Hobnails?

[Mopar92]

Can I have a regular pair of Brogans Hob Nailed? I don't know who made them. They are steel U shoed already. Thanks, Keith

[Joe_Nski]

You can buy hobnails and install them yourself. I believe Fall Creek Sutlery sells them. They have a picutre of the sole of the shoe so you can see how the pattern is arranged.

Sgt Joe Niedzielski
10th Mass Vols

[Bill_Cross]

You can buy hobnails and install them yourself. I believe Fall Creek Sutlery sells them. They have a picutre of the sole of the shoe so you can see how the pattern is arranged.

Sgt Joe Niedzielski
10th Mass Vols
There is no "pattern," as hobnails were something the soldiers added themselves, usually at a cobler in camp. And since shoes were an issue item, there is even some dispute how PEC hobnails were. After all, $13/mo. wasn't a lot of money even back then, so a soldier would think long and hard about putting out his own dough for something he'd be issued.

That having been said, modern reenactors pay for their gear, and since hobnails aren't, strictly speaking, farbisms, many apply them for traction and to air wear, especially when marching on modern surfaces. To that point, I would not recommend them if marching regularly on asphalt unless you're a hockey player or figure skater.

[IsleGuy57]

Keith,

If you are going to Atlanta this weekend, our 1st Sgt installs hobnails and he charges $8.00. Look us up in the Union camp. We (14th Iowa) will likely be located near where the 125th Ohio is camped.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

"Hobnails," lik eheel and toe plates, were intended to cut down on wear, rather than improve traction. Wearing them for WWI, they are good in dirt and trenches, but "ice skates" on gravel and pavement/concrete... ;-)

"Doing it yourself" can be a chore, IMHO, unless one has a cobblers stand to keep the shoe from bouncing. One common "design," (not that hobnails are that common for the ACW), is/was to line the front edge of the sole with the first "row." Then lay down a second row next to that. And then a third, and so on until the sole area is near full.

In any event, "beware" of modern upholstery tacks being sold as "hobnails."

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

[billwatson2]

Hobnails on shoes solved a problem for me on grassy hills, a fairly serious problem because of damaged knees. I have a separate pair of shoes for walking on asphalt, and bring one pair or the other with me based on what the event portends in terms of grassy hills vs asphalt.

However....

In addition to everything already said about how hobnails are probably not plain, everyday and common, these issued shoes seem to have a real-world life of about 90 days, that is, if you wear them for 90 days under field conditions, especially marching in situations where you can't 'pick your spots' and avoid mud and whatever, the stitching that holds them together will be pretty much gone in 90 days. Hobnails wouldn't prolong that. So what's the sense in even bothering, in 1862, at some expense, to put hobnails on shoes when the shoes really don't last very long? Boots may be another matter, they seemed to be less prone to the things that just lay open shoes.

A modern caution: If you end up with a hobnail in exactly the wrong spot, the lump and pressure will make you think you're wearing torture devices on your feet.

[sbl]

Do these look like hobnails on the shoes of figure at the lower left? (Click to see, click again to enlarge.)

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/e/eb/Battle_of_the_Crater.png


TITLE: Scene of the explosion Saturday July 30th
SUMMARY: Figure in lower left has oversized shoes.
MEDIUM: 1 drawing on light green paper : pencil and Chinese white ; 22.9 x 34.3 cm. (sheet).
CREATED/PUBLISHED: [1864] July 30.
Alfred R. Waud, 1828-1891, artist.

[flattop32355]

Do these look like hobnails on the shoes of figure at the lower left?

Yup. Looks like it to me.

[Jim Mayo]

I did a little photo research on this subject some time ago. I looked at every LOC picture I could find that showed the bottom of shoes. Most of the pictures were of the GB dead. Results were 1 pair of shoes with hobnails and none with discernable heel plates.

[billwatson2]

"none with discernable heel plates."

Wow. Now that's interesting.

Some general questions, just because my curiousity is now bubbling:

What was the deal with hobnails/heel plates on civilian shoes? eg., what did people do before the war? What about boots and other footwear in general? Hobnails/heel plates to preserve them from bottom wear or not? Fashion trend? who would wear boots and why? Why (horse person question) do we associated boots with riding? Leg protection in brush? Pantleg protection from dirt on the horse? Fashion? Given the number of wood floors without wall to wall carpeting, wouldn't hobnails be regarded as kind of rude when you called on a neighbor?

Are hobnails more a "I'm a tough guy" thing from the 20th century?

I can see it now: A PhD on the history of hobnails.....

[indguard]

I know of metal detector guys who have found original heel plates at campsites and battlefields.

They were used, but at what percentage, I couldn't day.

WTH

[sbl]

Any change that the hobnails and such are "late war" as they are shown by Waud in 1864, but not seen generally in 1863 on the Gettysburg dead photos?

Maybe hobnails are charectoristic of "Negro Shoes?"

[Picket Post]

I dont think they would put that kind of effort in slave shoes.

I have recovered heel plates and toe plates from an 1861-1862 winter reserve picket camp occupied by Jackson's troops. I have found very few heel plates elsewhere. The general opinion is yes, heel plates and hob nails were used, but the most common issue shoes did not have them.

It seems some English Import shoes had hobnails. The pair shown in EOG have them.