New boots

August 16, 2013 • 4:26 am

I recently got these, though they aren’t absolutely new.  They’re by Pablo Jass of Lampasas, Texas, a renowed bootmaker who makes his footwear in the style of his mentor, the even more famous Ray Jones, perhaps the best bootmaker of the 20th century.  Both of them made the sturdiest boots I’ve ever seen: they’re heavy and built like tanks. Particularly with this hide, these boots should last until I’m worm food.

By the way, Pablo Jasses are the only boots worn by Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of the New Republic.

Guess the hide.

boots

72 thoughts on “New boots”

  2. Nice looking boots, no clue on the hide (I’m ~always wrong!) But to guess: Armadillo?

  3. “Particularly with this hide, these boots should last until I’m worm food.”

    It’s not yet 7am, the coffee is still being absorbed, and thus I’m projecting, so I read that sentence as a depressing comment on your own feelings of vitality!

    Not sure what the hide is, lets go with “tanning bed addict”

    I need more caffeine.

    1. Let’s open the bottles in the cupboard on the top shelf – I am sure they are there for passing WEIT readers!

    2. …I read that sentence as a depressing comment on your own feelings of vitality!

      Nah. As regular readers know, Jerry has a lot of boots. How often is he likely to wear this particular pair?

      I was recently in Home Depot and a guy who couldn’t have been ten years older than me picked up an LED light and said, “this thing has a longer life expectancy than I do.” Now that is a bit disconcerting.

      1. Exactly. One minute the world is full of meaning, joy, and beauty because God, and then I stopped believing and suddently the world became cold and meaningless, with no cause for joy. Colors aren’t the same, and everything I do has no point, whereas before it had a point, but I didn’t know what the point was because God wouldn’t tell me. It was his secret. But at least it had a point.

        Amazing how that happens. The first world is identical to the second world in every respect save one: that crucial element of faith in something unknown and unknowable. Now God hates me and I’m hopelessly lost. LOL.

      1. Well, that was my first thought!

        No offence intended to you dear ant of course, and to all my friends and associates in the family Formicidae.

      2. Yes, misspelled. I’ll take the early morning excuse favored by so many other commenters. Tomiostoma is the little known false false gharial, which equates to gharial, at least in English-speaking countries.

  10. From my monitor it looks kind of an avocado texture and sort of like a bore or pig so I think it might be the hide of jeebus, a christ?

    1. Aargh! My first comment went to moderation because of my typo. Now the original comment seems to have disappeared.

      My guess was Rhino because the boots were supposed to be built like a tank.

  17. With the hint that these are extra durable, I was thinking Rhino, which has been guessed above.

    So I’ll say elephant instead.

  19. Yak? I have a pair of marvellous Hanwag hiking boots made out of yak leather; pliable but very tough.

  20. Jerry has 16 months in his calendar year.
    No wonder he is so productive . . .

    (Yeah, the top row might just be the last months from 2012)

    2. Perhaps, since you’re on a limb, a sloth?

      Or a turtle, since you’re really sticking your neck out?

      You could really live dangerously and narrow the field a lot by specifying non-extinct tetrapods.

      1. While it’s a very safe bet that the tetrapod in question is extant, not extinct, it is, actually, theoretically possible that these could be the remains of (one of) the last of the species.

        So, no. Not sure I’ll venture quite that far out on the limb.

        Besides, I’m still the only one whose guess isn’t worng.

        b&

      1. Oooo Michael Day guessed correctly. Most of the rest of us were just smart asses.

        1. And the appropriately named Michael Fisher.

          Ben, you didn’t hedge your bet enough. Shoulda taken Chordates or Vertebrates.

          1. Next time, I’m going whole-hog…for eukaryote.

            …and then, knowing my luck, that’ll be the time that Jerry will be showcasing boots made from synthetic plastic made from oil from processed bioengeineered cyanobacteria….

            b&

          2. OMG I almost typed that! That is hilarious – I was going to say to play it safe say eukaryote!

      2. Wait — you mean it wasn’t a tetrapod?

        Ah, damn.

        One of these days I’ll finally get it right — just you watch!

        (And do we know the species of shark?)

        b&

    1. Yes, absolutely. There have been only a few minor changes in things like the angle of the pulls and such. Pablo also has a brother, James, who trained under Ray Jones as well, and they both have their own shops; but both make boots with the iconic Jones design, including the absolutely distinctive “toe bug” (the stitching on the toe).

  26. Ostrich?

    Meanwhile, my wife Jackie (a neuroscientist) picks up my iPhone that happened to be open to WEIT. Her reaction…”Didn’t you know that already?”

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