Axe-made shoe

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Mar 2, 2013
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Now my shoe, made with an axe, has worn out it still keeps me warm and afterwords will even give its nutrients to my potato crop
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Ernest,i know this photo will be soulful,and looking forward to seeing it.
But you're so generous with your pixels,and megabites,and other such things marvelous and unknowlable,that it'd take a few hours for my humble sat-based smoke-signals here...
(however accept my sincere and heartfelt "like",on credit if you will:)

I'm interested if you mean it quite literally-nothing but an axe could make a sabot?
Not even some type of spoon-bit auger?How's it get all hollowed-out?
 
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Maybe this gets up to your Yukon home better.
Axe in this case is only for the initial roughing out, like I'm pretending to do in the old photo next.
My shoes are made by a friend, the Dutch champion klompenmaker using a very specialized technique with axe, stock knife and one or two simple knives for hollowing out. Handmades are very uncommon, most people getting ones cut by machine from the agri shop. For me machine made wooden shoes last about 6 months before blow-out, handmades 1 1/2 to two years, every day, year round, constant use.
 
Yes,i see,that's very cool.
What's the predominant species for klompen,something very soft and carvable like linden maybe?Not very prone to splitting?

Thanks for going through the trouble of reducing those photos.
Now i can see those lovely old forged andirons...I Really like them adjustable brackets for the cross bar...
The irons themselves look a bit low in the back...have they burned through?(the pieces that support the wood are meant to be replaced periodically,as the front part remains to be a sort of a symbol of longevity of particular house and hearth...
Very simple,handsome forgings,those are.
 
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Now my shoe, made with an axe, has worn out it still keeps me warm and afterwords will even give its nutrients to my potato crop
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The first thing that comes to mind is that has to be a smelly fire!! Guess that wouldn't last very long so that's good. Haha. Your feet must sweat in them? Seems like they would?
I have yet to even try on a wooden shoe! I suppose I would like to try someday.
 
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What's the predominant species for klompen,something very soft and carvable like linden maybe?Not very prone to splitting?
In the mythology of wooden shoes there is a hierarchy of materials - as expressed in the Dutch context. Willow supposedly is more water resistant than poplar and more exclusive. So the farmer, whose position was relatively high in the social order, had shoes from willow and kept his feet dry while the farmhand had to settle for poplar and would get wet feet. Dutch society was in the past fairly egalitarian, (at least in aspiration and practically speaking in many ways it was too) which might explain the prominence of poplar as reflecting the dominance of the masses. Now Dutch society is one of the most unequal in Europe but since the wooden shoe is nearly lost from the scene it's no longer a reliable indication of social equity. In other places other woods are used like sycamore, beech, alder, woods with a diffuse porous structure, ruling out the ring porous ones like elm, oak, ash. Funny enough I never heard of linden/lime getting used for wooden shoes even though it's a wood that fits the material criteria. I'm sure there is a good reason, it's a common enough wood here.Unlike poplar and willow it is relatively slow growing though so used for shoes it might soon get depleted.

Of the tools used, I am poorly equipped so when I want to make more room for my toes it means an improvisation using a yarikana, which works out alright, in a pinch:).
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And this primitive looking klompenmakersbijl (wooden shoe makers axe) which I've not yet got 'round to bringing back into condition. A rare left hander and, strictly utilitarian in appearance, well made all the same.
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The irons themselves look a bit low in the back...have they burned through?
Yes they are badly corroded in need of new feet welded on. I have lots of nice forged and cast items - as someone once said it, "All the finest accessories" - at the hearth, multiple hundreds of years old like the back panel and ash plate lining the bottom still in use.
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You better hotfoot down to the klompenmaker to get some more. :p
They are already waiting, I've been told.
 
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Wow,Ernest,such cool objects...Love all those pot-hooks and chains...And it's one heck of a saw-tooth trammel!:)...just look at that rich texture on that steel...

Thanks for going a bit into the sabot-appropriate woods...At least one thread joining those i think is stability...Willow is sure interesting stuff,there's 26 species of Silex where i live,some of the klompen size,i'd imagine..

And you're a Yari-user,good for you!It's a nice one.
 
Wow,Ernest,such cool objects...Love all those pot-hooks and chains...And it's one heck of a saw-tooth trammel!:)...just look at that rich texture on that steel...

There was a time I was needing butchering equipment, in a lot there was the items I was needing plus more than that so the chains and hooks and that and more all in one shot. The big hook is an impressive piece of forgery. My hearth is of course undersized, much of this intended for these gigantic open hearths the French build. So when I move to France it will go with me

Thanks for going a bit into the sabot-appropriate woods...At least one thread joining those i think is stability...Willow is sure interesting stuff,there's 26 species of Silex where i live,some of the klompen size,i'd imagine..

I would say klompen size is minimal 70 cm cross-section.
It just occurs to me, I bet in Sweden they use bjork wouldn't surprise.


And you're a Yari-user,good for you!It's a nice one.

It's really fun to use, making those long spiral shavings
It's been a while since I even looked at that axe. I'll have to check it out.
 
Cool stuff,Ernest,thanks again.
When you move to France,and set up in Baronial style,i'd like to come visit and forge you all kinds of (ridiculous,outdated)hardware for fireplace...Crane,giant andirons(with a cool X-Y-Z axis-system),and if we get this far-an automated,pendulum-clock/weights operated spit-turning mechanism,with hand-forged gears and dogs...Thye Works!(life-long dream of mine...).

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I bet in Sweden they use bjork wouldn't surprise.

BJORK?!!!!...I wanna speak the language that has words like THAT!:)
 
Ernest, did anyone ever oil the outside of the wooden shoes, say with linseed oil, to make them more resistant to wet weather? John
 
Ernest, did anyone ever oil the outside of the wooden shoes, say with linseed oil, to make them more resistant to wet weather? John
No, there are painted versions with a range of regional motifs some even very elaborate and sometimes a pair kept strictly for Sunday and going to the church were painted soberly in black. Also a version of newer that are heavily lacquered but purely for the sake of appearance with no functional intent. Fishers, and we're talking about old-timers who wore a kind of boot version with high leather uppers, would tar them to keep out water. I myself have tarred my klompen but only because I like using tar whenever I can, warming it up and brushing it on like that, gives off that tar smell, wood tar that is. Like I said, they wear through at the sole long before the wood could ever rot from being wet.
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This is no regional motif, just me goofing around with superimposition, but I have tarred them, (coincidentally standing over a charred post I'm just now noticing).

Your feet must sweat in them? Seems like they would?
Actually, the complete opposite is the case, no better way to prevent your feet sweating, even better that polypropylene - and therefore staying warm.
 
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