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Working on creating Roman Calcei need input
#1
Found a fantastic how to guide
on how to make some equipment
especially calcei www.florentius.com.

I want to learn by doing, so I can help people
who want to join a Roman Reenactment group in
the Future. Also am on a tight budget now.
Could afford the materials, tools and time.
Have wide flat feet that lasted off the shelf
calcei may not fit.

Also found a reference on ventolated calcei
at Http://sutor.jimdocom/shoes.roman-shoes/...da-calceus
These are works of art and are amazing.
Wish I could afford a pair.

Need more references for the type of calcei that I am making
I made a 2 strap horizontal tab variation which are suposed to be
3 strap but wanted a shorter pair for summer, that are open
eleptical voids they lace horizontally and are reffered to as
type 1 by florentius.com in his how to booklet online.
Which is fantastic!

Yet, seeking a specific page number
and reference book that shows these were found at an
historic archeological site-(which he did not provide-he has since moved on from the hobby and I cant seem to reach him to find out this info that is why this post) to show my Roman Reenactment unit to be
as they may not allow me to wear them if I can not show a museum or book-photo reference for these specific style. Also would like to put in vent hole patterns and use them as "summer wear"to Roman Reenactment events.
Can someone recommend a book that shows the vent patterns
for a set like mine he calls them Pattern I in the lower left hand corner of his website www.florentius.com. Were there any decorative vent hole patterns made on the toes
or ankle region of mythological creatures or figures ever found in archeology on military calcei of the Roman 1st or 2nd century?

Can anyone add anything to that?

Gregorius
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#2
Here is a link to a page that I made awhile back on constructing 1st century calcei:

Making 1st Century Calcei

Lee
Titus Licinius Neuraleanus
aka Lee Holeva
Conscribe te militem in legionibus, vide mundum, inveni terras externas, cognosce miros peregrinos, eviscera eos.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.legiotricesima.org">http://www.legiotricesima.org
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#3
Thank you for your response;

I became distracted with work, then had surgery have not been checking back on the site.

That is a fantastic tutorial!
I am going to have to get to a copy store and print it.
When I printed it from home the text and images became jumbled
must be my computer.

How did you learn how to make your own lasts?
This is valuable. I made my own calcei pattern I
from Florentius.com while recovering from surgery.

The toes came out very pointed like medieval turn shoes.
I guess I need to correct this before I show up to an event.

Thank you for posting the tutorial and responding to me.

Wanted to learn what I can want to one day form
my own unit or join one in my region in the South West USA.
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#4
Quote:Thank you for your response;


How did you learn how to make your own lasts?

I traced-out the outline of a modern last followed by making a template from my feet. I then started shaping the wood till it looked right.
Titus Licinius Neuraleanus
aka Lee Holeva
Conscribe te militem in legionibus, vide mundum, inveni terras externas, cognosce miros peregrinos, eviscera eos.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.legiotricesima.org">http://www.legiotricesima.org
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#5
Just finished one of two Calcei I am making as an un-lasted pair
known as Type I from the www.florentius.com tutorial site.
The toes came out a bit pointy like dark ages or medival
"turn shoes" unlike the ones he made himself.
Not sure if the ones I made are too pointy toed for
an Roman Military event I can correct this before I make the 1/2 inch or roughly
13mm hobnailed soles to add on.

Has anyone been to the Vindolanda Fortress Museum in the
North of England has anyone seen a style of Calcei like this
at that museum or any other that are Roman Military.
Is this style correct for the 1st or 2nd Century?

Please post a link on this thread answering this.

I decided to reenforce the inside of the calcei "boot"
with leather.

Not sure if this was done in Roman times?

I read a website called the Roman Recruit which featured
a pair of 3rd Century "Ramshaw" style (as refered to on
www.florentius.com tutorial site) calcei that were made by
Paul Elliott http://romanrecruit.weebly.com/boots.htm.
This is an English site devoted to latter Roman Military
era.

After reading his commentary about how his boots held up
in the field in the North of England under historically correct
weather conditions. I decided to make mine with modifications that might
make them serviceable longer.

