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Matthew Stein ’s book , When Technology neglect : A Manual for Self - Reliance , Sustainability , and Surviving the Long Emergency , volunteer this fast template to making your own shoes . The record book is take with useful tips for saving money , living a sustainable lifestyle , and make it in a savage , Road Warrior - like dystopia .
We hope that will never happen , but if it does , at least your toes will be stylin ’ and safe .
The following article was adapted for the vane fromWhen Technology Fails : A Manual for Self - Reliance , Sustainability , and Surviving the Long Emergency .

In pioneer days , a good - fit pair of horseshoe was a really worthful possession . Often , when shoemakers passed through a small town , they would make several distich of shoe for each somebody who could yield them , as it might be geezerhood before they had the chance to purchase another pair of good - equip shoe . Making your own traditional boots is not easy , but sandals and moccasins are easy and rewarding leathercraft projects for the beginner .
Soles can be attached with stitching , primitive hide gum , more mod glues such as Barge Cement , or nail in place ( cobbling ) . McNett Corporation gain an splendid urethane shoe - hangout cementum , called Freesole , which can be used to repair holes in shoes and worn soh or glue Modern sole in place . Freesole is available through backcountry supplier and shoe - repair shops . It is reportedly much stronger than Barge Cement and withstands much high temperatures , but I have not tried it yet for gluing soles in place . See Chapter 14 for instructions on how to make your own glues .
Sinews , wakeless waxed nylon thread , or multistrand wire are all good , strong materials for stitching together footgear . If you clean wire for screw thread , make certain that the strands are fine or else constant flexing will cause the metallic element to weariness and the telegram to break . Shoe sole and shoulder strap can be nailed together by a process visit “ cobbling . ” Shoe soles that were attached by just nailing short nail through the soles into the midsole would soon sour loose and decrease off . Traditional cobblers use nails with slender , tapering tips that are nailed through the straps and soles against a metallic element anvil , bending the nail tips back so that they form a hook shot shape . By bending the nail lead , the fillet of sole or strap is captured in such a way that the nail ca n’t easily work their fashion back out .
Cast - off rubber tires make great sandal and soles . Thomas J. Elpel , author ofParticipating in Nature1 , believe that the skillful all - around homemade footwear is a tyre sandal wear thin over a moccasin . you could wear holes in a duet of moccasins in less than a day of rough traveling , and tyre sandals can wear a hole in your understructure ( blisters ) in a few hours . When you wear the two together , you get the comfort of moccasins fuse with the lastingness of tire sandal . Around camp you may wear just the mocassin . When fording rivers , bear just the sandals . Using a circle saw , sharp tongue , chisel , hacksaw , or coping byword , cut tyre sandals and buckles from honest-to-god - style tires that do n’t have steel belt ammunition .
Use the pattern shown in Figure 10 - 27 as a gravelly guide . get by trace the outline of your ft on a piece of paper . Add about 3/8 inch to the front and side , but not the heel area . Make two marks at the centers of your anklebones ( A ) and a Deutsche Mark at the side of the ball of your base , instantly behind your big toe ( B vitamin ) . Draw line through these points , as demonstrate in the pattern , to facilitate you locate the strap loops . The strap eyelet are designed for 3/4 - in - wide webbing . If you use a different sizing of strap material , adjust and customize your pattern as necessary to fit your foot . Cut out your pattern as you would a paper skirt , and lay it on the tire to score the abstract for trim the rubber ( Elpel 1999 , 134 ) .
snap here to listen to the story of the shoe cobbler on NPR .
Notes
1 . Elpel , Thomas J.Participating in Nature : Thomas J. Elpel ’s Guide toPrimitive Living Skills . Pony , MT : HOPS Press , 1999 .
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When Technology Fails
A Manual for Self - Reliance , Sustainability , and Surviving the Long Emergency , 2nd Edition
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