Ye Pirate Brethren

It appears to me that the flap is gone, but I'm a little concerned because the photo makes it look like it might only be gone on one side... Its probably just an illusion, because I can't believe that they would remove it on one side and not the other...

I'm eagerly awaiting Bloody Jack Madd's review and photos!

~Barmy

I have been swamped at work, so I haven't had a chance to put together a full review. However, these are my first impressions:

1. Measure your feet with multiple socks. I cannot stress this enough.


2. Exterior looks great, albeit to my limited understanding of cordwaining. Interior does not seems to be made period style at all - but no one can see that. Sole is excellent - but again, my knowledge is limited.

I was at an event this past week, and someone there had a pair...

I only saw the outside (she was wearing them), and they looked good. My only real criticism would be the toe was a little more square than I think is appropriate... Not too bad, so I am starting to lean towards ordering them. I am just not looking forward to waiting months for them once I get the order in (which should be in a few weeks or so)

How small are they? 1/2 size? 1 size? More?

How many pairs of socks? 2? 4? 10?

Thanks!

I would say they are possibly 1 whole size too small. I can fit the shoes on with a thinnish pair of cotton socks (thinner than tube socks, I'd say) and a shoe horn, but they are ridiculously tight. I know the difference between functionally tight shoes, like wrestling shoes, and disfunctionally tight shoes, and I would be surprised if I could stand to wear these for a full day. I cannot fit the shoes on with a thick pair of cotton socks or wool socks. So I would wear the thickest versions of the socks you would normally wear - if you normally wear thick wool socks with a thin sock liner beneath, I would wear the thickest pair of wool socks (not just stockings for your impression, but the thickest wool socks you can find, period) and a pair of tube socks for your sock liners. Then I would measure your feet standing, with you full weight on each foot, and then again with your weight evenly distributed among both feet.

I don't think they are going to stretch well, so there isn;t much I can do about this, but I will cover that in my longer review.

Yikes!

Ok, let's see a pic of dem shoes!

Sorry it's taken so long - I have been vacationing in Fort Meyers for the last week. I have the review written - I'll load it tonight with the pics.

So here are my impressionsof the Early GAOP Loyalist Arms shoes, about $105 with a group order:

I think the outside of the shoe looks great. I love the rough-out, the shape of the latchets, the arch of the toe. The stitches are not correct, But I knew that going in, and you have to ask yourself what compromises you are willing to put up with at this price point. These are some pictures of me in the kitchen with thin cotton stockings. I usually wear sock liners as well to prevent blisters, but at this point I can barely fit the shoes on as they are.





The sole is probably my favorite part, honestly. It appears to be many layers of leather connected with nails, and the heel has a wooden peg down the center. I don’t know if that is period, but it looks great. My name is stamped into the sole with a lot number, so I can track them down if they are pilfered. For those who find this distracting, I am sure you can request this feature be removed or move elsewhere, such as the inside of the shoe. All in all, I love these soles, even if I can’t wear these on hardwood floors.

*Pics of soles to come*

Now it comes to the interior. This may or may not be unpleasant, again depending on the compromises you are willing to make for this price point. You probably can’t tell from the pictures, but the inside of the leather is covered in canvas. The back of the sole (the part against the foot) is covered in leather too shiny for me to identify as vegetable tanned. It is stitched together – it is not the natural grain-side of the rough out. In fact, the more I look at it, the more I suspect the ‘rough out’ is in fact canvas-backed suede! Basically, other than the sole, which I think is really neat, none of this shoe is really made from period materials or construction. The style if commendable, and the sole is great, but it’s still a sort of disappointment.



Now, this is a disappointment to me, if for no other reason than I was planning on using lampblack and wax to treat the outside, and now I don’t even know if it will work with this suede surface. Although a natural surface isn’t bad, I was interested to see how it would look after I treated it.

But for $105, what could I expect? The style does look good to me, and the measurement is probably my own fault, since my full weight wasn’t on my feet, and some others in the first batch have perfect fits. So, for $105, I can say that I don’t regret this purchase – it looks passable, it’s much better than my farby shoes (which I would maintain are better than the boots I started with) and the soles are just really cool. Luckily, the stretching seemed to do the job – otherwise I would be really PO’d.

So I guess I would say that you just need to decide what you think you should get for the price point. We know that the period cordwainers are mostly overseas, and frightfully expensive. So this is not a bad way to start for newbies, or some working shoes for others who have spent the big money on the 100% period cobblers.

Both versions together:



Early shoe profile:



Late shoe profile:



Any other pics you want to see?

My favorite part so far is the ability to walk everywhere in them - over rocks, on the beach, on the coral in Key West --- you never feel a thing on the bottom of your feet. And the souls aren't showing a bit of wear, even walking almost 6 miles in them over the surfaces mentioned above as well as ordinary street pavement.

Good note on having your weight on your feet when measuring.

Also, you can get Show Stretch at Walmart. You spray it on the inside of the shoes and wear it for a while. It works well. Be sure that you don't spray the outside -- it will stain the leather.

-- Hurricane

Thanks for the info guys!
Damn, those shoes look nice. I want a pair now.

http://pantherprimitives.com/pdf2005/pa ... itives.pdf they have the shoes I'd like to get on page 156 anyone know if their any good or not?

Hey Black Dog,

I'm not 100% positive about what I am going to say, so please take it with a grain of salt...

Those shoes look an awful lot like the Musuem Replica 17th century shoes... Which are based on an earlier style, but not bad (from what I have heard). The problem arises from everything I have heard seems to indicate that those shoes have been discontinued... The latest Panther Primitives catalogue does not have that shoe (no matter what it is), and from what I have heard there are still a few vendors that have some of the Museum Rplica shoes in stock, but not in common sizes... So, if you are lucky, you might find a vendor that has them in your size, but it would be doubtful. Good luck no matter what you decide.

Those shoes are wrong/ bad. The latchets should not be sewn in front of the whole in the side. Mike Tartaglios wife has better 17th century shoes.

Mark

I'm going to be ordering a pair from loyalist sometime next year