I made the heal counter taller and wider than
that on the tutorial site by (www.florentius.com)
by aprox 2in x 2in or 5.2cm x 5.2cm
shaped this with an American
baseball formed wet with water and a plastic bag over
the baseball to keep it dry wrapped twine around the instep
to seat the baseball to make the heal pocket take its shape let it
dry overnight my heal happens to fit that dimension. I also reenforced the collar of the
boot, and the lace tab panels they are double layered about 3/8 ths
of an inch or approximately 5mm.

I show two different lacing patterns not sure which is
the most effective one to use?
Anyone reading this site can tell me, please.

Have not added the hobnails yet. Any good patterns for 1st or 2nd
century Calcei?

The socks are Naalbind socks from armamentaria.com
fantastically comfortable! These socks fit without binding in the calcei
and seem tall enough for Roman sandal wear also.

Seeking any advice on making Roman footgear you are welcome
to critic my work.

The stitching may not be period but I believed I needed to
make the construction stronger than what it was.

Have heard that the Roman Military had its own cobblers to
make and repair calcei and caligai.


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#6
One other question can anyone cite a historical
archeological source for
ventilation holes or piercing designs for boots like
this or enclosed winter boots? I was wanting to use these for summer and spring
events.

Did such boots have felt insoles is there anything in the archeological record that
would show this feature also?

Want a source for correct early calcei that are enclosed for
winter and the correct fabric weave winter style leggings with ties
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#7
I was always wondering if they might have put patterns in the bottom to add traction on boots/etc without hobnails, like we do today (although not the same, obviously)?
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#8
Hi Geoffrey,

congratulations on your first go at calcei!

Quote:One other question can anyone cite a historical
archeological source for ventilation holes or piercing designs for boots like
this or enclosed winter boots?

There are finds from Vindolanda (I think you know the one I did, cf. http://sutor.jimdo.com/shoes/roman-shoes...a-calceus/) and Cologne (Schleiermacher, M.; Laurenze, C.: Römische Leder- und Textilfunde aus Köln, in Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 12, 1982, pp. 205-216). These designs seem to have been fashionable for a comparatively short while around the end of the first to the start of the 2nd cent. AD.

Quote:Did such boots have felt insoles is there anything in the archeological record that
would show this feature also?

Please see my answer at your thread at http://www.romanarmytalk.com/20-roman-re...tml#341306

Quote:Want a source for correct early calcei that are enclosed for
winter and the correct fabric weave winter style leggings with ties

The earliest calcei attested by finds are those from the type found at Mainz, probably ealry 1st cent. AD. See http://sutor.jimdo.com/shoes/roman-shoes/mainz-calceus/ for more information, please. The only leggings with ties that have been found to my knowledge are from a bog find from up north, Sogaards Mose. Cf. this thread: http://www.romanarmytalk.com/20-roman-re...gings.html
An alternative (?) would be fasciae, which we only know of in the form of literature (cf. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Ro...ascia.html) and possibly see in some mosaics like the ones from Piazza Armerina.
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#9
Wow that is fantastic information! Martin!

Much appreciated, sources for looking this up! Very helpful.


Geoffrey Ives
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#10
The leather tread cut pattern issue that Evan (Magister Militum Flavius Aetius)
had mentioned in a previous comment.

In the mid 1980's I saw a movie that was based on an Umberto Echo book one of the characters had
a tread cut into the medieval turn shoe this was an important detail in the movie. Seemed like Sean Connery
was in the movie.

Seems logical to me that such a tread on a leather sole would have existed especially in wet weather or winter like conditions
after all form follows function. I just need an approximate archeological reference for the era.

I remember being shown some 30 years ago by a military collector fiber disks on the sole of a boot that were to
prevent slipping on ice and snow. I do not remember what they were made of. I have noticed very similar
existing examples of the 19th and 20th century military technology or equipment that had a Roman Military
origin. Cant seem to get specific at this time. It seemed like the Fell boot from Vindolanda strongly resembles
a M1944 or Corcoran Jump boot of WWII just to pull a random comparison.
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