MikeW

Check the conchos from Tandy leather? They even have a buffalo nickel one to take you quite literally. http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/home/de...ture=Product_52 they have some plain ones as well. How big is "big"?

Seaxy!! The horizontal cary across the waist is nice. Handy when you're sitting too. There are tons of examples of bladesmithing and sheaths for seaxs and langseaxes on forums.dfoggknives.com in case you are interested.

Our reenactment group uses shinai for beginning combat. I thought it'd be fun to have a main-gauche including the ring to protect knuckles as an offhanded weapon. This is a nito shoto shinai (24").

It was 7-8 oz leather (~3mm). They weren't very hard to turn - I use a wine bottle to do the big stuff and then a wooden dowel from a toilet plunger to do the last inch on the tip. The dowel is rounded so it doesn't damage the leather. You do have to slam it down pretty hard and trust your stitching. Soaking for 15 mins in cold water helps a lot. Also there's a trick - if you can't move it any further, pull it off the bottle and looking down at the toe, open it out and try and get it to lay neatly again like an inside-out sleeve on a shirt. The vinegaroon is vinegar and rust that turns vegetan leather black. It did a very good job on the soles but the uppers had some sun damage and it wouldn't quite do it completely. The hardest part is coming up with anything rusty around here. Ok, the super long toes tied to the knees myth was started by an author who must have thought they MUST HAVE done something with those long toes! It's very unlikely. Especially since there's not one painting depicting this. Shoes & Patten book text link Thanks for the complements!

Walking isn't all that bad. Just have to kick your heels up a little. Stairs are kinda tough. Now, adding pattens, that may be an experiment.

A pair of piked turnshoes (for me), late 15th century. Still laced on the inside at this point since it was also popular to build leather soles directly to hose. This way the shoes will look like they blend into the hose and be fashionable. Edward IV had put in place sumptuary laws to prevent exceedingly long toes, so I didn't have to attempt poulaines. (my story and I'm stickin' to it!) Just for grins, I tossed in a sailor's breastplate knot to keep the lacing properly centered. Vinegaroon dyed with an overnight bath in baking soda water and touched up with eco-flow coal black. These were time consuming but I think it was worth it. Any comments or ideas for future ones would be appreciated.

Yeah, up until the mid 15th century or so, closures were on the inside of shoes. It really does make them easier to fasten. Outside closures means kneeling down and working on the shoe, switching knees to fix the other.

Thanks, Tom, for the warm welcome. I wish you'd warned me sooner about the donuts. I've eaten softer rocks. As to pinning the toggle tutorial. I think it'd be tough to find in here and this isn't a tutorial on Viking Shoes. Tho, I hope someday to make one if another pair comes out better. Maybe copy the post to a "toggle" topic? Here's some pics of the finished shoes. Thanks everyone for the help!

Ok - for anyone who wants to know. Lots of experimenting and more reading last night (Marc Carlson's sites mostly). The "Coffeebean toggle" is exactly like "method 2" above, except you go straight through the center of the roll coming out in the middle of the "V" area (rather than just the outside layer). Something I wasn't doing - use calf leather around 3 oz. Now I've got shoes to finish.

Awesome, a toggle tutorial. Thanks to all of you! I now have homework.

Thanks Tasha. UKRay just sent me that one as well. Funny how "A" and "B" are reversed in the instructions or diagram. One is backwards. Some bone toggles would really give it the prehistoric look, but I think you all are right that the leather toggles are more authentic.

Yes, that does help quite a bit on the buttonhole tab. Still kinda unsure about the toggle though. Is the wood just slipped through the slit, or is something more going on? Just slipping it through doesn't seem very secure.

Hi all, Fairly new to the board. Lots of reading and no posting. I'm working on a pair of turnshoes based on the ones in "Viking Clothing" by Thor Ewing (plate 11 after p 65). Got most of it figured out, but am unsure of the fastening. I'm attaching a scanned detail of the fastening. To me, it looks like the toggles are attached to a (about) 1/4" wide strip that has been split at the top and passed through a single hole in the toggle and then passed through the slit, and pulled tight. The other end is then sewn into the (more or less) tongue straps. Is this the right way to attach a toggle? The other part looks like a rectangle - 2/3 of it is protruding from a slit with 2 button holes just slit in it. The other third is the confusing part. Is it binding-stitched to the inside of the quarter, like this? When I'm all done, I'll post pics and if anyone wants - plans. Thanks for any help, Mike