I Need Some Moccasin Consturction Advice

[Eagle17]

Hello All,

First I hope I'm putting this in the right area. Second I am looking for some experienced voices to see if I am am making any serious mistakes here. I am working on making a pair of high top moccasins that will be lined with wool for cold weather (I already made a pair that are unlined for warmer weater). To make my life easier I have decided that cementing the leather in will be the easist way to attach the sheepskin w/ wool to the leather that will be on the outside. I don't really feel like trying to find awl holes through an inch of thick wool. But that's beside the point. I am waterproofng the moccasins with Tectron Snowseal (which is a waxed based waterproofer for snow boots) it requires me to appply the wax and then heat the leather in an oven at approximateley 150 until the wax had melted into the leather. I am going to waterproof the inside of the leather and the sheepskin so there will be a double layer of wax to keep me dry. I will then cement the layers together and sew the pieces together with wax thread and attach some rabbit skins to the top instead of fringe. After they are completed I will apply more watererproofer to the seams on the outside and repeat the heating process.

Now I have a couple of questions that come to mind here that I would really liked answered. I am curious, first, if the wax will have any negative effects on the insulation of the wool. I know the leather is thin enough that some of the wax will leak through and get onto the inside of the wool. Will this negativeley effect the wool and it's abiltiy to keep me warm? Second is there any flamability issues with Barge Cement after it has been applied and allowed to cure for more than a week? I have two conflicting answeres I have come up with. First the reps from Tandy Leather got in touch with the reps from Barge and they said that it is flammable after it has dried. But my own experiments have contrdicted this. I applied cement to a piece of scrap leather and waited till it was just dry enough not to be tacky and then tried three seperate way of lighting it. First I dropped a lit newspaper on it, then I took a standard lighter to it and last I used a micro soldering torch with no combustion at any point excpet with the torch after the leather had curled, dried up and go black I got some flame but it never held after I removed the torch. Does anyone have any other experience here? Is there a chance I will set my moccasins on fire after they are done? Lastly with the rabbit fur is there any problem with it being in the oven with the rest of the boot? I feel like there might be but I don't have any information to back it up. It would be in there because I want to waterproof the seam where it will be sewn into the moccasin. I have considered waterproofing the whole skin but I feel like that would be overkill here and might ruin the look and feel of the fur. So that idea is out.

So am I making any fatal mistakes here that could ruin a pair pf moccasins that I have put a lot of time and money into? Thanks

[stanly]

I'm hoping u checked to see that the glue will take over the waxed leather.

i've had glove that pretty much lost their insulation value after being repeatedly treated w/ snoseal (polyinsul)

[Sturme]

I would stitch the wool to a piece of leather and use it as an insert, reason being is its replaceable, and can be pulled out of the moc to air out or even dry if it gets wet.