Reply With QuoteLoved them when I was at school.........................
I've always had quarter steel heels on brogues. Do you? Do you have them on Oxfords? Just bought a pair of black Trickers Oxfords and wondering whether to steel them up when I send them in for a rubber oversole.
Loved them when I was at school.........................
Used to have them on school shoes for a bit of fun. Can't see the point in the real world, and they scratch wooden floors.
Too slippy on many surfaces for my liking. It's a "no" from me.
at school we used to see how many blakeys we could fit on the sole of a clarks commando
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
They went better on Monkey Boots !!Originally Posted by seikopath
Can't stand them personally, too noisy and I don't tap dance.
This.
Monkey boots were outlawed at my school presumably because wearing anything that covered the ankle was seen as a contributory cause to the decline of the British empire. We also had a south African rugby teacher who trained with a brick wrapped in a towel.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
The more blakeys, the harder you were!
I was only talking about blakeys last week to someone and the youngsters just could fathom what I was talking about.
Fashion.
I had the full horseshoe fitted to the heels of my boots for many years. We don't have an independent cobbler around here now.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Steel toe plate: Good to have, no downside
Steel heel plate: Noisy, hard on floors, can be severe slip hazard at times. Best reserved for ceremonial use. :)
A 40-something chap at work gets them fitted to his winkle pickers. They sit nicely alongside his 'man bun', hipster fashion beard, tight jeans and too tight shirts.
Like some of you, I had them fitted to my shoes in the 80s (when I was a teen) but in the civilian world, they seem best reserved for those tapping on the stage.
Had quarter metal heel on my ivy brogues back 1969. All us kids used to hang off the back of number 11 bus on the way to school to see who could generate the best sparks.
Wouldn't dream of having them fitted to any of my shoes nowadays.
Ah the things horse traders and scrap metal dealers have on the soles of their Trickers, no thanks bit too common.
Couldn't afford segs when i was a lad, we just used to put a load of drawing pins in the bottom of our shoes and go skating across the playground, oooh they used to get hot
Brighty
I still have them on my toes but converted to rubber heels sometime around my 21st birthday. Our cobbler in Berlin actually builds in a steel plate into the toe rather than just hammering in a blakey (when he remembers). Like this:
Of course if you want to go really hardcore then you can get them hobnailed. These are my service dress shoes and they've had the full treatment:
They only tend to come out in snow and ice these days.
Some of you know I was in the Funeral trade before retiring and one of the worst sounds was blakeys on a pall bearers shoes carrying a coffin up a church aisle I forbade my staff to wear them but I did buy their DM's .
Last edited by mart broad; 31st May 2016 at 16:25.
I used to have them fitted until I fell on ice and dislocated my elbow.
They were a 'must have' in the 1980's.......
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I still wear monkey boots.....................
Brings back memories
When I was at secondary school in the early 70's having your leather soled shoes fully seg'd by a cobbler when new was the thing
Most of us couldn't afford this so went for just the heal and tip at the cobblers. As our precious shoes became more worn with use then we would buy segs and fit them ourselves in 'bespoke' patterns
Great fun!
The sound fills me with dread, I can still hear my headmasters quarter tips marching down the corridor. A short while later the deputy head was caning my arse!
More common than I thought.... Segs were popular with us in the mid 60's when I went to the local Grammar school. I never actually had full quarter heels, though.
Yep, walking down the corridors of my Grammar School with segs on my mod shoes - thought I was king of the world!
All downhill after that.
Cheers,
Neil.
Segs in Grammar schools?
I thought that it was a purely Secondary Modern phenomena
I'd be curious to understand whether they filled the same role in education as they did in the army. I had mine hob-nailed when I joined the recruit training team. The rationale is that you can be heard coming from a mile away and anybody up to no good will scatter well in advance of you turning a corner and discovering their malfeasance - less paper work (i.e. charges) for you so a win-win. I can see that this wouldn't work in a Guards unit where everybody including the regimental goat is wearing ammo boots but it sort of worked where I was.
