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aon

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Bally double monks

P1020073.jpg
 

emptym

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Originally Posted by Andrew W
... Also, I feel I should add the clicking doesn't look like its hand done, probably stamped by a hydro clicking machine, Blake McCabe welted, cheap leather, gimping is improperly shaped and over 300 pounds! But, you can't have enough pairs of brogues.
Originally Posted by bengal-stripe
It is highly unlikely those AS "country range" boots are clicked using a "die” (a punch form like a cookie cutter)...
I have no idea if Groover's boots (very nice btw) were hand clicked, but I do know that AS does a lot of hand clicking. Here's a picture of them hand clicking my "oneshoe" which was made to their regular high (but not handgrade) standards:
sargent03.jpg
They were assuredly not Blake stitched, of cheap or corrected grain leather or improperly shaped, nor were Groovers. I like your posts of your shoes, Andrew W and hope you'll stick around, but you're way off in these comments. Have you found the hcc.org? Lot's of great stuff there.
Originally Posted by Orgetorix
...I can't afford you...
You might be pleasantly surprised. PM him. I'm by no means the richest guy here. Like you, if iirc, I get a lot of stuff from thrift stores. And when I ordered a boot from him last year, it was about half my annual budget, but I plan to have them for 40 yrs or more. The LL Bean camp mocs I have on right now, I've had for 20-something years, and they'll last several more. Quality over quantity.
Originally Posted by DWFII
... Because, from my point of view, believing in hierarchies is all about aspirations and expecting the best of oneself (in this context myself). Of reaching for, if not always obtaining, excellence. It's dern sure not about defending techniques or products that clearly do not rise above the mundane or which I myself have no personal vested interest in or any objective knowledge about. I will not defend my choice of sports coats, for instance. I didn't weave the cloth I didn't cut the pieces...I have no idea whether it was done well or not. I just like it...
Yes, sadly, we only have a certain number of years, hours, etc., to devote to our pursuit, so we do need to settle. But hopefully we don't make this an excuse or a rationalization very often. It's the pursuit that matters, but it's too easy to give up on it.
Originally Posted by clintonf
...Not all of us have unlimited funds and more importantly, not all of us want to spend money on what is considered "the best" until they have explored some of the various options available.
This is part of why I bought used shoes for years, to DW's chagrin! But it was part of my education.
Originally Posted by clintonf
I have read some of the recent posts in this thread and I don't really see where you can make some of the statements above. Whilst I cannot speak for anyone else, I can say for me, there is nothing more frustrating than when people mis-represents facts. I personally do not care whether people like or dislike the shoes that I prefer. To this effect, I have stopped posting pictures of my shoes...
Oh no! Fight on!
Originally Posted by clintonf
... I see you as an educational force on this site. ... P.S. I also want to say that I also admire the way Bengal-Stripe comments. I do see his comments as generally objective and easy to follow (and verify, if needs be).
They drag us out of the cave.
 

DWFII

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Originally Posted by coolshoes
Oh, how I love and long for pictures of great shoes ...
No offense, but this has always puzzled me...why can't we do both, even in this thread? I don't know about anyone else but even though I don't post photos much, I am capable of walking and chewing gum...or any of a number of different things...at the same time. I enjoy looking at photos but I honestly don't think Stan Lee is the moderator here.
 

NOBD

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Please do both. I'll be watching and reading.
 

DWFII

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Originally Posted by emptym
DW mentioned the pursuit of excellence above. That reminds me of Plato's Republic. There he divides a person into three parts, ruled by three desires, for (1) money/comfort/pleasure, (2) honor/respect, or (3) virtue/excellence. Individuals allow one of these parts to rule above all. Most people are ruled by the first desire, a substantial portion by the second, and a tiny minority by the third.
Reminds me of a book I read years ago--called The Master Game: Pathways to Higher Consciousness by de Ropp
"It has been stated by Thomas Szasz that what people really need and demand from life is not wealth, comfort or esteem but games worth playing. 1 He who cannot find a game worth playing is apt to fall prey to accidie, defined by the Fathers of the Church as one of the Deadly Sins, but now regarded as a symptom of sickness. Accidie is a paralysis of the will, a failure of the appetite, a condition of generalized boredom, total disenchantment -- "God, oh God, how weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!" Such a state of mind, Szasz tells us, is a prelude to what is loosely called "mental illness," which, although Szasz defines this illness as a myth, nevertheless fills half the beds in hospitals and makes multitudes of people a burden to themselves and to society. Seek, above all, for a game worth playing. Such is the advice of the oracle to modern man. Having found the game, play it with intensity -- play as if your life and sanity depended on it. (They do depend on it.) Follow the example of the French existentialists and flourish a banner bearing the word "engagement." Though nothing means anything and all roads are marked "NO EXIT," yet move as if your movements had some purpose. If life does not seem to offer a game worth playing, then invent one. 2 For it must be clear, even to the most clouded intelligence, that any game is better than no game."
Just for kicks...although I don't expect them to get a lot of love on SF...and to show that it can be done--walking and chewing gum at the same time--here is a pair of boots one of my students, from Brussels, made when he was here with me.
christophes_boots.jpg
 

Ahriman4891

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Originally Posted by NOBD
Please do both. I'll be watching and reading.
+1 -- good conversation and IMO fitting for the beginning of the new year.
 

JohnnyCrockett

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Is it just me, or does DWF always get into efights with other SFers and post tomes?
 

meister

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Originally Posted by JohnnyCrockett
Is it just me, or does DWF always get into efights with other SFers and post tomes?

Yes but it it's all good....
 

SpooPoker

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Originally Posted by JohnnyCrockett
Is it just me, or does DWF always get into efights with other SFers and post tomes?

Its not just you. But there is education in the eFight club.
 

mcarthur

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fk6rkn.jpg

color 8 cap toes
 

NiFTY

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Originally Posted by SpooPoker
Its not just you. But there is education in the eFight club.

Don't talk about the eFight club. Its the first and 2nd rule.
 

txeconomist

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Those look great mac, shoes and socks. Just when I dont think I need anything.
 

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