Thought I would document an inchoate idea I have to grow flax and spin linen for bootmaking. Working backward a bit I’ve thought a lot about Lee Miller’s warning that Charlie Dunn’s inseams were rotting out so he switched to synthetics. I was doing some digging into preserving natural fiber thread in damp conditions when I found stuff about hemp marine ropes, which is a very old technology that survives very corrosive conditions. So heres a little summary of traditional and more modern methods for protection against rot. I wonder if some of these have promise, and the pine tar in particular is interesting in that they come at it as a preservative but we came to it as something to add cohesion and adhesion.
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Happy to encourage! Become an old spinster! 
For durability, I’d have to mention hemp, too. A bunch of sources I’ve read mention that was long the norm for heavier work. But definitely check your local laws on that one. And beware any advice from NorCal lawyers outside their jurisdiction.
As an aside, I’ve definitely had fun making coad. And I’ve been able to replicate DW’s practice of coating polyester thread with it. But it’s always in the back of my mind that industry and even some bespoke practice does without any kind of adhesive on inseams. Most Goodyear welt machines I’ve researched come with heated wax reservoirs—lubrication, not adhesion. A few very high end bespoke makers, like Ken Hishinuma, inseam with pre-waxed poly.
At some point I utterly lack the tools to quantify, I expect thread-to-thread and thead-to-leather friction do way more than any coating to hold things tight. And the new materials obviously solve the water and mold issues.
On the other hand, working with nice, old, long-staple linen definitely holds a bit of charm. I enjoyed learning to make threads like this. Try it if you get some product to play with, but expect to “spend” some thread learning the moves. So maybe learn on commercial thread, then try with your own. And holler if you’d like me to mail you some linen and hemp cord to try.
Ive got some bockens lingarn to play with from The German. Ive done a hogs bristle on rewaxed poly tapers following duncan mcharg’s video on bristling, it went just ok, the bristle stayed on but it was hard to get the bristles not to stick into the walls of the awl tunnels. I need to put it all together with linen and bristles though
I dont think florida would have much if a sense of humor Bout my “hemp” crop 
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