To hobnail or not to hobnail, that is the question.

[daveproc26]

Hello, I am writing for advice. I am ditching my sutler/paki brogans and going for a pair of Robert Lands. Should I get hobnails? Our unit does a lot of parades and events at local forts to pay the bills and will the hobnails make the shoes slicker on smooth pavement and the smooth sallyports? I ask as I have never had hobnails before and do not want to break my head. With this info should I go hobnailed or not? I thank you for your input.
Dave

[tater]

Hobnails are like ice skates off grass, in my personal expierence.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

A rarer thing...

When hobnails and heel plates were used, it was with the intent of extending the life of the soles and heels not a matter of traction as CW NUG were not on poured concrete...

They can give you some added bite on dirt slopes...

Yes, then can be slippery on hard surfaces such as concrete and asphalt, and both modern buildings and particularly period buidings with wooden floors do not like the damages they can cause.

They are even more slippery when hobnails are not used, and folks use upholstery tacks instead.

Others' mileage will vary...

CHS

[dugel]

Check out the fine damage hobnails can do,



The work needed to fix the damage



Slick or not, hobnails can destroy a shoe.

[billwatson2]

It is doubtful hobnails were common on brogans, which seem to have a life in the field of about three months. Boots, maybe, they lasted longer.

For me it's a modern health issue, one that recently backfired. The hobnails are tremendously helpful on grass and dirt, especially hillsides. With my knees, sure footing is very helpful in avoiding injury.

Last spring on a Scout Troop tour of Gettysburg, I found the hobnails holding well on the NPS roads, and essentially forgot I had them on. We lunched on Little Round Top, and when I started down the pedestrian path from the top, a little stiff from sitting, my right foot went out from under me exactly like the aforementioned roller skate on glass. BANG! on my left knee, and now I'm a buffalo on roller skates. Up on my right leg again because the left one no longer seems to be working, and ZIP BANG! do it all again. The path was a different asphalt surface than the roads and I hadn't picked up on it.

I ended up with impressive road raspberry on and below my left knee, really really hurt the top of the small bone that sticks out just below the kneecap, and apparently wrecked what was already an unsatisfactory knee. I've got one of those big Joe Namath braces on the leg now.

The ability to say I was injured on Little Round Top, to the confusion of the historically challenged, is fleeting satisfaction.

Moral of the story: The hobnails are great when they're great, but absolutely treacherous on many of our modern surfaces, and you really really really need to pay attention.

[Julius]

hobnails hurt my feet

[Bill_Cross]

Slick or not, hobnails can destroy a shoe.

Uh, I don't think so.

The hobnails simply live in the soles. I don't see how they can damage a shoe, at least not the damage you show. But I'm not a cobbler and don't play one in "Struggles for Succession," either, so perhaps you can elaborate? It looks to me as though the leather of those soles rotted out, not something you can blame on hobnails. Do they cause the wearer to put unequal pressure on the center of the sole? Could be, especially if they are put only around the lip of the sole. Period accounts mention star patterns and other ways of distributing the hobnails.

Generally hobnails are not particularly PEC (plain, everyday, common), at least from what I have read, though they are recovered from dug sites. They do provide greater traction off-road, but are tricky on asphalt, tile and anything else slippery. But as a retired hockey player, the "ice skating" part isn't so fearsome for me.

[daveproc26]

I thank you all for your input, I have ordered the shoes sanz hobnails, if I wear them out, I'll get them resoled. I am used to no hobnails and we do alot of events that put me in contact with smooth surfaces and hardwood floors, Thank you again.
Dave

[Blair]

There is a reaction between the iron in the nails and the tannin used to "tan" the leather.
One of the tail tell signs of this reaction is the blackening of the leather, which also requires a long exposure to moisture (water).
The oxidation that occurs between the tanning acids within the leather and the iron within the nails caused the cells in the leather to rupture and fail.
Iron and leather are not friendly to each other

[dugel]

Uh, I don't think so.

The hobnails simply live in the soles. I don't see how they can damage a shoe, at least not the damage you show. But I'm not a cobbler and don't play one in "Struggles for Succession," either, so perhaps you can elaborate?

That is not the only pair I have had to deal with, just one example of what has come in my shop for repair. The problem is two fold: the nail itself rust up in the shank over time expanding the leather of the sole so more water penterates over time therefore rotting out the sole; secondly, the shank of the hobnail generally penetrates more than just the outer sole of the shoe. Depending on the construction of the shoe, that can mean either the inner sole and/or the midsole can end up with the same damage as the outer sole. If the inner or mid sole are heavily damaged they need to be repaired or any outer sole repair will not hold up. This means cost of repair can double or triple over just a basic resoling job.

I try and steer everyone I can away from hobnails, just so I don't see a mess on my bench later in life.

Pat Cunningham
http://mainstreetcobbler.tripod.com/