Quote on Wooden Shoes.

“…the quantity of 1200 pair of sabots/clogs of good wood and assorted small and large…will be held to produce at least 100 pair/month in this city”
~ Montreal, 1689 (Seguin 474)

More on the pre Revolution Frock/Hunting shirt.

By now most of you will know that the caped and frilled hunting shirt was an American Revolution period item, and was not worn before this period. The European worker's frock however was very popular in the New World and would have been introduced by the English, French, German, Dutch and other nations settling in this new country.
We know that this frock was in use during the 18th century and right through to the mid 19th century as a plain frock made from either a coarse linen, hemp, or wool. I have said in the past that I believed this frock to date back to the medieval period, though it may have been called by another name. Recently whilst researching something else (isn't it always the way!), I came across a 16th century painting showing a man in a butcher's shop wearing this same shirt style work frock.

Butcher's Shop by Annibale Carracci, 1580.

Detail from above painting.

The author wearing his 18th century frock.

Annibale Carracci was an Italian painter.

Hemp Rope.

I have recently ordered my first length of hemp rope from overseas. At 6 cm it is probably more correct to call it "small stuff".  I like to carry a small length of rope in my pack just in case I need it for carrying or for getting game up off the ground for dressing. Even though I started skinning and butchering game on the ground so am well used to doing it this way, for smaller game than buffalo or wild boar I find it easier to field dress game on a Gambrel.  Rope is also useful for securing two people together in difficult steep terrain, which I have had to do on occasion.

One of two gambrels that I made to use at home. In the woods I just use a strong piece of wood.

Jan Josef Horemans I  ( 1682 – 1759 )

A stick is being used here too, roped to a ladder.

5 mm hemp rope.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/109119456/5-mm-4-ply-natural-hemp-rope-30ft

A rope fragment from the Mary Rose.

The old rope walk at Coalbrookdale, England.

A German rope maker about 1460-1480.

A rope maker at work, c. 1425

More on Wooden Shoes. Clogs & Prop making, Diderot.

Criminals For Gun Control!

Wooden Shoes.

Wooden shoes, also known as Sabots by the French and Clogs by the Dutch were footwear for peasants. The wooden shoe that many people associate with the Dutch, was in fact widely used through Europe and the British Isles including Cymru and other Celts.
Wooden shoes were relatively inexpensive to buy, they protected the feet from the wet and from sharp objects so were excellent for work shoes.

18th century French sabot.

18th century French sabots.

Three different styles of French sabot.

Dutch girls clogs with leather uppers and iron treads.

These are wedding shoes and I would guess at Dutch.

No date on these but I thought the ice cramps interesting. There seems very little difference to wooden shoes made in the 18th century to ones made later on.

I find this one interesting. Using a wooden shoe to deliver water to the stone seems to have been common practice among knife grinders. This chap is also wearing wooden shoes.

From Diderot, 1750s. A white cooper's shop. Note the wooden shoes on the floor.

Detail of the white cooper's shop by Diderot.

http://siftingthepast.com/2012/06/04/departure-from-a-french-inn-grimm-1775/ http://www.freewebs.com/spun_measured_and_cut_elbows/shoes.html http://historyofwoodenshoes.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/clogs.html

A Farmer's Garters 1762.

 David Garrick's "The Farmer's Return", ca. 1762,

These garters above the knee look very much like the ones seen in the movie "The patriot"