During the American Civil War, one of the major challenges for both sides was replacing the worn out, often ground to nothing, shoes of the average soldier.
Entire raids were staged by the Confederates on supply depots simply because it was rumored there was a shipment of shoes coming in for Union troops!
In a survival situation, shoes, particularly non-work or hiking related shoes eventually wear out and if you do not have a stock of them and the survival situation is long or dire enough, you could be faced with having to improvise.
Luckily, if you can get access to an old dump or car graveyard, you have access to a stockpile of old tires and you can use them to fashion a primitive sandal that will last for a long time under most conditions!
To learn how to make your own sandals from an old tire, check out the next page.
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My brother brought a pair back from his time in Vietnam.
Tough to do with a radial Tire tho
Viet Cong combat boots.
boonie boots
Ricky Romero
Like Richard said, any Vietnam vet would know this. Old news, still though.
I bought a pair in the Philippines in the 80’s, one peice of advice, don’t step on an oil slick road, like walking on ice
Try cutting one of them tires today
My dad told me during the Vietnam war the VC wore sandals made from old tires.
I picked up a pair of these 2 years ago indestructible they are great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMDXWN5KI_4
Ho Chi Min Sandals.
So how many miles would the be good for?
This has been done forever!
In the1958 era I purchased ‘Jesus shoes’ in Mexico made of used tires. In Africa, shoes are often 2 liter pop bottles squashed with holes punched for the twine to hold them on their feet. That my friends, is poverty unimagined in this day, I would imagine the same may be true in Haiti as the poorest nation in the western hemisphere after years of oppression by ruthless dictators.
Neato. 🙂
That’s what my old man told me.
Mark White
Yep my dad said the same thing… So they had to start burning their worn out jeep and truck tires.. The smell sucked but was a great bug repellent
I just want to know all seasons or performance type tires?
These sandals are not that good,I mean the ones we had in Vietnam .They were made with just a knife.Rubber gets hot on your feet..
So they come in drag slicks?
This is how the company vans was created. Surfer and a bunch of tires.
Ask the Noth Vietnamese army and the Vietcong.
Mexicans.
Schubert Santos
The VC did. A pair of VC sandals was a highly sought after trophy. That, and VC ears…
The viet cong did this routinely during the war. I cant think of a better shoe sole than tire tread. It owold last forever.u