Making Shoes

Martin Brinegar made shoes for his family and neighbors, often working by the light from a window, and according to his nephew Sherman he charged about a dollar for a pair and could finish a pair in about two weeks. He used leather bought in Wilkesboro, first tracing a person's foot on paper to make a pattern, then cutting the leather with a shoe knife. He sewed the shoe together on a wooden shoe last with flax thread coated with beeswax from his bee gums and a hog bristle needle, used nippers to pull the upper over the last before attaching the sole, made holes in the leather with an awl, and fastened the sole with maple pegs. He shaved off the points of the pegs that poked through into the boot with a peg rasp and finished the shoe by making shoelaces from groundhog hide. His shoemaking tools included a glue pot, shoe last, shoe hammers, hoe knife, leather, nippers, awl, and bevel knife.

North Carolina · United States