The Crispin Colloquy

DW,

Thank you for the reply. I'm not sure how I missed it earlier. I picked up a vintage peg float and have been practicing pegging on scrap. I can now peg two layers of sole leather together and not get them stuck to the last. I'm going to move on an attempt it "for real" very shortly. This has been a very rewarding learning experience so far.

"Lisa Sorrell Notions and Findings" has them back in stock Yay!!!
size 6/11 only at this time, and glad she has them.
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Does anyone know of a new source for shoe pegs? I've been told that Blau isn't making pegs anymore.
Moved from: ----Re: Hand Wax / Coad----
#549 Post by SharonKudrle » Sat May 27, 2023 9:35 pm

Thank you nickb1, I just now read your reply. T hope someone starts manufacturing them again in different sizes. I'm not woodworker enough to make them. On page 160of R.A. Salaman's Dictionary there is Al Saguto's drawing and explanation of a home made plane with info on how long it took to make them using that method. In this Forum under "Boots and Shoes in History" : "18th C Pegged Soles?" there are more instructions. Not so much in the "vertical fasteners" topic. Thank you for the leads, I'll keep scavenging until someone starts manufacturing them again.

Sadly I've no sources still making pegs. Like so many of our "essentials", they're drying up. From a historical-shoemaking perspective, pegs weren't used for making new shoes (attaching soles) until the first quarter 19th century (USA), and later in UK and Europe. If you find the links to the two articles I wrote on pegs/pegging for the Early American Industries Association, 'Chronicle' please post them here. So few were needed in the 17th and 18thc (just for heel building and some repairs), shoemakers simply made there own--whittled off of a long stick pre-~1750s, and then split (as the illus. in Salaman show), post ~1750s. Things pick up a bit mid-century, and convicts in Newgate Prison (London) were set to work making wooden pegs for shoemakers and tobacconists (Oliver Goldsmith says), but whittled or split? For making repro 19thc pegged-shoes, or modern stuff, you'll need pre-split pegs in quantities, preferably in a range of sizes, and Canadian rock Maple was best. There were peg-pointing planes, run across the end grain to create rows of pyramidal points, the sheets of pegs were split off from that, then each peg split off the strip. Peter Oakley can tell you the advent of peg-splitting mills up in New England (1830s?). Shoe pegs became so cheap and readily available in the N.E. in the 1800s, in fact that they were used to adulterate sacks of wheat!

Could you please post a photo here of a peg making plane for us? If Blau peg doesn't step up production on sizes other than 6/11 we may have to make our own. Thank you so very much!

It would be a pain but I still think wood dowelling could be a stop gap, since dowel sticks are available in thin, square form. An electric pencil sharpener and a broad sharp chisel for cutting several pegs at once might help.

Thank you Nick, but that would end up being more of a stop and also a gap for me.
I have plenty of square pegs now to use with my square awl.
Al Saguto's pegs are more to your specifications than mine, but thank you anyways.

On Backorder: my pegs are now backordered, pegs are not available immediately.
They are expected to arrive within a week and then get shipped first to those who have already placed orders. The remainder will be sold on her website.

The pegs I ordered from Lisa Sorrells Notions and Findings online store arrived today and they're beautiful!
Thank you very much Lisa. for all of your work getting pegs for us.