Tuesday, September 3, 2019

What the Heck is a Cordwainer?

(Source)
Uh, what the heck? What the fire truck is that? More shoes Sarge? Really?

Language alert...


Yes, more shoes, but no jelly donuts. Though I am currently a disgusting fat body, I am working on it. I try very hard to avoid jelly donuts and unlocked foot lockers. Just sayin'...

Anyhoo, Sunday's post had this comment...
Cordovan, sure I know what that is, a type of leather, or something, but the precise definition was not available in my databanks, only this...



No wait, that's "Corinthian leather" and I'm quite sure the Marine Corps doesn't make shoes out of old Chrysler New Yorker seat covers. Furthermore, I was sorely disappointed to learn that there is actually no such thing as "Corinthian leather"...



Yup, a marketing gimmick, seems the leather actually came from someplace in New Jersey, I'm with you Captain Kirk, what a kick in the family jewels to learn that.

Anyhoo, I digress.

It seems that back in the day, Marines wore shoes made from horses' asses. No, I don't mean shoes made from shoe clerk types in the Pentagon, nor do I mean shoes made from politicians, and/or used car salesmen. No, let me 'splain...
Shell cordovan (or cordovan) is a type of leather commonly used in high-end shoemaking. Cordovan is an equine leather made from the fibrous flat connective tissue (or shell) beneath the hide on the rump of the horse. The leather derives its name from the city of Cordoba, Spain, where it was first produced by the Visigoths in the seventh century, and later also by the Moors. It is a difficult and expensive leather to make, and in the late 19th and early 20th century was mostly used for razor strops to sharpen razors in barber shops. More recently it has been increasingly used for shoes, wallets, and watch straps due to its aesthetic qualities and exceptional durability. Shell cordovan has a unique non-creasing characteristic. Because it is made of connective tissue, it is smooth and lacks the pebbled effect of leather derived from animal skin. (Source)
Leather made from a horse's butt, from Spain, invented by Visigoths.  Well, that is kind of cool...

Visigoths
(Source)
Now the Visigoths were the western branch of a group of Germanic tribes known collectively as Goths, the eastern branch were the Ostrogoths. Not to be confused with this lot...

(Source)
So yes, the Marines used to wear Cordovan leather shoes, including the enlisted Marines in WWII, ya know, the Big One, Dubya Dubya Two. Apparently, some consider shell cordovan to be the "King of Leathers," and this article makes a pretty decent case for that.

So I learned that on Monday (laboring on Labor Day, taking one for the team...). Something else I learned, when I nearly used the word "cobbler" in the title, thinking in my vast ignorance that that was a fellow who made shoes. Oh dear, I was so effing wrong.
A shoe cobbler is a person who mends and repairs shoes. The profession has been around for most of human history. Some people assume that cobblers and shoemakers (called cordwainers in England) are the same profession, and while that may be true today, it wasn’t always so. 
At one time, shoemakers/cordwainers were the skilled artisans tasked with making shoes out of brand new leather, while cobblers were the ones who repaired shoes. In fact, cobblers were forbidden from working with new leather and had to use old leather for their repairs. The difference between the two trades was once considered so vast, it was a serious insult to call a shoemaker a cobbler (the latter of which, not so coincidentally, is a term that also means to work clumsily or bungle). 
The shoemaking and cobbler trades were forced to merge around the beginning of the 19th century when the introduction of mass manufactured shoes left shoemakers out of work and having to accept lower paying repair jobs. (Source)
Now about those cordwainers, seems they have their very own ward in London (not far from St. Paul's), with a rather nice statue...

(Source)
So there you have it, we all learned something new today, well except for you "happy few" who already knew about shell cordovan and cordwainers. If you did know, have yourselves a jelly donut, I'm pretty sure Pyle has more in his footlocker...




(Just don't let Gunny catch you!)

76 comments:

  1. And here I thought this was a lead-in to Cordwainer Smith...
    Frank

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    1. Time to start digging, I had never heard of the guy. Looks like an interesting chap!

      A new thing I have learned, thanks Frank.

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  2. I wonder how long your focus on footwear will last, and whether or not this will be your sole subject for a while.

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  3. I got some old point toed western boots in high school at Lusky's mark down store. (Across the street from the full price store, where they resoled boots and sold the stuff that would'nt move.) They were orange-brown. No mystery why they never sold. But they fit and I wore them a year or so in high school. I always wanted some WW2 jump boots. Those cordovans always looked cool to me. I found some boots last year that look similar, in black. Those are my work boots today. "How far? All the way!!"

