So, do you want to know a secret? Sometimes I go into western wear stores just to see what boots they have sitting on the shelf…and when I do, I do what everybody else does and I pick up a boot and turn it over. I look for the pegs. The pegs are hammered into the sole of the boot and they run along the underside of your foot’s arch and under the boot’s heel where you can’t see ‘em.
Only I don’t stop there…oh, nooo…not me. Then I take my thumbnail and scratch the layer of black wax off the top of the pegs, and double check something. Most of the “pegged” shelf-boots are now using these kinda rectangular peg-shaped brass nails instead of the traditional wooden pegs. Ugh. The beauty of the wooden peg is that it absorbs water and swells along with the sole of the boot when it gets wet. Yeah sure, today’s glues are strong enough to outlast any leather or stitch…but that’s not the point. When I see a row of wooden pegs I see craftmanship and skill. For every peg on a boot’s sole an awl is dipped in wax, a hole is punched, and a peg is hammered in…and the magical thing is that the hole you punch with your awl is round and significantly smaller than your peg. Square peg into a round hole…get it? You do it wrong and your peg goes halfway into your leather sole and snaps off at an angle. Experienced bootmakers have a special hammer, one with a textured face to grip the peg, and the hammer is set into a rhythmic motion…one light tap to set the peg in place…then a harder one to drive it in….over and over.
Big bootcompanies like using brass nails because they are fast and foolproof. If they can make a boot faster, it’s the same as making it cheaper. I understand this. I just don’t like it when they are square…it’s misleading. People have learned to turn a boot over and to “look for the pegs”…like thumping a melon in the grocery store.
Yeah…go ahead look for the pegs, but bring your reading glasses.
You go girl!
Good idea Jenn, keep it up!
Professional opinions differ on the topic of brass vs. wood pegs. Here in Portland, the local cowboy/lineman bootmaker (John Newbury) recommends brass due to the climate.
His reasoning is that it’s wet here frequently, and when wet leather soles expand and the wooden pegs also expand, then when the boot dries, the leather will expand away from the wood pegs, which also shrink as they dry, and can loosen them to the point where they eventually fall out and are lost. If a customer insists on wood pegs, he actually buries a brass pin or two in the hole with a few of the pegs, to prevent the arch from loosening. I can’t fault his reasoning, and I certainly don’t have his 30 years of experience.
Personally, I put a drop of superglue on the bottom of each wooden peg in new leather-soled boots, to hopefully minimize the problem.
Rick I’ve pegged leather soles for over 15 years with not problem. Pegged correctly the peg will not losen.
“Building boots for the Brand”
I will be real clear about the use of wood pegs. If you use any kind of nail in the shank of cowboy boots , you are cobbling not making boots. I don’t care what kind of weather conditions you live in…..Tex Robin
It would appear that there is more than one professional opinion on the topic, and that traditional may not always be the only style that works well.
I recently asked Bill Crary, who has a number of boots shown in the Cowboy Boot Book, and who has made a couple of pair of wood-pegged custom boots for me: he prefers to use brass, and also buries brass pegs in his wood-pegged boots.
Today I asked Juan Rubio, local 40-year-experienced cobbler here, and he says that in his experience, the brass pegs last longer, but he does wooden pegs on request because they “look nicer”. He also told me that he puts a drop of glue in each hole with his wooden pegs, which certainly can’t hurt.
As always, your mileage may vary…
I have just bought a pair of Corral Boots and find that they like many manufactures use both brass and wooden pegs; the brass in mine is outside of the wooden. I don’t know much about them, but I figure I’ve the best of both worlds!
Using wooden pegs is a centuries old technique, when done correctly they clinch the soles to the upper, same way that nails do, only it’s harder to do and as Jennifer pointed out very astutely it’s a mark of real craftsman skill. Modern period techniques are faster and on occasion even more durable, but tell this to the people who build Rolls Royce. We don’t need pegs today, anymore than we need tradition, manners or courtesy, but I bet that most people appreciate them more when they see and experience them.
I wish you would show a photo of what they look like. I have a vintage cowboy boot and went to look but I see many things there and don’t know which is which. It has 10 square “nails” or pegs” running along each side of the sole & 6 metal things on the heel underside too.
Thanks though, it’s informative!
hi! i learned the wooden pegs trade in Ashland Oregon, but as i am living in amsterdam and no one makes western boots here there is no way to order pegs here too, does anybody know an address for me where to order them?
cheers, Roswitah