Lacing of Boots

[Fromelles]

I was speaking to a mate about the way we were taught to lace our army boots in the '80s, which got me thinking ...

I've just watched a couple of tutorials on YouTube demonstrating the 'correct' method of lacing British boots, however as they aren't the same as each other I assume they are likely just putting their own spin on the subject... at least one must be wrong!

It's obvious the lacing of boots was regulated, as photos only ever show the horizontal lacing (yes I'm sure their are the odd example of them being criss-crossed), so is anyone aware if there's any official documentation on the subject?

Dan

[FROGSMILE]

6 hours ago, Fromelles said:

I was speaking to a mate about the way we were taught to lace our army boots in the '80s, which got me thinking ...

I've just watched a couple of tutorials on YouTube demonstrating the 'correct' method of lacing British boots, however as they aren't the same as each other I assume they are likely just putting their own spin on the subject... at least one must be wrong!

It's obvious the lacing of boots was regulated, as photos only ever show the horizontal lacing (yes I'm sure their are the odd example of them being criss-crossed), so is anyone aware if there's any official documentation on the subject?

Dan

I’ve never seen any documentation Dan, the usual place for instructions regarding individual items of that nature is clothing regulations.  For what it’s worth I know from conversations with successive wartime generations in my own family that during basic training instruction, boots ammunition and their replacement boots DMS, were always to be horizontally laced.  That method was decreed as being best as the laces could be readily sliced open with a vertical cut in order to remove the boot quickly and easily when an individual was wounded. 

[TullochArd]

Frogsmile has it ..... "straight laced" ....... to facilitate easy removal of footwear if wounded/injured.

[PhilB]

The laces would have been leather and of square cross section. The more regimental senior NCOs would also insist on them not being twisted.

[Muerrisch]

Baden-Powell recommended an extraordinary way of lacing to the Boy Scout movement. I shall have a look-see. As a fully-fledged and virtuous Queen's Scout I did use the method in uniform but horribly impractical.

[TullochArd]

As a former wearer of puttees short and ankle boots for many years in the Regular Army the proper method of tying the laces now seems convoluted and odd....but it works. The lace had a single knot tied in one end and the lace was then inserted from below into the inner, lower eyelet.  The loose end was then threaded through the remaining eyelets in the "straight lace" manner.  The loose end was wrapped around the ankle outwards and tucked in a couple of times.  You would never have dramas with knotted laces or loose bows even with wet laces. 

Edited 21 December , 2023 by TullochArd

[FROGSMILE]

11 minutes ago, TullochArd said:

As a former wearer of puttees short and ankle boots for many years in the Regular Army the proper method of tying the laces now seems odd....but it works. The lace had a single knot tied in one end and the lace was then inserted from below into the inner, lower eyelet.  The loose end was then threaded through the remaining eyelets in the "straight lace" manner.  The loose end was wrapped around the ankle outwards and tucked in a couple of times.  You would never have dramas with knotted laces or loose bows even with wet laces. 

I remember it well and you have described it perfectly.  I think that methodology probably goes back quite a long time because it made the lace cutting and removal described earlier even easier.  Laced boots with multiple lace holes seem to have emerged during Queen Victoria’s reign.

Edited 21 December , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[PhilB]

Has velcro been tried on boots?

[squirrel]

Horrible stuff, sticks to anything and everything made of cloth and makes an unwanted sound when released.

[FROGSMILE]

4 hours ago, Muerrisch said:

Baden-Powell recommended an extraordinary way of lacing to the Boy Scout movement. I shall have a look-see. As a fully-fledged and virtuous Queen's Scout I did use the method in uniform but horribly impractical.

I can just imagine a sergeant major saying…do it like the Boy Scouts. 🤔

[tankengine888]

When was the criss crossing lacing pattern put into 'official' practice? Or has it always been horizontally laced?

Just for fun- my disintegrating army cadet boots in the criss cross pattern (not properly laced to the top since it's nearly 4am). 

[Muerrisch]

4 hours ago, TullochArd said:

As a former wearer of puttees short and ankle boots for many years in the Regular Army the proper method of tying the laces now seems convoluted and odd....but it works. The lace had a single knot tied in one end and the lace was then inserted from below into the inner, lower eyelet.  The loose end was then threaded through the remaining eyelets in the "straight lace" manner.  The loose end was wrapped around the ankle outwards and tucked in a couple of times.  You would never have dramas with knotted laces or loose bows even with wet laces. 

 

That is the Baden-Powell method described brilliantly

[FROGSMILE]

27 minutes ago, Muerrisch said:

 

That is the Baden-Powell method described brilliantly

I strongly suspect that he didn’t invent it himself and that it was instead something he picked up himself when a junior officer in the Army with the 13th Hussars.  It wasn’t rocket science after all.  I can imagine him being taught it by his sergeant whilst a snotty cadet at RMC Sandhurst.  Of course we’ll never know for sure, but I just don’t buy it that it was his personal idea.  There were generations of foot soldiers before him since the laced ammunition boot was issued to the army.

Edited 21 December , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[Muerrisch]

 Nothing to "buy".

No suggestion that he invented it: he recommended it in "Scouting for Boys".

[TullochArd]

....... there's only one way ....... the right way! 

Edited 21 December , 2023 by TullochArd

[FROGSMILE]

46 minutes ago, Muerrisch said:

 Nothing to "buy".

No suggestion that he invented it: he recommended it in "Scouting for Boys".

Rather like recommending that they do their best to do their duty to God and the Queen.  He took quite a lot of ideas from the army and recommended them to boys.  Muscular Christianity…

18 minutes ago, TullochArd said:

....... there's only one way ....... the right way! 

