What To Treat Sole Wood Pegs With?

[rickybobby]

Hi All !

We have been using Brass clench nails in the sole/shank area of our Cowboy Boot full soles and they have been fine for "off the shelf" boots. We have seen a big increase of custom boots coming into the shop and they all have Wood Pegs and customers are starting to ask for them so... We have bought a bag of wood pegs and are ready to have at it!!

What should the wood pegs be soaked in prior to putting them in??

I have done a quick search of forums and could not find anything and do not have the connection fast enough to down load the boot book on line here right now, any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Rick Jorgenson

623 580-7272

[Norwegian]

Hi Rick!

I'd say they shouldn't be soaked..

I might be wrong, but one point with the wooden pegs is that they will move, shrink and expand with the sole as it moves, gets wet, dries up etc..

So, use them as they are..

Maybe I'm wrong, hopefully someone will let us know..

Rik

Hi All !

We have been using Brass clench nails in the sole/shank area of our Cowboy Boot full soles and they have been fine for "off the shelf" boots. We have seen a big increase of custom boots coming into the shop and they all have Wood Pegs and customers are starting to ask for them so... We have bought a bag of wood pegs and are ready to have at it!!

What should the wood pegs be soaked in prior to putting them in??

I have done a quick search of forums and could not find anything and do not have the connection fast enough to down load the boot book on line here right now, any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Rick Jorgenson

623 580-7272

[celticleather]

I agree with Norwegian. If you soak the pegs they will swell, and when they dry out they will be loose in the sole. They also need to be dry and hard to achieve a good penetration.

[Leatherimages]

Rick,

It's a ggod thing to worry about. it shows you care.

When I'm pegging a pair of full soles on boots that I know will live in the dry SW, I use my lacing fid to "poke" a dab of water base contact cement into each hole made by my pegging awl.

However I worry about putting a bunch of new holes in a handmade boot's insole when doing a sole replacement. So, depending on the exposure the boot will get, I'll sometimes choose to double cement the shank area of the new sole and put two rows of pegs that only penetrate the new sole. That awl is only about 5/16" long so it doesn't penetrate the insole. It's really just a visual reassurance for the customer, the double coat of cement is pretty dependable if done with care.

Other times I'll put in a tight row of brass clinching nails, and then a row of the shorter pegs.

[rickybobby]

Rick,

It's a ggod thing to worry about. it shows you care.

When I'm pegging a pair of full soles on boots that I know will live in the dry SW, I use my lacing fid to "poke" a dab of water base contact cement into each hole made by my pegging awl.

However I worry about putting a bunch of new holes in a handmade boot's insole when doing a sole replacement. So, depending on the exposure the boot will get, I'll sometimes choose to double cement the shank area of the new sole and put two rows of pegs that only penetrate the new sole. That awl is only about 5/16" long so it doesn't penetrate the insole. It's really just a visual reassurance for the customer, the double coat of cement is pretty dependable if done with care.

Other times I'll put in a tight row of brass clinching nails, and then a row of the shorter pegs.

Thanks Paul,

That is how we have started doing it, I thought there may be a "secret formula" or something.

We spoke to another bootmaker and he said to use a little contact cement on the pegs before setting them. We tried that and it works well. I down loaded the bootmaking book from the LW.net site and they did not say anything about coating the pegs either. We just want to do the best job we can on our customers boots so I thought I would explore the peg coating, thanks to all that gave an opinion. We will run some tests on our own boots to make sure all is well.

Rick

[Leatherimages]

Great Rick,

I'll just say this about our usual contact cements, it doesn't work so well on damp surfaces, like the sole leather would be at this stage.

That's why I use water based. I don't know for sure, but that's my instincts.

Additionally, the solvent based contact cements can seal the grain fibers enough to prevent your bottom finish from taking as well as you might like it.

Of course there is the naumkeg.

[goatman]

On another forum, TexRobin says to use alchohol on them, but I think that's after they are hammered and trimmed - something about that being better than other things, like glues, conditioners, oils, etc.

Edited February 20, 2011 by goatman