In the 1960s most reps' cars had rubber mats instead of carpet and, given the quality of steel they were built from, you were in serious danger of holing both the rubber and the metal floor under the pedals if you wore steel heel tips to drive.
I believe that most police care were similarly equipped up until the mid 80's
Mind you the rozzers would only be wearing silent rubber soles so that they could sneak up on the villains whilst on foot I expect
Going of post a bit, but one of the other delights of cars of that period was the opening quarter lights, great for flicking your fag ash out of.
Downside was that if you shoved the cig butt out of there whilst travelling at speed it would often hang in suspended animation against the glass and drop back into the car and your lap as you slowed down.
Smoking can kill; or at the least burn an unsightly hole in the crotch of your seven guinea hand-cut suit.
You remember posh football boots the ones with the screw in studs that you could change around? well I had the plastic molded jobs and we were so poor my dad cut the studs off and made me go go to school in them. Me mum had a fit and he regretted it. I ended up with a pair of leather soled Loafers with tassels. Had them quarter tipped with a Blakey horseshoe at the toe. Happy days....................
I recall everyone wanting a pair of loafers complete with tassel's, burgundy ones were the most popular for some reason. I think that this was just before the fad for riding boots. Dr Martin's were the only constant as I recall - however, you had to be prepared for a fight if you wore them unless you were one of the 'hard' lads that everyone left alone. I of course avoided them though I did have a pair of steel toecap work boots that a relative got from the National Coal Board stores where he worked.You remember posh football boots the ones with the screw in studs that you could change around? well I had the plastic molded jobs and we were so poor my dad cut the studs off and made me go go to school in them. Me mum had a fit and he regretted it. I ended up with a pair of leather soled Loafers with tassels. Had them quarter tipped with a Blakey horseshoe at the toe. Happy days....................
I had the burgundy!
Cheers,
Neil.
hogthrob, I'd say that was fair... in fact, be inclined to suggest it was too kind.
Some of us still doI had the burgundy!.
I loved loafers but my Dad would only buy me Royals (Brogues) or Solatios (lace up)Some of us still do
http://www.solatio.co.uk/
You saucy devil!Some of us still do
Cheers,
Neil.
Quarter tips or BLAKEYS were ok in the 70's i had them whilst at school, they would drive me mad now, good fun as a kid though.
Yep, this is the definitive answer.
M.
lol yes
Last edited by londoncentral2; 7th September 2016 at 14:58.
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F.T.F.A.
So glad it wasn't just me
Yep, I had 'em on my shoes when I was at school in the 1960's. Everyone who was anyone has steel tips on their heels. Loadsa noise, loadsa fun and sparks. Happy memories.
You, Sir, ought to invest in some TasselMate tassel trainers to fix your unruly tassels. Oh, and while you are at it get some leather conditioner and some wax on those, you scruffy so and so!Some of us still do
http://www.tasselmate.com
Does anyone remember monkey boots with the lettersI still wear monkey boots.....................
M
O
N
K
E
Y
on the sole? So you'd leave an imprint in mud or snow. I'm sure I do but I'm beginning to doubt myself. Internet searches just throw up loads of hits for Grafters. Heartened that you can still buy a pair of monkey boots should you wish though.
I tend to wear the backs of my heels down so recently experimented with blakeys. The result, a marvellous skid on a wet floor in the Underground at Waterloo, a hole in my suit trousers and a funny lump on my knee cap that is still there over a year later.
I now use these http://www.shoedoctorshop.co.uk/Stic...02/PRAA009.htm
You need to get your eye's tested; there's no shortage of wax on those. As for tasselmate - I'm not sure the shoes cost that much; they were bought in one of John Rushton's better sales, when the shop was still in Brewer Street.You, Sir, ought to invest in some TasselMate tassel trainers to fix your unruly tassels. Oh, and while you are at it get some leather conditioner and some wax on those, you scruffy so and so!
http://www.tasselmate.com
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