One bag of nails- roughly 100pcs, possibly plus or minus a few.	Original boot showing pilot hole and tool.	Original nail tool. These can be made fairly easily from a standard punch.

Reproduction German WWII hobnails for Jackboots and Lowboots. We copied the most typical size and pattern (6 sided) , and these are the only correct reproductions of the factory installed hobnails available. Most reproductions are cast from a blend of metals such as zinc and manganese. Ours are solid steel, and thus do not break. The shafts are double prong, which spread as the nails are hammered into the soles which means they rarely fall out.

Cost: Yes, these cost more than some originals and other reproductions. However, they were expensive to have made, they work, and don't fall out. I have several hundred miles on my Texled jackboots and haven't lost one yet.

Quantity: Enough for a pair of boots plus spares. A pair of boots requires 70-80 nails depending on the size and nail pattern one is doing. I requested 100 nails per bag, and the first 3 were as requested. That said, we don't want to go counting tens of thousands of nails to guarantee an exact number..."enough for a pair".

But I've seen originals with one prong, like a nail! Yes, they are abundant. In the 1990's, an old bootmaker in Germany told me that this style was used in the factories, and the single prong types were issued to the cobblers and used for repairs. Since then, I have checked over two dozen pairs of unissued, original boots, and all had this style of hobnail. As he said, used and repaired boots often have the single prong type.

How does one install them? Number one, one must have a shoe last- this cannot be done on the kitchen counter or Mom's coffee table. Second, pilot holes are needed. We took a regular solid punch, and simply noted the tip into a "V". Wet the soles with a sponge, then use the punch to make the pilot holes.

Imported