    When dad was in Fort Bliss in '56 (??) he got some handmade boots by Owen Stelzer (?). They were mule skin. I wore them in '75... And he finally threw them out when the stitching fell apart the third time!!!! In the late 80's... They were roughout, and wore like iron.

    I always thought the best leather to make boots or shoes from would be the hide of an old, sick cow. If you've ever tried to push a needle through that, you know how tough they are. Poor old '53. Once she started to decline, she didn't stop. I must've put the better part of a quart of combiotic in her over a month or so... When she finally rotted down, there was a big clump of bailing wire and nails on the magnet the vet put in her. That was pretty cool...

    TLDR: Brown shoes to stomach magnet....

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    1. Couple of good stories there, STxAR.

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    2. STxAR. My maternal grandfather worked as a route manager for a rendering company in Philly.
      The side effects of his work was that I knew exactly what those tubular magnets were used for, and where they came from.
      Your comment about magnets then sparked a memory of nose rings, because there was a cigar box of nose rings in the basement growing up.
      My father would discretely leave a nose ring in the toolbox of newly married coworkers.
      I found the one ring that I kept, and sent a photo to Sarge.

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    3. Yes, I have seen the nose ring!

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    4. Corcoran (the company) still makes jump boots to US specifications. I think they also still make them in the WWII style, but the post WWII style were quite good for many years of fighting in them. I liked the exceptional support at the ankles, or as I jokingly said, "If a tank ever runs over my leg, my leg bones will be smashed but at least my ankles will be safe.

      If indeed Corcoran has stopped making repro versions, I am sure someone (click click click...) Nope. Corcoran still makes them, in classic brown or (meh) modern black. Only around $160-190 depending on retailer.

      And STxAR? Good answer on the engine question yesterday. Funny that the three best fighters of WWII all used the same engine.

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    5. Beans. I looked up the C-118 aircraft mentioned in Flugelman's comment yesterday, and I'm pretty sure that is the aircraft where I had a great view of Number Three engine bursting into flames during the takeoff from Rota in '74.
      The Wiki article mentioned that the C-118 aircraft was also powered by R-2800s, and in my mind that engine will always have a negative connotation because it caused my, umm, solid waste exhaust port to tighten up so much that you need to use scientific notation to state the FPOST value. (Foot Pounds Of Sphincter Tightness)

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    6. Yes, according to the IoB, the P-47, the F6F and the F4U were the best US fighters of WWII. That halfbreed prissy Mustang/Merlin combo? Meh...

      Okay, should have said the 3 best US fighters...

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    7. John - Yes, that could make one prejudiced against certain engines. (Now I was thinking about adding FPOST to the Acronym Page, but then Beans would expect IMAT to be added as well, scatalogical terms, ick.)

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    8. Beans - What does the Indian Overseas Bank know about fighter aircraft?

      Once again, it ain't the machine, it's the stick actuator that is the difference. I guess you need to define "fighter aircraft."

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    9. Internet of Beans (Bean's Brain). Yes it takes good pilots. But great planes combined with good pilots makes a much deadlier combination than good pilot in crappy plane.

      Performance, ruggedness, ability to do all things Fightery, those are all things that factor into what a great plane is.

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  4. And the Roman MSM of the day called those tribes "barbarians".....(harumph)..... fake news back then. Cordwainers is new word for me, learned more about shoe leather than I knew upon waking this day, thanks Sarge......I think?!?......... :)

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  5. Interesting info about cordwainers and cobblers. When I was a wee lad many decades ago we would take our shoes to Tony the cobbler to be repaired whether it was to put on new soles or heels or just to patch a hole. We never got new shoes until they were too small or totally worn out. As an interesting side note, at least interesting to me, the second year of my marriage we moved to a rental house with a very large yard. Being into growing things I planted a huge garden. Everything flourished so much that I could have opened my own farmer's market. Found out later on that Tony used to own the house and where I had my garden was the same location as his chicken coops. I also found out that the current owner of the property bought it from Tony's widow. Seems that the widow had shot Tony for infidelity and needed money for a lawyer...........

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    1. Whoa!

      That's a heck of a tale, poor Tony the Cobbler.

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    2. If you liked that tale I'll have to tell you about the first place that the lovely missus and I lived in. It was known as the "Bat House"..........

