Tire Sandals–Part 1: Gathering Materials
Alright, those of you who read my weekend post are hopefully enjoying the idea of hearing more about following Mr. Elpel’s directions for making tire sandals.
I won’t go into detail about the directions, for two reasons. First, Elpel has already done a decent job. Second, I don’t like taking credit for other people’s work!
However, I can show you my patterns and give you some practical advice to make your experience easier. The patterns and instructions we’ll get to Friday, but for now, we’ll start with getting your stuff together.
Gathering Materials
First off, let me tell you that Elpel warns people against using steel-belted tires for good reasons. Having said that, you CAN use tires with steel belts, but it takes a lot more work and some special care so you don’t injure yourself or others. I’ll get to specifics when we talk about making them–for now, let’s focus on gathering the materials you’ll need.
Now, where to get tires? I used some that came with the car I bought (no, I am not so crazy as to pull them off of the vehicle I drive to work–these were extra, and turned out to be the wrong size for my car). I tried 5 or 6 different ways of cutting through the steel belts–we’ll get into that later. What’s important, for today, is that you probably will want to use something without hundreds of bands of metal.
One place you can find tires that don’t have steel bands is on the highway! I have been known to pick that sort of thing up, now and again… What you are looking for is a piece of tire rubber that DOESN’T curl up on the side of the road. If it is just lying there, like a flat piece of rubber road kill, then it probably has no metal. Be certain to get something thin enough to work with. If it looks like it came from an 18-Wheeler, just leave it alone (Yes. I learned this one the hard way. If you want, you can ask–but my wife was not happy about it…).
As for the material for straps–I lucked out. I found a seatbelt fragment at the thrift store (for those of you following along with my blog, you will recall my mentioning it in one of the first couple of posts). I love the irony of using pieces of a car to make something I can walk around in.
The “buckles” Elpel suggest you cut out of the tire were more than I cared to do with the crazy steel mess I was working with. I used snap-buckles I cannibalized from a backpack I no longer wanted. (Cannibalized probably doesn’t mean what I use it for in this instance, but it showed up in my vocabulary, and I like it–so in this blog, “cannibalized” means “tore apart for spare parts.”)
This and a leather stitching awl (and thick leather thread) were what I used. By the way, my awl has never been the same since…you may want to find another way to attach it.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: The Archives
0 opinions for Tire Sandals–Part 1: Gathering Materials
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: