![]() The vamp and the quarters and heel stiffener are stitched together and eyelets or fastenings attached. When cutting either card or metal patterns are used, with the latter the knife makes a clicking sound and the term used is "clicking out". At the lighter end are various styles of sandals, then through shoe types to industrial, farming and army boots. The uppers are made from leather either cut according to patterns or stamped out. A workman is shown using a small hand adze for finishing pattens with drawknives (or possibly stock knives) hanging on the wall behind. Grew & Neergaard summise that a similar method was used in medieval times, in part from an illustration in the Mendel Housebook. The final operation is to finish the sole perfectly smooth by rasps and short bladed knives. The latter is used to cut the rebate to hold the upper. The same stock knives were used for shaping with two more pivot knives, the hollower and the gripper bit. The seasoned wood was sold on to the master clogger who would finish the work on the now dry, seasoned wood. The offcuts and waste was sold on, either as pea-sticks and firewood to provide money for food or else as fuel to the wool dyeing trade. The clog blocks were then generally stacked up in open pyramids to allow the air to circulate and seasoned for a few months. All the work was done in green wood which is easier to work than seasoned wood. The billets were roughly shaped with a stock knife and a deep notch put in where the sole and heel meet. Logs from larger trees were split that from smaller coppice wood did not require splitting. The timber was felled and sawn to length. The regular gangs would operate in a similar fashion to coppice workers and circulate around 12 stands in 12 years to allow regrowth. The traditional method of construction starts with gangs of itinerant woodsmen who would buy a stand of timber for the felling. The Welsh favoured alder, birch & sycamore. In the past the English tended to employ Welsh and West Country alder, Scottish birch and Lincolnshire willow for the soles. Sole of Gibson style English clog by Walkleys of Yorkshire. In 1989 three shiploads of clogs were sent to The Netherlands due to the perceived inferiority of the Dutch clog in wet fields. Such clogs are particularly advantageous in metal working industries where hot swarf or splashes of molten metal may be found on the floor. Īlthough associated in the popular mind with dancing, clogs are still used in industry and are available tested to EN345. ![]() Ĭlogs were sometimes handed out as part of poor relief the Blackburn Weekly Telegraph recorded five people receiving "gifts of clogs or parcels of clothing" in 1912. ![]() In the aftermath of disasters they could be a means of identifying the victims, as happened after the Clifton Hall Colliery disaster where at least two men could only be identified this way. Through manufacture, repair and wear clogs could become individually recognised. Clogs could be manufactured within hospitals to keep down the cost of clothing. The London fish docks, fruit markets and the mines of Kent being particularly noted. Indeed, Mark Clyndes of Walkleys says "More clogs were worn down south than in the northern industrial towns". The heyday of the clog in Britain was between the 1840s and 1920s and, although traditionally associated with Lancashire, they were worn all over the country, not just in the industrial North of England. Nailed under the sole at toe and heel were clog irons, called calkers or cokers, generally 3/8" wide x 1/4" thick with a groove down the middle to protected the nail heads from wear. Men and women wore laced and clasped clogs respectively, the fastening clasps being of engraved brass or more commonly steel. The wearing of clogs in Britain became more visible with the Industrial Revolution, when industrial workers needed strong, cheap footwear. Alternatively they have been described as far back as Roman times, possibly earlier. Those too poor to afford shoes wore wood directly against the skin or hosiery, and thus the clog was developed, made of part leather and part wood. They were usually worn under leather or fabric shoes to raise the wearer's foot above the mud of the unmade road, not to mention commonly dumped human effluent and animal dung. Slats of wood held in place by thonging or similar strapping. They may have evolved from pattens which were ![]() There are two explanations of the development of the English style clog.
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