Today was a long day. We put the soles on my boots…flattened a BIG ol’ nail for the shank, pegged the bottoms, all that stuff. I had kinda of a “wreck” with the 5 in 1 (that’s a machine with a rolling blade)…a slight undercut did in that right sole pretty good (it will be reincarnated as a stacked heel I think). All these tools I’ve never used before, some invented by Tex Robin or sometimes his father. I think somebody counted wrong…seems like right about now, there have got to be more than 374 steps to bootmaking. I might get to wear my boots home tomorrow.

I’m packin’…payin’ bills…doin’ laundry…I leave tomorrow. Tex Robin told me to bring along a pair of boots that need new soles. My pee wees are in bad shape, but they’ve all got plastic soles. Instead of wooden pegs, they’ve got rolled paper kinda like lollipop sticks. I think I’ll bring along my snakeskin boots. Lee Miller gave me a couple of second hand skiving knives…they fit my hand a lot better than the new one I bought. Tex said I don’t need to bring any tools…but I think I’ll pack these along.