Six months ago the future of traditional cowboy boot making was looking rather grim. There are/were three companies left in the world who make wood pegs for shoe making, and all three stopped making them during the pandemic with no real plans to go back into production.

The one in the US was still making wood shoe pegs using machines from the Civil War. They said their machines would no longer make the small wood shoe pegs and couldn’t be repaired, although in the last month or so they’ve decided maybe it’s possible. Given that I gave them a bunch of money and they kept it for months before telling me they couldn’t fill my order, I’m hesitant to trust them again.

The two factories in Europe just didn’t want to make them anymore. I wrote a heartfelt, pleading letter and reached out to a German shoe maker friend, who contacted the German shoe making guild, and they approached both factories with my letter and their own requests. Long story short: Blau Ring is making wood shoe pegs again. I’m sure it was my beautifully written letter that softened their hearts.

So now I have wood shoe pegs available! I had to buy in bulk so they’ll be packaged in bags, but these are the Blau Ring pegs you’re accustomed to buying and using. I only have size 6/11 at the moment but I will try to get the other sizes in stock as soon as I can.

Notice: My website has gotten old and creaky; its latest antic is to not show prices — you have to go to shopping cart to see the price. I’m sorry! I have a brand new website in production right now and hope to have it updated in around two weeks. The old one will still take orders, it’s just grumpy about it.