Shoes and Gaiters of Felt
We will here describe the making of felted gaiters and shoes, which is similar to the art of hatting. There may be other and better methods, as the expansive stretching nature of felt may admit of other modes.
The wearer of these gaiters may walk upon the slippery pavement with comfort and full confidence, and if furnished with a leather or rubber under-sole, they are a neat, easy, comfortable cover for the feet.
A given quantity of wool calculated for one pair of shoes is weighed out, which is divided into four equal portions, two of them for each shoe. One at a time is laid upon the hurdle, and with the proper bow it is bowed as if for a hat, and disposed of in exactly an equilateral triangle, which being gathered together with the basket, is pressed, and temporarily solidified, laid aside, and the other portion treated in the same manner. A piece of coarse brown paper is now folded into a triangular shape, a little smaller than the bats just bowed; all the three edges are to be folded together with the paper inclosed. The use of the inclosed paper is to prevent the inner surfaces from felting together, and to keep the inside open. The intended shoe is next lapped in a sheet of cloth, and hardened at the hot basin (the basin is a disk of solid iron with a fire beneath). Water sprinkled on the sheet when turned upon the basin, sends steam all through the mass, and when rubbed slightly by hand, friction is communicated to the surface fibres, which in a short time become smooth, when the position of the triangular wool should be changed and the rubbing continued. A few crossings and rubbings give it a consistence sufficient for handling at the plank kettle, where we shall suppose both shoes to have arrived.
The felting operation at the kettle is performed in quite the same manner as that of a hat, by pressing, rolling, folding, and unfolding, &c., with its dippings into the hot water, until the material has assumed a hardness and solidity quite astonishing to the casual observer.
This operation finished, the shoe still in the triangular shape, one corner is now to be cut off to make an opening, and the confined paper taken out, which is quite a soggy spongy lump of pulp. The mate to this shoe having been advanced to the same forwardness, they are to be pulled upon their respective lasts and dried, and perhaps dyed, after which they are pounced, and finally trimmed.