Hobnails.

[Titus Petronicus Graccus]

What do you all think of these?

The one I'm referring to is the shiny one in the middle. A bit smaller than the other two, but they have a good shape and are easy to hammer into soles.
And best of all, they're fairly cheap.
It's shown between the two nails Matthew Amt sent me as samples for hobnails.

http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q58/ ... bnail1.jpg

Edit; Sorry I tried several times to get the Img thing to work but this is all I get. :oops:

[richsc]

And the question is, where did you get it and how much?

[Titus Petronicus Graccus]

And the question is, where did you get it and how much?

There is a leather/shoe supply store here that used to carry them. They have a bunch of clinching nails, brads, and other items in 1lb boxes in a back room. Including these hobnails of course. They're labeled "hand hungarian nails" and no one knows what to do with them.
So I told the fellow that I'd take a box for now and that I might come back for the rest if there is any interest. Right now I have one pound of them (approx 400-500) but I can get more (I believe there is as many as 12 1lb boxes in that room).
I bought that first box for $12.00 but he says I can get a much better deal if I take them all off his hands.

[Martin Moser]

What do you all think of these?
The one I'm referring to is the shiny one in the middle.

Looks pretty good, but maybe a bit on the small side for military footwear, which seems to have used larger nails mainly. What's the diameter of the head and the length of the shaft, if I may ask?

[Rufus]

I use something similar on my shoes. The ones I got were from Gurney Tack and labeled 'Large cone head'. The ones I have are similar to the dimensions here http://www.florentius.com/calcei-hobnail.htm on his design for a reproduction.

You should pm me, I need some I am about out

[Titus Petronicus Graccus]

I'll take another photo next to a ruler. The shanks come in 3/8" or 1/2" length.
Photo coming soon...

[Titus Petronicus Graccus]

Ok here are two more photos with the hobnail on a ruler.
http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q58/ ... rfront.jpg
and
http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q58/ ... erside.jpg

Hopefully that gives you all a better idea of what I'm talking about.
Sorry that the photos are a bit blurry, that's as good as I could get.

[Martin Moser]

Thanks for the pics, Pedro! They are bigger than I thought and look very good and usable indeed. I'd buy the whole lot if I were you :-) )
And just to give you a feeling of the size range, Roman hobnails (as known to me) come in head diameters from ca. 4 - 15 mm, with larger sizes typical for military contexts (in the northern provinces at least).

[Titus Petronicus Graccus]

Sounds good Martin.
I'll give the guy a call and see what kind of deal I can work out.

[Magnus]

Great find Pedro...I may know some people who'd also be interested in some.

[texascavtrooper]

I can't see the pics. The US army blocks some things. But I would like to get some myself. Let me know what you want for them.
Bryan

[Matt Lukes]

Those are the ones from DB Gurney I was trying to get made for nearly a year- they ended up sending me a sample that was pretty poor in shape, which is why I gave up on them...

[Titus Petronicus Graccus]

Those are the ones from DB Gurney I was trying to get made for nearly a year- they ended up sending me a sample that was pretty poor in shape, which is why I gave up on them...

I don't think so, as these boxes are from the 1930's and 40's. They were made in Guelph Ontario by the "Canadian shoe company".
They've been sitting in the warehouse since then.
There isn't a truckload or anything, only about 10 or so pounds of them, but I'm going to snag as many of them as I can.

[Magnus]

Damn, that's pretty cool!

[Matt Lukes]

Oh really? They look exactly like the Gurney ones- but then they're a tack and nail company that's been around for 175+ years, so it must be an old style...