Making some new Viking shoes.

[Wayland]

Time for some new shoes.

Of course being me that would not mean anything as simple as a visit to the shoe shops.

It's time for a new pair of Viking shoes.

This is the start point of my pattern. ( Mk. II )

It's not the final pattern because it will be adapted and trimmed to fit as I progress but this template has worked for the last half dozen pairs I've made so I don't muck about with it now.

A few details that will not be apparent when the shoes are completed.

First of all the leather for the tops is not "authentic" I use a tough hard wearing leather that is chrome tanned because I am wearing them almost continuously when I am working and I don't have time to sit making new shoes all the time so I need them to last a couple of years at least.

The end result looks the part so that is the most important thing.

Secondly, the sole is much thicker than the originals for the same reason given above. The sole is always the first part of the shoe to wear out, especially as I'm walking on surfaces like concrete and tarmac that the original shoes did not have to compete with.

In my early shoes, the stitching was usually the first thing to fail. To counter that I now use rot proof synthetic sinew and I cut the edge of the sole with an outward angle, wider on the outer skin side so that the leather covers the seam better when the shoe is turned inside out.

None of these compromises to authenticity will be apparent in the finished product but they do ensure that I get an extended working life out of the shoes.

 

[SaraR]

Ttis will be interesting to follow!

 

[Wayland]

The stitching of the upper to the soles is done with a modified "Box Stitch" making use of the extra thickness in the sole to ensure that the stitch is protected on the outside by about half the thickness of the sole leather.

The shoe is made inside out, which leads to them often being referred to as "Turnshoes" because they will be turned inside out when completed.

More about that later.

They are made freehand mostly. The only thing I use this old shoe anvil for is flattening the internal stitching with a mallet to make them smoother against the foot when being worn.

 

[Toddy]

You're brave tackling turnshoes from such thick leather
How do you manage the triangular heel with such ? I struggled enough with half that thickness not to end up with ridges that blistered me raw.

M

 

[Wayland]

Usually I leave them to soak in water overnight and they go with a bit of a struggle.

While they are wet I also batter down any heavy seams with a mallet on the anvil which seems to do the trick.

The leather on these is a tiny bit thicker than my old ones so I might turn them before completing the instep seam.

Just means I will have to make a feature of the stitching on the outside.

 

[Wayland]

Having stitched round the toe section I stop, bundle up the remaining thread around the needles and drop them into the toe.

I need to start on the other side of the heel section next so I can bring each part of the upper together and work out where the instep seam is going to be.

 

[Wayland]

 

[Toddy]

Aye, they're not made in an hour, are they ?

 

[bobnewboy]

I’ve never seen a pair, so I’m interested to see how they come out. Presumabubbly the pointed end is the heel part?

 

[slowworm]

Same here, very interest to see the final result. I've fancied making some form of simple leather shoe myself but not had the time to try so far.

 

[Wayland]

At this stage I can then see how many more stitches are required for the first seam and where to trim the excess leather.

However, I don't cut it away completely yet because the excess length will be needed to form the fastening for the shoe.

This is how I get the seams to fit together before making the main trim.

So this is the shoe, still inside out but I've dropped the old left boot in behind to give you an idea of how the flap will be trimmed to make the fastening strap.

I need to get the other shoe up to this stage now before proceeding further.

 

[Wayland]

I’ve never seen a pair, so I’m interested to see how they come out. Presumabubbly the pointed end is the heel part?

Indeed, the point curls up to provide a tough back stop for the heel.

 

[Wayland]

After some thought, I've decided I am going to close the instep seams before turning the boots.

This will make the job of turning them more difficult but results in a neater job in the long run.

I hope I won't regret that decision but I'll soon find out.

Folding the longer flap side under the short side allows you to find the centre line of the boot and mark it on the short side edge.

Running a pen down the edge marks the flap side showing where to cut it for a neat seam. You should be able to see the line and the mark on the edge in the boot on the right side of the picture.

The boot on the left has the flap side back on the top and you can see that it has already been cut.

The rest of the trimming can wait until the boot has been turned.

 

[TLM]

How long would they last in their historic surroundings, what's your guess? Can it be reasonably resoled?

 

[Wayland]

Many of the shoes found at Coppergate in York had secondary soles fitted to them as a repair.

I honestly do not know the original lifespan because very few people I know have used authentic shoes in purely authentic settings.

Even working up at Lofotr the floors were concrete to resist the wear of thousands of visitors.

 

[Wayland]

Tricky to show this properly in a photo but I am closing the seam with a traditional "Butt Stitch" with the needles emerging from the edge of the leather beneath the skin surface so that when it is turned skin side out the stitching will not be visible.

You will note I have switched over to using finer waxed linen thread for this part as rot is less of a problem here compared to the soles.

 

[Toddy]

Many of the shoes found at Coppergate in York had secondary soles fitted to them as a repair.

I honestly do not know the original lifespan because very few people I know have used authentic shoes in purely authentic settings.

Even working up at Lofotr the floors were concrete to resist the wear of thousands of visitors.

I wore a pair of courrans while working at the Crannog centre while at Uni.
This was before they had gravel put down, we were on bark chips and timber walkways. I think I worked 11 weeks in total that year, and by the end of that nearly three months I had to redo the sinew stitching at the heel seam. Funnily enough the nettle thread stitching held up fine. The shoes were starting to go very thin along the ball of my foot and the outside heel edge.
I made new lining leather insoles because I could feel every hard edge I walked on through the soles by then too. Felt insoles just seemed to end up full of wee jaggy bits of woody debris.
The next year they wore through and I just made a new pair in the style of the Pictish shoe with the triangular cut out design, kind of like the old fashioned Clark's sandals that we wore as kids...the ones with the white crepe rubber soles. Those were very comfortable but they constantly ended up with the wood chip bits in them too. The leather archaeology folks reckoned that style was used by folks who rode. There are carved images with similar details.

I made Vik boots to see if I could do it, and they proved to be excellent, kept the debris out, but not so useful in the wet. If the wet got in, they didn't dry nearly as quickly as the courrans did.
Took me ages to get the heel seam right so it didn't rub me into blisters though.

On the whole the turn shoes, like the ones you're making, really were the best of the lot. Just blooming hard work to turn and to get soft and comfortable.

 

[Wayland]

I do give them a good pounding with a mallet after I've turned them. That seems to make the seams a lot more comfortable.

When I worked up at Lofotr there were two locations and it was a good walk between them. I had a new pair of shoes and I was wearing them barefooted and they rubbed a bit, so I used the old Saami trick of stuffing then with grass which worked really well.

In fact I had the same grass in them for weeks back in the UK.

 

[TLM]

Yes the Sami used various species sedges like Carex aquatilis or Carex rostrata that were dried and then softened by pounding with a mallet before being used.

 

[Wayland]

I picked it from the side of the track and used it green, which I guess gave it a good pounding as it dried.