The Crispin Colloquy

Al,
Not having the luxury of time to read much for the last few years,And if my memory is correct, the quote,was siad by another writer on behalf of Goethe,I will look in my little dust-covered library and if i find it, I will send it to you.
Nasser.

Nasser,

Thanks! If you find the quote, do let me know--it's a very good line

Thank you, now I understand.

Bunny

About three years ago an inquiry was made for silk thread in sizes B an C. I just learned of a source in Connecticut www.UticaThread.com that might be of interest. Historical costume tailors use their thread for general sewing and buttonholes.

Roy

Roy,

Thank you for the tip, can one use the mini silk box B spools on an industerial shoe machine? I think it will be better to sew fabric shoes with silk.
Nasser.

Nasser,

I spoke to the store manager last week, and I got the impression that most of his thread is intended for commercial/industrial use. Everything I do is by hand with needle & thread, so the machine application wasn't of interest to me. You can buy a single large spool for $8, so there is no need to spend $20 on a box of smaller spools.

Roy

I've also posted this to the medieval shoemaking list but there is an auction on ebay for barbours #10 hemp thread at the moment:
http://cgi.ebay.com/32-BALLS-VINTAGE-BARBOURS-HEMP-THREAD-10_W0QQitemZ1301963935 12QQihZ003QQcategoryZ83906QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I bought five boxes of the 1941 Acaida thread from this chap directly. The shipping cost from Canada to NZ was murderous but I have enough to last me a good long time now. It seems like every time I find someone with interesting/useful materials they say "there was this guy years ago who had some and I bought a lifetime's supply but you can't get it any more..." so I thought I'd take a lesson from that.

Alasdiar,
Good on you my man, my fifth box is coming soon, I have been using this hemp thread for both, inseaming and sole stitching, but as I said before, it must be cleaned, the more i work with this thread the more I like it, or i should say getting used to working with it, You did a great job by buying this amazing thread, i wish other shoemakers will buy the rest of this thread. remember to clean it well before you wax it.
Regards Nasser.

Hi Nasser,

What are you doing to clean it?

The stuff I have seems to be in pretty good condition but I've never seen a known-pristine ball to compare it to.

Thanks

Alasdair,

I have always used linen for both insole and outsole stitching,until i could not find linen thread anymore where i am, so i have been buying from Mike Masyoluk from Winnipeg, Canada. the Irish hemp, 1946. now what I meant by cleaning is this, the thread has rings around the strands and sometime flax materials are on the strands,By nature the hemp is brittle in campairison to linen and breaks easiar, but i found that if the thread is well cleansed of axcess materials, it will will do as well as linen. Have you used any of the thread you bought?

To the users of the winnipeg(Irish) hemp thread, Since this hemp thread had been shipped and boxed to Canada in 1946, it helps alot if the starnds cut a day before stitching, it loosen the fibres and allows the wax to apply better to the thread, Just by using the thread for the last 6 months or so.

Rob,

I hope you managed to score a box of this fantastic hemp thread.
Nasser.

Alasdair,
This must be Mike's other thread, the 32 per box,I bid on a box,just to see how it works in comparison to his old hemp, the 36 balls to the box.
Nasser.

I recently obtained a lot of this thread off eBay. Can someone tell me the technique for combining single strands together to make a thicker strand?

Hi Rick
I'll give it a try. It's called making a wax end.pull the loose thread from the middle of the spool. Not the outside.
Pull out 4 feet or so. Lay the thread on your knee and roll it back against it's lie. AKA unravel it a but then give it a tug to pull the fibers loose, and back it a tapered end. put the tapered ends together and go back to the other end and repeat the unravel and tug. Keep the strings smoothed together untill you get the right weight of thread wanted.
Then start to roll the whole string in the same direction as the twist of the cord, again on your knee start at the middle and work to the ends You will have to experiment how much twist you can put in to get a workable thread.
Then loop it around something firm and rub you rosin or wax till it melts into the thread. Grab a scrap of light colored leather fold it over the thread and rub like Heck till it gets warm and removes excess wax and makes a smooth surface.

The tapered ends can now be fastened to a boars bristle or wire welt wire.

I'm sure if this isn't clear some one will help out
Regards
Brendan

Rick,

It's in the book...

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

Rick,

If the thread you bought is hemp,It is good for inseaming, for the outsole stitch linen is much better to work with,I recently bought some of the BLACKSTAFF'S NO. 8. linen thread, for my top stitch and my snake & leather shoe is sewn in and out with the #8 linen. you might want to cut your strands longer than 4 feet and remember to rub bees wax on top of the sticky wax(pine wax)at the finish,keep in mind the right amount of twist is important.
regards
Nasser.

DW,

What book are you referring too? Just curious.

Rob

Thanks all. I'll give it a try.

Robert - It's DW's book on Western Packers.

An awesome tome!

Hi Rick,

I've just stuck a couple of videos of how I break thread and attach bristles on my blog at
http://wherearetheelves.blogspot.com/2008/03/my-first-video-post-breaking-and.ht ml
http://wherearetheelves.blogspot.com/2008/03/my-second-video-post-attaching-bris tles.html

The process of waxing and plying up longer threads is exactly the same as D.W describes in his videos. I couldn't work with anything longer because the tripod was taking up half my working space when I shot these (my shoemaking space at home is only about 40sqft including the space the tables and stacks of leather take up)

Blogger downsizes these a lot but if they're worthwhile additions to the collection I'll see about uploading the full size versions on here.

Thanks Alasdair,

Your video is interesting and helpful. Haven't tried it yet myself. I'm still mulling it over.

Alasdair,

Enjoyed the video, well done. Plaiting on the bristle is a good idea. Probably a little quicker than twisting it on and just as stout. will give it a try.

Chuck

Alasdair,

Very nice. Very well presented. If you can get these in .wmv format and a somewhat smaller file size, we would honoured to have them.

I have one question though...personal curiosity...you don't seem to cover the splitting of a bristle. How do you do that? I am wondering because your method of plaiting the bristle is brilliant. Much easier than mine. So I wonder if you've come up with a similarly inspired way to split the bristle or can you buy them already split in NZ?

Tight Stitches
DWFII--HCC Member

Alasdair,

I enjoyed your video. I have a question though. I am new at making shoes. Do people still use this bristle method today for any purpose other than making period shoes? I know that sounds like a dumb question but didn't they have needles way back when?

Hi DW,

Thanks That braiding method is just what worked for me.

I'm struggling slightly with my encoding software at the moment -- it's unix based so it's all complicated command line stuff -- but I'll let you know when I've gotten these down to a manageable size. I'm assuming I need to send them to you to upload to the forum?

I'd love to say I had a magic method for splitting bristles but the reality is I split the bristles using the same techniques as described on here. I make a little nick and then pull it apart. I get maybe a 50-60% success rate on fresh monofilament.

I'd be real keen to get my hands on one of those splitting devices someone posted pictures of after the AGM. They look like the perfect solution to me.

Hi Geraldine,

I'm glad you enjoyed the videos.

Yes people still use bristles today for making modern shoes. From what I've seen it seems to be mostly just for inseaming because you can't do that with a machine and it seems like you can build a better seam by hand than a machine will do. DW's "hand jive" video in the videos topic is worth watching to see how it's done.

People use them because it's easier than using needles, it makes a stronger seam, and you don't need such big holes for bristles as you do for needles. I've been working on an explanation for the medieval shoe classes I'm working up so I'll post something over in the bristling at the very suggestion topic as soon as I get the time.