From: firstinitiallastname@texas.net   
      
   Hidalgo wrote:   
      
   > I received a little bit of a refund this year on my taxes and thought I'd   
   > buy myself a new pair of boots. I typically go toward "work" boot styles,   
   > but today, while shopping, I took a good look at what are traditionally   
   > called "cowboy" boots. I find it hard to believe that drovers in the old   
   > west could afford anything fancy, with tooled leather and the such, let   
   > alone the exotic types of animal hides these things are made of now.   
   >   
   > I always thought the pointed toe started out to make the boot go into the   
   > stirrup easier, and the heel was to prevent the foot from sliding on through   
   > the stirrup when bearing down on it. Aside from that, how authentic is   
   > today's modern cowboy boot to what would have been found in say 1870-1880?   
   >   
   >   
   Now you're talkin'.   
      
   There's a lot of baloney written about cowboy boots. While what you   
   would recognize as "cowboy boots" were products of bootmakers in Kansas,   
     I don't buy a lot of the speculation as to the why's.   
      
   The pointed toe is a later evolution. It's just not really any advantage   
   in hitting a stirrup. Likewise, the underslung heel that is,   
   nonsensically I think, said to help get a bite on the soil when on a rope.   
      
   Here's what I do agree with. The working cowboy had few possessions.   
   Folks being vain, then as now, what did he have to show off? No car. No   
   house. He did what people have always done who have little but their   
   clothes and tools. He made the most of them. It's a mistake to imagine   
   people of those times being all that different from today.   
      
   The underslung heel was - although he didn't use the term - "cool." It   
   was sexy and exotic. I don't think it was seen as being any more   
   functional than a red, inlaid Texas star. Town dudes expected the cowboy   
   to be colorful, and many did their best to live up to the expectation.   
   And an utter distain for any work that couldn't be done from the back of   
   a horse would not have moved him to worry about how the heel would dig in.   
      
   A man would indeed fork over a considerable sum for a pair of good, new   
   boots. He'd shell out for nice clothes, too. From what a lot of them   
   wrote, a man could expect to arrive at the end of a long drive in rags.   
      
   It's true he wouldn't have wanted or found reptile exotics. They don't   
   last long in hard work. What most folks think of as modern cowboy boots   
   are largely the product of the mid 20th century film cowboy images.   
   Especially the pointed toes. But a young man of those times was as   
   conscious of image as today, and impressive boots would do nicely.   
   Well-made and kind of fancy boots told the tale of having seen the   
   world, or more of it than most back home would see.   
      
   Some fine books with lots of great images and history of makers are   
   Tyler Beard's "The Art of the Boot" and "The Cowboy Boot Book."   
      
   It's a sad fact that, more and more, one has to find (and pay dearly   
   for) the services of a good custom maker, if one wants a really good   
   pair of boots. The old-time fine mass manufacturers have been bought up   
   by corporate giants, and accountants are making the decisions that used   
   to be made by craftsmen. Tony Lama's corporate masters still seem to let   
   them do a decent job, but they're cold crap next to their old work.   
      
   Lucchese is just sad. While not quite the throw-away product that is   
   most shoes and boots, ask an old repairman about the difference when   
   families ran the businesses and today's product.   
      
   I buy only old boots, when I can find them in my size. (Not always easy   
   for 13EE.) I have an old pair of pre-buy-out Lucchese's, black cherry   
   goat hide, with the classic Lucchese toe that will surely outlive me and   
   go through a dozen more soles before they're through.   
      
   For those interested in boying boots, look to eBay. New prices are   
   obscene, and some very nice boots can be had for relatively cheap. A 3/4   
   resole and reheel cost little, and the repairman won't find that the   
   sole is backed by a worthless paper product.   
      
      
   As to a good pair of custom boots, today...  Figure maybe $1,000-$1,500   
   for very good work, nothing too fancy. You can run it up fast for   
   hard-to-find exotics, like elephant (worth it, though, for work, since   
   they're nearly immune to harm) or for things like "folded rose" inlay.   
   My friend here does a folded rose, the like of which there aren't two   
   other men in Texas can do. Takes him a load of time, but he learned from   
   a true old master.   
      
   And, if you're going to go custom, you really want to know your maker.   
   He or she (my guy's daughter makes stunning boots in California) will   
   need to me highly experienced with making you last, although there's a   
   guy who uses a computer-driven mill to make nearly perfectly fitted   
   lasts. A pair of lasts will run about $85-$100 from him, but it a   
   one-time expense, since they'll be used for all you boots.   
      
   If you ever have a custom pair made, you'll be ruined for store-bought.   
   --   
                          Gerald Clough   
       "Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)