Hello, why would a cowboy wrap silver gaffers tape wrapped around his broken down cowboy boots at the toe and instep. It's from a book. Is it a common thing to wrap boots with gaffers tape? How and where would someone wrap it? Around the sole or just the top? Also, the book says he walks as if he is rarely off a horse, what does that mean? What sort of a walk is it? Any help would be appreciated. I am an actor playing a cowboy. Thanks.
Gaffers tape on cowboy boots
- Thread starter Victor
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
GoWyo
Well-known member
If the sole of his boot is falling off, he needs to hold it together, so tape of some sort can work for a while. Duct tape, electrical tape, whatever is handy for an emergency repair. Sometimes the emergency repair can last a couple months. Had to look up gaffer tape. Sounds like it would be handy to have around.
greybeard
Well-known member
Years ago, for whatever reason, I was watching the after movie credits at a movie theatre.. There are some odd names/descriptions in the movie industry's closing credits crawl.. I got curious about it all and had to look it up.
Best Boy,
Clapper loader
Grip
Key Grip
Gaffer.
Gaffers handle the lighting and the tape they use has to be able to handle high heat so it has, for many decades been called gaffer tape.
Best Boy,
Clapper loader
Grip
Key Grip
Gaffer.
Gaffers handle the lighting and the tape they use has to be able to handle high heat so it has, for many decades been called gaffer tape.
Dave
Well-known member
Cowboys are the definition of poor. So he is probably taping them up to get a few more months out of the. And of course shows like Yellowstone have increased the popularity cowboy boots, hats, etc. Which has driven the prices up so actual real cowboys can't afford them.
The popularity of rodeo events like team roping drove prices up before Yellowstone. This is just another cycle. I don't think this is the first time society has been infatuated with cowboys.
Dave
Well-known member
Oh no. Urban Cowboy sure had some influence. Mechanical bulls in bars. People walking around with hats on that looked like a chicken flew into the front of their hat.
greybeard
Well-known member
It was somewhat embarrassing but also funny to watch unfold..
Dave
Well-known member
It came out about the time I quit riding bucking horses. I was in my late 20's early 30's. I could ride the snot out of those silly machines. That made me popular with the ladies which worked out for me.
You said no... then proved my point?
greybeard
Well-known member
I call your feather filled hats and raise you
farmerjan
Well-known member
@Victor ; the gaffers tape is as described... it was the tape that was used in movies for the high heat as was described... Duct tape is what many use nowadays to keep the sole on a boot to get a little more wear out of it... do it with work shoes and such also... walking like he was seldom off a horse is because a cowboy often would be bowlegged and walking was something they seldom did if they could possibly do it from horseback... so it was a peculiar gait to their walk since they were often bowlegged.
Dave
Well-known member
Oh no. I was agreeing with you. I used Yellowstone because the OP said he was an actor and it was something current which he probably could relate to.You said no... then proved my point?
Bob Kinford
Well-known member
Well not all of society, just enough to drive up the price of our clothes. Seems like the rest want to send us more wolves.
Before Urban Cowboy hit the screen, a decent felt work hat was $35-$45. Price jumped $100 after it came out.
Dave
Well-known member
Walking like he was seldom off a horse. John Wayne is said to have studied how Yakima Canutt (sp) walked. Yakima was a cowboy turned champion rodeo cowboy turned stunt man and stunt coordinator for Hollywood.
Bob Kinford
Well-known member
Actually we used duct tape. Wasn't always because we were poor though. Boots wear out when you're 45 miles from the nearest paved road, then another 80 miles from town present shopping problems. Especially when you might be another month or two from your next opportunity to get to town.
I have a hard time watching westerns without cringing at how they work cows. Same goes for horse shows. Give extra points for getting as close to a wreck as you can, but have to get another cow if you control yours enough to walk it through the pattern. Cutting horses might look like they they're doing something, but in this day and age of training with a flag, all they're really doing is letting the cow work them.
greybeard
Well-known member
Yep. bought a fairly good one in the 1966-67 time frame as a teenager for around $20 and I thought that was high for a 16-17 year old working min wage. American Hat Co I think it was and kept it for over a decade. I shouldn't say this, but I was pretty rowdy in my mid 20s and that hat got left in some brothel over in the Pacific somewhere. Probably in Manila or Hong Kong. I'm not gonna apologize for what I used to be.
By the time Urban Cowboy came out, I was just wearing ball caps.
I don't remember where I was at that time, but was in some honky tonk here in Texas (maybe around Bryan since I was working the chalk then) and looked up and saw 'line dancing' going on for the first time and thought 'what the @#$% is that? Bob Wills would roll in his grave''. Finished my beer and left.
Some years ago, my wife and 2 of my grown kids went together and bought me a new felt hat. A nice one. I shouldn't have, but since the tag where they got it from was still in the fancy yellow box, I looked on line and blew up when I saw what they paid for that Seratelli and told my wife don't ever let them kids spend that much money on me again. Still got it but about the only time I ever wear it is to church and then, only sometimes.
Dave
Well-known member
I have 5 cowboy hats. 2 felts and 3 straws. Over 90% of the time I wear a ball cap. I have 4 pairs of cowboy boots. I wear the most comfortable pair all the time, like 99% of the time. They are just about worn out. It is going to be a sad day when I finally have to give up on them.
CowboyRam
Well-known member
I know the feeling. I had a pair of Drew's buckaroos that were worn out, and had not worn them for several years before getting rid of them. Best pair of boots I ever had.
4hfarms
Well-known member
Reading a JW book at this time. Says he used to ride his horse to school everyday back when his family moved out to California in the 1910s. Had that horse for decades, made a life size memorial late in his life on his family property. interesting life he had. We need more men with his values.
greybeard
Well-known member
When my father was young (he was born in 1918) he used to drive the school bus in or around Tyler Tx during depression era years, and Tyler is infamous for it's red sticky clay. The school 'bus' he drove was a horse drawn wagon. The few cars that were there always had trouble getting up and down the muddy hills there but the horses had no problem.
