blade to cut out Moccasins. I've done it with scalpers, cuttoes  and scissors it's not rocket science. However the scissors you use is well for a guy like me a big deal. The Chinese scissors have no basis in the 18th century (unless you are doing bansai tree stuff in a 1770s setting) Burn them, forget them toss them on the fire Pile with Pennanular brooches and never look back. Do it for the children! chinese scissors fund terrorists! possibly? maybe? I dont know they are just bad.

So Ready cheap scissors I'm pushing people towards are from Burnley and trowbridge:

Dressmaker Scissors - $15.00 - $16.00 - Burnley & Trowbridge Co. (burnleyandtrowbridge.com)

Awesome scissors, way better then the Chinese terrorist scissors that hate children.

As far as Moccasin awls you have a few sources out there. My current personal favorite route Is Ken Hamilton. My main two awls are one by Ken and one by Rick Guthrie. Of the two Ken is the one who is currently making awls sadly enough (RIP Rick) and Ken is pretty good at constant production and someone who knows a thing or two about making moccasins. I try and carry two awls as thats what it seemed the BWM hunters bought. I've actuly tried using straightened fish hooks...it's terrible.

So The part of wearing Moccasins that Is the downside is that you should really have a moccasin repair kit. I Look at this like owning a Jaguar. It’s cool but your gonna need to do some homework and buy some tools to Keep it working  (see footnote *1). Doddridge himself describes Moccasins repair:

The moccasins in ordinary use cost but a few hours labor to make them. This was done by an instrument denominated a moccasin awl, which was made of the backspring of an old clasp knife. This awl with its buckshorn handle was an appendage of every shot pouch strap, together with a roll of buck skin for mending the moccasins. This was the labor of almost every evening. They were sewed together and patched with deer skin thongs, or whangs, as they were commonly called.

This is a constant Issue in any frontier Narrative "making shoes". Along with this you need to reailse that you need to be able to constanly replace the "shoes" that wear out. No Moccasin Kit you might have messed up.

Even Felix walked mentions he might have made a mistake:

May 10th. We staid on the River and dressed an Elk skin to make Indian Shoes--ours being quite worn out.

 

11th. We left the River, found the Mountains very bad, and got to a Rock by the side of a Creek Sufficient to shelter 200 men from Rain. Finding it so convenient, we concluded to stay and put our Elk skin in order for shoes and make them.

 

14th. When our Elk's skin was prepared we had lost every awl that we brought out, and I made one with the shank of an old Fishing hook, the other People made two of Horse Shoe Nails, and with these we made our Shoes or Moccosons.

So he has to use a fishhook! But honestly if you think about it the walker narrative of making Moccasins shows how important a skill it was and Just how easy it is. It’s also an awesome break down of just how long it took someone in the 18th century from Green Hide to footwear. It seems they went from May 10th with a green hide to may 14th with a hide they deemed tanned enough to make Moccasins from. So it’s kewl when your buddies on Instagram show their week by week with a hide to a nice fluffy brain tanned hide smoked to an exact shade that has the Zoolander blue steal look. But really   All they needed was a semi tanned hide, way to cut it into a basic shape and a way to punch holes in it to pass lace thru.

Walker also mentions making new “shoes” a few times so It shows that Making Moccasins was a constant issue. As one would think it was a skill that would pop up time and time again. Also it shows that the pattern was so basic that it wasn’t like these guys needed to carry a paper copy with them to make a pair. It’s as if all they needed was string and spit to lay out a pattern, Doesn’t it Duane. (Bam! Dutchman Burn!)

So I’ve included a picture of my Moccasin Kit. I’ve used a dog eaten Moccasin to house all the tools I need (it also doubles as my sewing kit) Moccasin Awl, Leather Whang, Large eyed Needles, Scissors and bee’s wax.  I also carry sole leather and some leather scraps.

                So along with this I will however carry spare Moccasins as well. This is especially helpful in the winter when setting up camp for the night to allow the pair from the day to be dried out. This brings me to a practice that I feel a lot of people just plain get wrong. Moccasins are going to get wet. Period full stop No amount of bee’s wax grease solution is going to waterproof your moccasins. You are going to get wet feet, you signed up for this stop trying to find a “fix”.

                With this you are going to have to dry out your Moccasins at night. The absolute worst possible thing you can do is Put your Moccasins too close to the fire. They are not drying they are cooking If you see them “steaming” they are probably too close. Keep your moccasins near the fire to start to dry out (near not In the fire) Then when you go to sleep lay the moccasins under yourself in your blankets and let them dry some more from body heat.  They will not be “brand new Moccasins” dry but they will have dried out and not be Hard leather Potato chips that will start to wear out as soon as you crunch them on.

                I am a firm believer in greasing my moccasins with Tallow/bear grease. I have found it keeps them alive longer for the climate that I hunt in. I have seen stuff from guys like Ike Walters who swear up and down to not grease winter moccasins. Honestly, I believe him, He is also in a far colder area then I am. If I’m up his way I’m not greasing my moccasins.

 They Key for what to do with Moccasins in the winter in your area is Ultimately up to you. Get out there in the rain, snow, Mud and all the terrible months that end in Y in your Moccasins and see what works for you. Just Please don’t do it in Felt boot liners (come on you are better than that. I believe in you…Duane has his doubts but I think you’ll make the right choice. Don’t prove Duane Right he’s a terrible person)

Majority had “moccasin strings”

                This doesn’t really need much explanation. As I’ve pointed out attaching ties to a moccasin seems to be a common practice in both the few examples that survive and mentioned anecdotally in the narratives. Tying moccasins to your feet or tying up the flaps to keep debris out of the moccasin really seems like a no brainer if you’ve spent anytime in the woods wearing Moccasins. I’ve attached an Image of the Andrew Foster Moccasins. These are a pair of moccasins made for a white guy in Detroit possibly by other white guys (Detroit had a large Moccasin making economy among the French). Note the holes on the front and the attached lace for securing them. These Moccasins are amazing but I’m partial as I saw them everyday for a year.

 

Rear seam only sewn to the ankle bone.

This for me was another “how did I miss that!” after Mike “I hate unicorns” Galban pointed it out to me on Native Moccasins. For years I had been sewing the seam up to the end of the flap based off one High top example. Then Mike had to use logic and make me feel stupid. This is true on the “European” moccasins as well. The rear seam is only sewn to the top of the ankle bone and the hanging flaps are left free. Even the Ligonier Moccasin is Half true on this (It really does have 2 sets of flaps)

So I'm going to end this here and in  the last Episode we will cover just how to pattern a pair of Moccasins. By then you should have the leather, the tools and the overly inflated sense of self worth that goes along with the Dutchman method of making Moccasins. We can all do this together. I believe in you even if Duane Doesn't.