kauflust

A long yet worthwhile passage on the ode to outdoors clothing and White's logging boots from Norman Maclean's "Logging and Pimping and 'Your pal, Jim.'" It's based partly on his time as a logger. The description of the boots is amazing.

But finally it was late June and there he was, sitting on a log across from me and looking as near like a million dollars as a lumberjack can look. He was all dressed in wool—in a rich Black Watch plaid shirt, gray, short-legged stag pants, and a beautiful new pair of logging boots with an inch or so of white sock showing at the top. The lumberjack and the cowboy followed many of the same basic economic and ecological patterns. They achieved a balance if they were broke at the end of the year. If they were lucky, and hadn’t been sick or anything like that, they had made enough to get drunk three or four times and to buy their clothes. Their clothes were very expensive; they claimed they were robbed up and down the line and probably they were, but clothes that would stand their work and the weather had to be something special. Central to both the lumberjack’s and the cowboy’s outfit were the boots, which took several months of savings.

The pair that Jim had on were White Loggers made, as I remember, by a company in Spokane that kept your name and measurements. It was a great shoe, but there were others and they were great too—they had to be. The Bass, the Bergman, and the Chippewa were all made in different parts of the country, but in the Northwest most of the jacks I remember wore the Spokane boot.

As the cowboy boot was made all ways for riding horses and working steers, the logger’s boot was made for working on and around logs. Jim’s pair had a six-inch top, but there were models with much higher tops—Jim happened to belong to the school that wanted their ankles supported but no tie on their legs. The toe was capless and made soft and somewhat waterproof with neats-foot oil. The shoe was shaped to walk or “ride” logs. It had a high instep to fit the log, and with a high instep went a high heel, not nearly so high as cowboy’s and much sturdier because these were walking shoes; in fact, very fine walking shoes—the somewhat high heel threw you slightly forward of your normal stance and made you feel you were being helped ahead. Actually, this feeling was their trademark.

Jim was sitting with his right leg rocking on his knee, and he gestured a good deal with his foot, raking the log I was sitting on for emphasis and leaving behind a gash in its side. The soles of these loggers’ boots looked like World War I, with trenches and barbwire highly planned—everything planned, in this case, for riding logs, and walking. Central to the grand design were the caulks or “corks” as the jacks called them; they were long and sharp enough to hold to a heavily barked log or, tougher still, to one that was dead and had no bark on it. But of course caulks would have ripped out at the edges of a shoe and made you stumble and trip at the toes, so the design started with a row of blunt, sturdy hobnails around the edges and maybe four or five rows of them at the toes. Then inside came the battlefield of caulks, the real barbwire, with two rows of caulks coming down each side of the sole and one row on each side continuing into the instep to hold you when you jumped crosswise on a log. Actually, it was a beautiful if somewhat primitive design and had many uses—for instance when a couple of jacks got into a fight and one went down the other was almost sure to kick and rake him with his boots. This treatment was known as “giving him the leather” and, when a jack got this treatment, he was out of business for a long time and never very pretty again.

Every time Jim kicked and raked the log beside me for emphasis I wiped small pieces of bark off my face.

first post on sufu 4.0

ne format still throwing me off

here for duty, boys.

this new format sucks ass.

ramen ramen ramen

cheep

dude arrested for terrorism at the rnc

my mom was a goth. i was a goth. they will be goths. it was written in the stars.

God. It's not even fair for that guy to be standing next to phelps. Are they both the same species?

kid's a hobbit

damn, lezak brought it in. that 4x100 free was one of the more exciting relays in a while.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/08/10/phelps.usa.relay.ap/

wait, what the hell happened to this project?

did someone say "sideboob?"

careful with those asian babies. i hear they eat dog.

EnpU6PqKA5A

currently watching kurenai and it's not too bad

but for every ancient lesbian couple, there are five of these:

hopefully

Haha if you guys would like to compile a list of things to do in these jeans I'd be happy to oblige.

all i ask for is daily updates.

i demand photos

jimmy, i think you should return the jacket. it looks too pearly.

the fit on the ps is great though.

daaaamn creepy

Visited with some local undersea creatures.

wtf prehistoric fish?

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

ps:

I just know how much you guys love fashion. HELLO this is a fashion forum!

i second that. we need summer banners, stat!

Is this the new noob hangout? Totally tubular.

indeed.

this thread is like a sleepover full of retarded kids sharing their hopes and dreams.

hallelujah!

official sufu boys club ringtone: http://www.idrinkyourmilkshake.com/milkshake.mp3