Yes there was a lot more uniformity then than there is now.

Edited 21 December , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[PhilB]

The toecap must have appeared some years later. Stronger boot or cheaper/easier to make?

[FROGSMILE]

33 minutes ago, PhilB said:

The toecap must have appeared some years later. Stronger boot or cheaper/easier to make?

The WW1 boot has been much discussed Phil.  See:

1.https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/17635-brit-hob-nail-boots-patterns/#comment-141685

2.https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/3835-brown-and-black-boots/#comment-27673

3.https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/18610-ww1-australian-boots/#comment-144905

4.https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/19755-ladder-lacing/#comment-155347

Edited 21 December , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[Fromelles]

Thanks everyone, much as I suspected, something passed down but not officially documented.

The method described above by TullochArd was the way I was taught in the Aussie Army with our Vietnam war era GP (General Purpose) boots. The crisscross method was introduced when the new boots (as shown above by tankengine888) were introduced in the early ‘00s, as recommended by the manufacturer, said to be less strain on the eyelets. 
tankengine, maybe in the cadets your laces are fine, but your boots aren’t correctly laced for the Regulars, though I will admit every second soldier seemed to do their own thing. I’ll see if I can dig out a pair of mine to demonstrate.

Dan

[FROGSMILE]

6 hours ago, Fromelles said:

The crisscross method was introduced when the new boots (as shown above by tankengine888) were introduced in the early ‘00s, as recommended by the manufacturer, said to be less strain on the eyelets. 

Dan

‘Less strain’ doesn’t really make sense, although I don’t doubt that was said Dan.  Pulling upward on crossed laces very obviously draws the grommeted lace holes diagonally putting greater strain on them.  The ladder method pulls horizontally for each individual strand, one hole directly opposite to the other.

[Chasemuseum]

On 21/12/2023 at 19:11, FROGSMILE said:

I’ve never seen any documentation Dan, the usual place for instructions regarding individual items of that nature is clothing regulations.  For what it’s worth I know from conversations with successive wartime generations in my own family that during basic training instruction, boots ammunition and their replacement boots DMS, were always to be horizontally laced.  That method was decreed as being best as the laces could be readily sliced open with a vertical cut in order to remove the boot quickly and easily when an individual was wounded. 

This is exactly what I was taught as a cadet in 1972. On joining the CMF (Territorials) in 1977, we received no formal instruction but over half the recruits had been Army Cadets, so the method and rational was passed on. An uncle had been in the compulsory cadets prior to and during WW1. I never thought to ask him. 

This method of boot lacing seamed to have a long history and when wearing steel toes at work was always the sign of those with a military background. It seems strange that my fire fighting boots now have a zipper down the centreline of the tongue. 

[max7474]

On 21/12/2023 at 18:37, Muerrisch said:

 Nothing to "buy".

No suggestion that he invented it: he recommended it in "Scouting for Boys".

Not a title you could get a publisher to agree to nowadays.......

 

[green_acorn]

On 22/12/2023 at 20:37, FROGSMILE said:

‘Less strain’ doesn’t really make sense, although I don’t doubt that was said Dan.  Pulling upward on crossed laces very obviously draws the grommeted lace holes diagonally putting greater strain on them.  The ladder method pulls horizontally for each individual strand, one hole directly opposite to the other.

The horizontal method also pulls on the pair of eyelets the lace is routed vertically through, thus much of the same stress on the eyelet/grommet.  I was also in the Australian Army when the new boots were introduced in the early 2000’s.  The boots were issued based on the size of each foot, and yes the manufacturer recommended the cross lacing in a consistent pattern, so that the lace could still be cut quickly.  

Interesting in the early 1990‘s the Australian Army had the feet and body of every member scanned and measured to provide the necessary data for new size standards and to provide a sound basis for production by size.  Allegedly, this sort of data collection had never been internationally conducted, the foot sizing data was stolen a year or so later.

 

Cheers,

Chris

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, green_acorn said:

The horizontal method also pulls on the pair of eyelets the lace is routed vertically through, thus much of the same stress on the eyelet/grommet.  I was also in the Australian Army when the new boots were introduced in the early 2000’s.  The boots were issued based on the size of each foot, and yes the manufacturer recommended the cross lacing in a consistent pattern, so that the lace could still be cut quickly.  

Interesting in the early 1990‘s the Australian Army had the feet and body of every member scanned and measured to provide the necessary data for new size standards and to provide a sound basis for production by size.  Allegedly, this sort of data collection had never been internationally conducted, the foot sizing data was stolen a year or so later.

 

Cheers,

Chris

It’s interesting about the unique sizing research that you did.  I recall the first high boots that you used which I saw during an exchange visit by 1 RAR back in the early 1970s, while we were still wearing short boots and puttees.

 I’ve laced my boots both your cross ways and the traditional horizontal way that I described earlier and i slightly disagree with you that the degree of pull on the lace holes is exactly the same, although I accept it wouldn’t be hugely different.  Nevertheless, the knot tied at one end and the other end looped through horizontally in my assessment as I observed the effect was a little less strain on the opposing lace holes.

Regards,

FS

Edited 24 January by FROGSMILE

[green_acorn]

Frogsmile, 

Not my research by any means, but yes it was unusual when have any of us seen, or participated, in a true science based data collection like that.  It would have been worth a fortune in the clothing and footwear industry, and I am assuming, the industries recognised that but those conducting the testing didn't and did not protect the data accordingly.

As for the lacing, yes from 1976 until I got my new boots in 2000, I also knotted one end of the lace, and I have the hairless legs below the calves to prove it.

 

Chris