LONGEST SHOT EVER ON BcUK !! Steger Mukluks, US 11

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Chris the Cat

Full Member
Jan 29, 2008
2,850
14
Exmoor
Now if this is not the longest shot in BcUK 'Wanted ' history, I don't know what is!!
BUT, as they say, you don't ask, you don't get!
Folding cash waiting, but I aint holding my breath! Lol!

Best.:)

Chris.
 

maddave

Full Member
Jan 2, 2004
4,177
39
Manchester UK
I love your enthusiasm Chris..... Steger's are like the holy grail of Muks and fiercely coveted :D Like you say though, "shy kids don't get sweets !!"
 

Chris the Cat

Full Member
Jan 29, 2008
2,850
14
Exmoor
Lol! Cheers Dave!

If it does not happen, I think this is the year I bite the bullet and ring them direct.
Not untill summer tho, they are always mad busy this time of year, and it gives me longer to save up!

Happy new year.

Best.

Chris.
 

Oblio13

Settler
Sep 24, 2008
703
2
67
New Hampshire
oblio13.blogspot.com
I don't have Stegers that will fit you, but I have an opinion that might be helpful.

Stegers are warm in DRY cold, but they get wet very easily. All it takes is getting in your car and melting the snow on them. They are also constructed so that the left and right feet are exactly the same, so they aren't totally comfortable. They are also somewhat troublesome to put on and take off. And the liners compress and wear out fairly quickly.

I cobbled together some mukluks that I liked better from military canvas overboots, sheepskin insoles and felt liners. They were more comfortable, warmer, easier to put on and take off, and a fraction of the price.

This past year, a friend who's been wearing custom-made Russell Moccasins for years finally talked me into buying a pair. They're expensive ($400-$500 US depending on what options you get) but they've become by far my favorite winter footgear. They're moccasins made from kangaroo leather with a thin, light sole called a "Newporter" that sticks to ice in a remarkable way. The kangaroo leather is very thin and light. It's as close to waterproof as leather can be, and still breathable. (A "vamp" is the piece of leather that goes around your foot. Water will come through the needle holes of a "single vamp" moccasin, but if you order a "double vamp", or even better, a "triple vamp", the seams overlap and they're essentially waterproof.) I wear them with two pairs of socks, and they're very warm. If I step in water deep enough to go over the top, there's no felt liner to get soaked. A change of socks puts me back in business.

They can be rebuilt and resoled, so in the long run I think they'll be a good value compared to cheaper, less comfortable footgear that only lasts a year or two.

I hate to sound like a commercial for any particular company, and I'm sure there are others who can make the same thing for you, but that's my enthusiastic recommendation: double- or triple-vamp kangaroo leather moccasins, large enough to wear with thick socks. You can add gaiters if the snow is deep, and you can use toe warmers in them in truly extreme weather. They probably aren't quite as warm as Stegers, but I've been happy hunting and snowshoeing in mine here at 43 north latitude. They've been drier, more durable, more comfortable, and easier to get on and off than my Stegers.
 

Chris the Cat

Full Member
Jan 29, 2008
2,850
14
Exmoor
Thanks for posting Oblio, $400-$500 is way out of my ballpark but having some made may not be!??
Thanks for the thought and happy new year.

In the meantime, the search continues!

Best.

Chris.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Describe these boots please Chris.

Sometimes it's the elements of the construction kind of broken down that makes patterning and retro engineering very possible :)

cheers,
M
 

Chris the Cat

Full Member
Jan 29, 2008
2,850
14
Exmoor
Elk skin foot, nice and wide ( Steger put a dipped sticky(ish) rubber sole on, for durability )
Canvas leg, high calf hight, wool ( felted ) calf high inner booties, felt insole.

Thick winter high leg moccasin! ( not that you don't know what a Mukluk is!! 0

best.

CHRIS.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
.........and you're not making them ? why ? :confused:

Felting's pretty straightforwards, leatherworkers we have aplenty :) Good canvas and a bright braid is cheap enough to buy, and any cobbler in the land will resole a pair of boots, I'm pretty sure most would have a shot at putting on a rubber one for you......and if I mind right both Leon_1 and John Fenna have made patterns :)
Come to think on it Torjus just posted a sketch of how he made his today as well.

I know; I'm a pest about making stuff yourself :eek:

M
 

Chris the Cat

Full Member
Jan 29, 2008
2,850
14
Exmoor
I was worried when I saw your post Mary, my guess was that you did NOT have a pair to sell! lol!
I KNOW, and I can use Ventile for the uppers!
However, tho you may want me on an exped with you ( or not!! )
You would NOT want me making you boots!!
( I don't realy believe that, but I am too scared! )

da C.
 

Haggis

Nomad
I live in Northern Minnesota, just a leisure 45 minute drive from Ely, Minnesota, and the Steger store. I've worn Steger mukluks for very many years, hunting and snowshoeing, and have a few thousand miles on my current pair of canvas top mukluks. They are great, here, where the temps are generally hovering at -18C or very much lower, even below -40, for several months of the year, but when the temps rise to the near freezing point, they are worthless. They soak up water as a sponge, plain rubber boots would be a better choice when the weather is hovering around freezing. If the snow is of the wet sort, or the ground is wet and muddy, I leave the Stegers at home and wear something water proof-ish and rubberized.
 

ex-member BareThrills

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Dec 5, 2011
4,461
3
United Kingdom
Cant argue with that. Struggling with my stegers currently at near 0 temps. Have changed out to goretex walking boots. At -18 they were stunning

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 

forestwalker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Years ago I made a pair based on the pattern in "Snow Walkers Companion" (Connover & Connover). I used a falr of felt liners left over from a pair of Sorells, but making them myself would not have been even remotely impossible (the book has patterns IIRC). I used regular chrome tanned split cowhide (i.e. the cheap stuff) and some Fjällräven G1000 fabric I hade left over from another project. They are as slippery as an election time politician in a TV interview on packed snow, but very warm in cold weather (-15 C to -35 C with no problems): I use them with my snowshoes and as camp shoes in winter. They will not work with any ski binding I have ever seen, to my great regret.

It should be possible to sole them, one thougth I have had has been gluing on a softish sole, or even just a piece from an old automotive inner tube, adding some threads by dabbing liquisole on them. Actually, just small drops of liquisole all over the sole *should* improve matters.
 

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