Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Bad Hand) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:11:48 GMT

Nice looking awl. I don't use an awl when I sew the moccasins, I sew the rawhide wet and use a glovers needle.

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Hartung) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:27:48 GMT

Bad Hand, thanks.

I've already been working with bone awls. Just used the bone without holder. Today I made this awl for making a new pair of Stone Age shoes. Holder is yew, polished with dried nettle, coated with bison leg and bone marrow oil. The bone is hafted with birch...

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Bad Hand) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:03:52 GMT

I always make the heel thicker as it will compress and wear quicker.

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Hartung) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:47:34 GMT

Hi,

With a sole of different thickness, where do you place the heel? On the thicker or one the thinner part of the sole?

Thanks!

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Quillsnkiko) — Sun, 31 May 2009 08:31:32 GMT

Ive slid down hills in wet grass on my bum with both rawhide & latigo soles when I was younger...... I solved it by painting a coat of rubber stuff on the sole ..the stuff you dip tool handles in to make them grippable.I don't know if you can still get the stuff.It gave you more traction.

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Hartung) — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:41:36 GMT

Prairie Man, thanks for your answer. I also thought that going barefoot would be a reliable option. I just need some confirmation …

Others who have experience with rawhide soles and who would like to relate their stories?

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Prairie Man) — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:47:49 GMT

Go barefoot ! That is what the Indians did when it got wet out . Good thing feet are tough if you let them get tough. A friend of mine used to go barefoot all the time , he said it took about 3 months to get a nice thick layer of skin on the soles of his feet and then his shoes didn't fit.

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Hartung) — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:21 GMT

Hi!
Rawhide for moccasin sole is an interesting project. Now, when thinking of it, there is a question that comes into my mind: how do you prevent the rawhide soles from decaying when on a several day journey in rainy weather?
Thanks!

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Quillsnkiko) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:26:50 GMT

Good looking moc Bad Hand....I like the addition of the cuff.. makes THE MOC LOOK BETTER THAN NO CUFF I think..and one could even make it longer and make high top mocs.
you sew on your sole same way as old time and as I do. nice even stitching also. great pictures.

" You can't stop the waves .... but, you can learn to surf."

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Bad Hand) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:44:05 GMT

Here are a couple of pictures of the hard sole moccasins that I make. The upper is buckskin and the sole is buffalo rawhide.

Some people are only alive because there are laws against killing them.

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Quillsnkiko) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 10:13:43 GMT

....LOL coogs
somewhere around here I have a article by Darry Wood on center seam mocs ..that was from the Bulletin of Primitive Technology. I suppose it would be a copyright violation to scan and post it here??? any ideas if it would adm's???? or Tom. When I get time..... busier n a borrowed MULE.

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (coogs) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:42:40 GMT

I agree with Y. There's a lot of variability of thickness and durability on any particular deerhide. Just don't use the belly skin for mocs as it is thin and functionally designed to stretch. I know my own belly skin does that.

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Bad Hand) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:15:54 GMT

For the hard sole moccasins I use rawhide from an older buffalo bull. I have never made a woodland style soft sole.

I made a mistake with an Antelope hide and I put it in the brains when the brains were too hot. The hide shrunk and thickned and I thought I had ruined it but it did soften. It was more like a medium weight boot leather. I am going to use it for the pupper section of a pair of high top moccasins.

I am going to try this with a deer hide and see what happens. The...

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:52:24 GMT

This is not the Eastern center seam but it is real easy to make. It is in the Tipi book by the Laubins Called The Indian Tipi It's History Use and Construction. They are hard sole Souix style. The only thing they left out is the fact that if you soak the hard soles in water overnight they sew just like braintain or butter which ever you happen to be working with. I have made many of these and they tell how to measure right of the foot of the person who will be wearing them. I will try and see...

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (BuildsTheFire) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:14:14 GMT

Deer should be perfectly fine. Moose is even better. Elk's fibers are too weak though and will wear through in half the time it takes for a deer hide moccasin to wear through.

Here is a site that should be helpful:
www.nativetech.org/clothi...ctext.html

I'm partial to the center seam puckered toe style.

-Owen

my blog:...

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (Kechuwa) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:14:02 GMT

I started a pair that I never finished.. Listen to Billy as the deerskins are all different thicknesses according to the individuals.. this pair I started is a real bugger to stitch as it is so thick! but a pair of moccs made with thicker skin should last a little while providing you stay off the pavement with them.

Re: Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (YTBM) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:40:43 GMT

Deer is what they were always made out of I think. Deer can be wildly variable in it's thickness depending on when it is killed and how old and what sex. Even a big buck can be thin if killed in the spring. Most mature bucks killed in Oct. or Nov. will give you a good hide for eastern style center-seams.

If you are using commercial tanned it will all be the same thickness because they run the hides through a splitter that shaves them all down to be the same.

Get yourself some...

Moccasin Hides

feeds@yuku.com (highlander7397) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:25:49 GMT

Id like to make some eastern woodland type moccasins. I need a pattern. Some tell me that deerskin wont work because its to thin. My buddy has a pair he's wore for years and they're made from deerskin. I've used it for bags and many other items and I would see why it would'nt work.Any help would be appreciated.
Highlander