epoxy mold 66 removed from the chamber 18 whereupon the metal parts can be used again for making another mold segment referring to fig8 steel blades 26 u2032 and 26 u2033 are shown which are adapted to fill slits 52 or slots 54 having similar shapes the blades 26 u2032 and 26 u2033 may be laminated to fill wider slits if desired it has been found however that it is not always necessary to fill the slots 54 but simply to place the steel strip members 28 in the slots where they provide sufficient reinforcement for the epoxy stand alone ribs referring to fig9 a segmental shoe 69 is assembled with a center bracket 70 and end brackets 72 and 74 a model blank 76 is mounted on the center bracket 70 and has a carved tread mold forming surface 78 with recesses 80 to form stand alone ribs in accordance with this embodiment an epoxy material containing a reinforcing material such as chopped fiberglass is communicated into the chamber 82 of the segmental shoe and sufficient pressure applied to force the reinforced epoxy material into the recesses 80 the epoxy is cured in a manner similar to that set forth hereinabove for the embodiment of fig1 8 whereupon the model blank 76 is removed and the segmental shoe 68 may be mounted in a tire press referring to fig1 a model blank.