Cobbler's Journal

[Blackfish64]

I have this bug that is biting me like mad. For the last couple of years I have wanted to learn the art and science of being a cobbler. I want to fix shoes. I want to make shoes. I love shoes. I have always loved shoes.

I never cared one lick about shoes as a child, teen, or young adult. I wore them, I never cleaned them, and with my incredibly poor posture and gait, I wore out a very expensive pair of boots or shoes in less than six months, threw them in the garbage, and started over with a new pair. I always blamed my shoe problems on the shoes. I was endlessly looking for and spending more and more money in my relentless search for a pair of shoes that would last. I never stopped to think that I might be doing something wrong until...

One evening in my mid-late twenties, I was out on a walk and looked down at my feet. I was appalled at my gait and my posture, my toes pointing outward with every step, the heel of my shoe banging against the planet with every step, smashing down and wearing out my expensive heels, and worse.

Then, it occurred to me. I didn't need anyone, no doctor, chiropractor, shoe specialist, or anyone like that to tell me how to fix this problem. I would simply do it myself. I would straighten up my posture, and straighten up my gait by my own free will.

From the bottom up, with my feet first, I started out incredibly slowly. Meticulously I picked up and put down my feet, one right after another. Taking these incredibly slow steps, I watched every move my feet made. I made them walk straight, toes pointed forward in the direction I was moving, gently setting down the heel first, and gently rolling forward and rolling into and out of each step with absolute perfect precision. I did this for days and days, practicing everywhere I went. Onlookers must have thought I was out of my mind. But I didn't care. I went ahead and did what I had to do. It finally became a habit and I was cured of my bad posture and stepping pigeon-toed.

After reforming my thinking, my habits, and my actual physical structure, and fixing my legs and feet with nothing more than a little thought and a little exercise, where before I couldn't make an expensive pair of boots or shoes last even six months, I can now make a cheap pair of boots or shoes last more than five years. Where my back, knees, and legs hurt every time I walked a long distance, I now feel nothing. Pain free. I can walk all day long, every day, no problem.

As I write this, on the other side of the room near the door I have a pair of Converse C1240 athletic low-rise boots I have been wearing since 2007. They have been to the cobbler a couple of times, getting the well-worn creases in the leather boot stitched, and getting new bottoms put on them, as I have worn the bottoms off of them twice, perfectly flat, naturally. I'm amazed.

And that's my little story. Now, I've often thought of learning how to repair shoes and boots and how to make them over the years. I don't know why this keeps reoccuring to me, but that's OK, because something like this is really right up my alley. An interesting aside, my favorite television program is "Fast 'N' Loud". I love watching them take those old cars and make them into something new and perfect. It's amazing. I feel the same way toward people, and objects, especially bicycles, outdoor gear, computers, and, you guessed it, shoes. It's the weirdest thing, but I absolutely love taking off my shoes, examining them, brushing them, polishing them, and preparing them for the next time I wear them.

I mean, who doesn't need shoes? Who knows? I could make a career out of this and have my own little shop and my own line of reconstructed shoes, bicycles, and old computers running GNU/Linux! I can see it all now, up in lights, 'Blackfish's Shoe, Bike, Free Hardware and Software Service'. HOORAY!