Swedish crafts - clogs

[mrcharly]

[video=youtube;wGDkliy1DEU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGDkliy1DEU[/video]
Apologies if this has already been posted.

Some wonderful tools there. A spoon auger put to very good use, a lovely little short-handled adze and others.

clogs, spoon and chair made. All the makers at some point use what looks to be an almost identical pattern of hatchet.

 

[Imagedude]

What wood is used for clog making?

 

[Toddy]

Sycamore and beech I believe.

Ash is considered best for dancing clogs, but it has to be kept dry. Alder is good for wet working ones, but it'll split a bit too easily.

Sycamore is the preferred, but beech worked best with machine made.

.....met a clog maker once and he had a tremendous wealth of historical detail in his mind fascinating to listen to and watch as he worked

That's a good film mrcharly Thank you for posting the link.

M

 

[Toddy]

I've been a googling....it seems the Dutch clogs are made from poplar and occasionally willow.
There you go; learn something new every day

M

 

[bilmo-p5]

Clogs <3

Sent from my GT-S5830i using Tapatalk 2

 

[Dave Budd]

it is one of my favourite vids that one I made a spoon auger based on the one he uses for hollowing a while back for a customer. Apparently it is the best tool he has ever used to hollow out fast like that (somehow I thought it might be too ).

As it happens I've just finished a bunch of spoon augers (the not clog hollowing specific varieties).

 

[Skaukraft]

In Scandinavia they most often used alder for clogs.

 

[mrcharly]

Those clogs look aweful clumsy things to walk in.

I guess Alder, poplar and willow are good because they are so light. Easy to work so a new pair of clogs wouldn't take long; certainly the craftsman in the video makes it look easy.

 

[Toddy]

British clogs; the ones made from sycamore or beech, generally are just wooden soles with proper leather uppers that lace closed.
They wore well, were 'industrial' type footwear, kept you up out of the mud, and like the fancy horrendously expensive rocking sole trainer shoe things, were a good work out

M

 

[tombear]

My father always preferred clogs when he worked at the pit, when they were available, especially when working in the wet. When I've come across them in my size and about unused I've picked them up. I've three pair but to be honest I only use the ones with rubber soles nailed on, the two pair with big steels I find too slippy for some one as clumsy and awkward as me. I've alsogot a pair of Scandinavian style clogs, still with leather uppers but they just seam too light so I only wore them a couple of times. They have applied rubber soles and are in the crud to eBay pile.

Come to think of it the lads have all now grown out of the steel toe capped clogs I got them which they only used a few times when they were both doing their axe training in scouts. I think the are sixes, i'll probably have to clean them knowing the lads but if any ones got tiny feet drop us a line.

Theres a small display of clog making equipment at the Weavers Cottage in Rawtenstall and a full workshop at the Colne Valley Museum where I think they occasionally still make them to show th technique.

i really must wear them more as they are very comfortable. The only real downer is that even the rubber soled ones are very noisy to wear.

Great video, thanks for sharing.

atb

Tom

 

[dabberty]

Clogs are awesome I use them for everything around the house, gardening, wannebee blacksmithing, chopping wood for the fireplace, simply everything around the house.
I'm Dutch, but living in Prague, and the Czechs are not much used to it, they always smile when they seem me walking in them

 

[John Fenna]

The village 1 mile from my house was one of the local centres for local clog making in this part of Wales.
The clog makers used to come and harvest the Alder and rough shape the soles on site. Refinements were done once the wood had seasoned, and the uppers then made.
One local Clog Maker used to cut the little metal toe bumpers out of old tin cans for the locals too mean to buy the proper factory made ones. Cardis are well know for their love of money....
One of the shoe shops in Cardigan has a permanent window display of one Clog Makers tools and "bits and bobs" - I have thought of a Ram Raid to get the lovely tools just sitting there unloved.... All I have in the way of clogs is a heel iron from a childs clog that I dug up in our garden. There are still a few clog makers in Wales making for the dancers.

 

[vestlenning]

Clogs are easy to use when you get used to them. When I grew up there was this guy driving his car while wearing clogs. Sometimes he opened the door, stuck one foot outside and let the clog scrape against the road. Madman!

 

[Goatboy]

In the "Living in the past 1978" series when they were asked at the end of it what the one thing they missed was most of them settled on modern waterproof footwear with grippy soles. So at least clogs would've been waterproof and not worn out as much as leather soles. Trying to remember the proper name but weren't "pattens" very popular in the middle ages? Sort of a wooden overshoe/sandle thing for daundering around in wet muddy conditions to keep your leather footwear dry. Quite similar to the wooden outdoor sandles you see in fedal Japan depictions. Would be handy things around camp and relatively easy to make. Can't pop up any pics, using taptalk, sorry. Interesting thread though. :thumbup:

Sent via smokesignal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Nativewood]

I've long fancied a pair of British clogs but never plucked up the courage to jump in. The Walkely Farmer's ones look to be about my limit of pocket but pretty solid. Phil Howard's look good too.