Hob Nails for Shoes

[Nhgrants]

Awhile back I bought a pair of 18 century replica shoes. They are wicked slippery.
Has anyone here installed hob nails in shoes?  Are there cobblers that can still do something like this?
I like the shoes but way too slippery. Thanks

[sespe]

I have a pair of "jefferson boots" from Fugawee that I love but yes, they're slippery as owl snot.  I contacted Fugawee back in 2015 and they recommended a cobbler to me.  Georgia, Florida, some foreign place like that.  All I have left is an email address, but the boots and nails are still going strong today.  I'll PM you the email address. 

[sespe]

And not 10 seconds after posting, my ultra-organized wife found the contact info:

Don's Shoe and Leather Repair
850-893-8686

1415 Timber Lane Road
Suite 307
Tallahassee FL, 32312

[acorn20]

Najecki Reproductions has both heel plates for $5.00/set w/ nails and hobnails $4.00/25 or $10.00/75.  Just Google Najecki Reproductions and you'll get the web page.

[Nhgrants]

Thanks very much for the help

[Pukka Bundook]

NH,

I put hobnails in my Fugawee straight last shoes, and it made a wold of difference.

We had enough old hobnails kicking around, and small squared 'nails' with 4 points, I used on the heels.
As we have  a last, I just did them myself.

You'll enjoy the difference, even if polished floors don't!  :-)

Acorn,

Thanks for the contact info for hobnails, as I seem about out of the old ones.

[Hungry Horse]

I will tell you to be careful what you wish for. Yes early leather soled shoes are pretty slippery in certain terrain, but adding hobnails will only change where they are slippery. I made a pair of early style shoes from an old pair of “Earth Shoes” by having the reverse angle sole removed, and having a leather sole and heal added. The were very slippery in many outdoor activities so I bought a box of shoe nails from the shoe repair guy, and hobnailed the heels in a traditional pattern. They were great outdoors, not only did it stop the slipping, it helped keep the heals from mashing out, and spreading when the leather got damp. I later wore them to two indoor activities, one was a living history presentation at a school, and the other was a similar presentation at our local museum, on linoleum floors the hobnailed heel were like being on ice, and similar problems arose when I wore them to an outdoor even that was on a polished cement patio. So be aware hobnails aren’t the universal fix.

  Hungry Horse

[wmrike]

I kind of fall in line with HungryHorse.  Hobnails only work on surfaces that are softer than the nails.  On rock, they can kill you.  People might not welcome your footsteps on their cement or other prepared floors.  I just got tired of it all and had rubber heels put on my shoes.  The HC police haven't caught me yet!

[Pukka Bundook]

H-Horse,

I bust an elbow years ago when I slipped on concrete when wearing steel shod shoes!
My feet seem to come up level with my face before I went down.   Elbow never been right since.
So yes, be careful!
But, for snow and such, wet grass, they're worth their weight in gold.   (hobnails that is)   I used to spend about as much time flat on my back as I did trekking without the nails in the soles in these wet and slushy conditions!!

[Nhgrants]

Thanks for the advice. I had to make a similar  decision when I bought a set of Husqvarna chain saw safety boots.
I want them for the winter and almost booth them with calks installed until I realized that they would be very slippery in the steel floor of the tractor.
So I just put Yak Tracks on them when I on ice.

[thecapgunkid]

Hungry Horse...I will tell you to be careful what you wish for. Yes early leather soled shoes are pretty slippery in certain terrain, but adding hobnails will only change where they are slippery.

Yup.  I almost always put a small row of nails in the heel of the shoes I make in an arc from center to aboout 1/2 way around because, when I used to put 'em around the whole heel, I coulda been kilt!

[WKevinD]

A few years back I was at Ft. Niagara as a reenactor for their F&I event. I had hobnails and heel plates, they were great on the grass. In the evening after the public had left we were fencing small sword in the main sallyport that is paved with cobblestones.
Hobnails on stone at night are dramatic, when you lung at an opponent and you slide and make sparks at the same time it is impressive and as long as your opponent also has hobnails it's OK.

Kevin