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  6. So where do "Crocs" fit into this conversation? :)

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    1. Non-leather, plasticized, rubbery Crocs? I'm guessing they don't fit at all.

      That spinning sound you heard was all of those deceased cordwinaers spinning in their graves.

      😉

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    2. Now if you are referring to the reptilian version of Crocs, they make fine boots and shoes, among other things!

      Re: cordovan, it also refers to a deep burgundy color - have had several pairs of cordovan colored shoes and a couple of belts that required shoe polish of the cordovan color . And I think shell cordovan leather is used by some custom holster makers (Kramer and Rosen, perhaps?)

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    3. Cordovan leather does have a rather nice hue.

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    4. Cordovan (the color) is nice because it can legitimately be used as a general all-around shoe color. It's not brown, nor black, so goes with anything not overtly blue (deep navy blue that's almost black is black enough you can wear cordovan (the color) with if you want.)

      But what do I know about fashion, the guy who wears t-shirts, cargo pants and sandals, and dressing up is putting on my dress cargos, and wearing the dress pocket knife (and maybe a polo instead of a t.)

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    5. Polos are very dressy, wears them to church I do.

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    6. Dress pocket knife? I thought I was the only one that wore one of those. Yep, Church is polos, slacks and the DPK, shoes are a comfortable pair of sketchers.

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    7. All y'all know why Polo shirts are so pricey? It's because the Polo--player on the front is wearing a crocodile on his shirt. :) (runs for cover)

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    8. juvat - DPK, love it. It's new to the Acronym Page.

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  7. Hey AFSarge;

    I had gotten my Dads Cochran Jumpboots that he had in the mid 60's, and had a piece of leather repaired and those things could hold a shine like nobody's business. I wore them when I was in the Army in the mid 80's to when I got out in 1991. I still have them upstairs in my "gear Locker". Thanks for the post, Learned a bit.

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    1. I had a pair of jumpboots a long time ago. Damned good boots they were.

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    2. Those Corcorans are great. The only company that has ever treated their shoe leather to resist harsh chemicals (like, well, my sweat. No, seriously, I can etch fingerprints on clean steel in 30 minutes. Seen it, done it, got yelled at...)

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    3. Ever thought of a career marketing your perspiration to companies which etch circuit boards? Oh wait, those would be "sweat shops" wouldn't they and I'm sure you don't want to live any deeper in the Third World than you already are. (People's Socialist Democratic Republic of Gainesville, right?)

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    4. Though the etching properties are well known, the main problem is the same problem that Agent Smith had in "The Matrix."

      Being called the 'Cat Piss Squire' was not one of my finest moments in the SCA.

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    5. Oh dear, yeah a name not to be envied. (But Cat Piss would be an awesome call sign, not for the bearer of course, which is why it's perfect.)

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    6. I personally thought "Smear" was pretty good in yesterday's callsign photo.

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    7. I liked it. We had an engineer where I work ten-odd years ago, first name Samir.

      One guy started calling him "Pap," which puzzled young Samir mightily. He figured it out eventually.

      No, he didn't like it, which means it stuck.

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    8. Such are the rules of Callsigns. Protest and it sticks harder.

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  8. In the new world, at the time of the Revolution, the terms were interchangeable. They were also known as cat whippers.

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    1. Makes sense for the former. As to the latter, I can find no reference for that. A link would be appreciated.

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    2. I found this using "Cat whipper for shoe maker" in Google

      https://books.google.com/books?id=TV-Y4QD-IaoC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=cat+whipper+for+shoe+maker&source=bl&ots=QLmq-wJTCT&sig=ACfU3U3ztOduk0JPFmEMXkOGC8HzZXcBUA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwje8I3C7rTkAhVmzlkKHaKOBt0Q6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=cat%20whipper%20for%20shoe%20maker&f=false

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    3. Most excellent find Tom, explains things nicely.

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    4. I found out about cat whippers in junior high, from Edward Tunis' book, Colonial Craftsmen: And the Beginning of American Industry.

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    5. Interesting tidbit. I told my cats, they were not pleased.

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  9. My, My, My, your mind does wander vast expanses doesn't it? Supercilious!

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  10. Heh, didn't know what a cordwainer was. Heh.

    Good post.

    For all of you with really nice old shoes that are dying or drying out, and want to save them, good amount of saddle soap and other leather rejuvenation products and you can recover almost anything. And there are still small shops that do actual cobbling around, usually in large cities (ask at the fancy men's clothing store, you know, where they sell serious suits, they'll be able to connect you.)

    So now that you've quit horsing around, OldAFSarge, what's next on the fashion parade? Are you going to regale us of tails of the tye or stories of shirts? (No. Really. Wanna hear if you're going un-tie tacked or what neat tie tack you're gonna wear.) (And I've worn one really fine linen shirt, soooo different from cotton, though the ultra high threadcount-per-inch you can attain in some of the 'Egyptian Cotton' style weaves can give you a finish that is almost smooth as glass.)

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    1. I think I'm done with sartorial posts for the nonce.

      I hate ties, most useless garment ever.

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    2. Somehow I figured you knew what a cordwainer is, so no jelly donut for you!

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    3. Though, seriously, tie tack/pin/clasp or not?

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    4. Tie tack, USAF, old style MSgt stripes, it's how I roll. (When forced to wear a tie.)

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    5. Oops, I mistyped, I use a tie clasp, don't like holes in my ties.

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  11. It makes perfect sense that Beans would know what, or rather who, a cordwainer was. After all, Beans did medieval reenactments for how many years?? I knew what a cobbler was, we used to go to one when I was a kid as shoes were still made of leather back then, not some form of nylon or plastic like they are now in many cases. But I had no clue what a cordwainer was...so I will happily take a jelly donut. Thank you.

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    1. Um.. (cough, cough) cheezy Victorian romances and Dickens (cough, cough)...

      And Dumas, lots and lots of Dumas...

      And Shakespeare.

      And I'm the only person I know who read "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by 13yoa.

      If I could have gotten my hands on 'Penny Dreadfuls' I would have read them, too.

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    2. Suz - Yes, real leather in shoes, what a concept.

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    3. Beans - This is my surprised face...😐

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    4. Well no, read The Scarlet Pimpernel about 13 years old. And I have read LOTS of cheezy Victorian romances, Dickens, Dumas, and Shakespeare, Chaucer even...but don't remember cordwainers...hmmm, now I will have to go back and re-read a few of those.

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    5. Um, my mom had a set of 'children's stories' called "The Bookhouse Books" which were graded by complexity. 1st book was for new readers, 5th book had stuff like an origin story of St. George, a biography of Tom Thumb, a biography of Jumbo the elephant, a story about a kid who played around a riverside lumber mill.

      I think that's where I picked up 'cordwainer' from.

      Those books were meant, back in the 1890's, for 2nd to 6th graders. In preparation for further reading of things like Shakespeare.

      How our literacy rates and levels have fallen.

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    6. Beans. Speaking of the Scarlet Pimpernel, we're overdue for rewatching the 1982 TV movie version with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour.
      "Those Frenchies seek him everywhere."

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    7. I guess I was too busy reading all those Ballantine WWII books to have any culture.

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    8. VX - Of course, I still have quite a few in the home library. ;)

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  12. Why, Sarge, your Muse is back!

    And in great form, I might add.

    Nope, heard the term "Cordovan" before, and knew it was a high-end leather with exceptional durability, but didn't know where it came from. Thanks for the education.

    When I saw "Cordwainer" in the title, I immediately started thinking "I'll take SciFi Authors for $1000, Alex", but then, just like with the leather, you slipped another history lesson in!

    For a (somewhat) related question......What are those multi-laced canvas (?) legging things worn with them fancy leather shoes called? Just "leggings"? I thought they were more properly called "gaiters" or something.

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    1. Gaiters if they are protective in nature, spats if they're fancy dress shoe coverings worn for show.

      Then there are puttees, cloth wrapped about the lower legs. A very World War I type thing but which originated with the British in India. I've seen one reference to these being called "leggings" in North America. But every other reference calls them puttees.

      Thanks drjim.

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  13. It may be strange, but I normally wear steel toed Redwing engineer boots all the time. I have worn the same type for years while sitting at my desk at work, on field tests at power plants and hiking in the badlands of Montana...in my opinion, the most comfortable shoe ever (although they do eat socks in hard use). Am retired and still do. Never could figure out why the others were so eager to change out of their work boots at the end of the day...

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    1. I still wear patrol boots almost every day, and I have been out of Law Enforcement for a decade.

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    2. Badger, you're simply incorrigible.. (said in best Daffy Duck voice :) )

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