Making Snowshoes

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Anyone have a URL for a site that shows how to make your own homemade snowshoes.

-- hiding in plain (sight@edge. of no-where), December 05, 1999

Answers

The information you want is in the Nov/Dec 1996 issue of Mushing Magazine. http://www.mushing.com/

LINK



-- walt (longyear@shentel.net), December 05, 1999.


Thanks for the lead Walt ... but can not find the referenced issue? Seems to only have this year online? or is there a hidden archive of past year's issues?

-- hiding in plain (sight@edge. of no-where), December 05, 1999.

I collect old books...and I found this in one of my old "how to" books, hope it helps.

Most of the Canadian Indians and many white trappers make their own snowshoes. Sometimes the handmade article is not so handsome as the store variety, but it is soften much stronger and more durable. Making snowshoes is good fun, and by following the directions given in this article, you can make yourself a serviceable pair of shoes that will stand up under the hardest use on the trail. for making the forms the best woods fo7und in the North are hickory, ash, and white and yellow birch. White birch is most generally used. Select a slender tree about six inches in diameter, free of knots and twists for a length of ten feet. Drooping limbs indicate strong wood. Fell the tree and cut out a section about ten feet long, or twice the length of the snowshoes. This section should be split and the better half quarted. To insure a good job of splitting , the log should be grooved its entire length, about one inch deep, top and bottom. Start the split by striking lightly with the ax in the bottom of the groove; finish by using wedges, taking care to make the split follow the groove. Take the better off the two pieces, cut a groove the length of the bark side, and split it. This will furnish the two pieces for the snowshoe frames, and no cut should be made in the wood on this side. For taking the wood down, you should have a hand saw, a plane, and a drawing knife. The extent to which the stick should be worked down will depend on the size of the proposed snowshoe, which is governed in turn by the weight of the user, and the loads he may carry. For a person weighing under 150 pounds, an elongated snowshoe measuring twelve inches wide, inside the frames, and forty-two inches long, will be about right. The tail will be about ten inches long. The frame for a snowshoe this size should be five eights of an inch thick, and the width should vary from three eights of an inch at the toe, or center of the stick, to three quarter of an inch at the tail ends. Remember to pare the wood down on the inside of the bend, opposite the bark side. Bear in mind that the stick, must be about eight feet long to make a forty-two- inch snowshoe. A heavy man will require a fourteen-by-forty -eight shoe, necessitating a ten-foot stick. Measure off about seven inches each way from the center of the stick, and start a mortise on the inside of the stick for the first crosspiece, which will be a quarter of an inch thick, one and three quarters inches wide, and from eight and three quarters to ten inches long, allowing for bend in the frame. About sixteen inches farther back toward each end of the stick, mortise for another crosspiece, which will be approximately six and one half inches long. These mortises should not be deeper than one quarter of an inch,. The next step is to make a form for bending the frame. Bending will be easier if the stick has been soaked in water for a few days. To make the U-bend, lay the stick across a kettle of boiling water and mop it with the steaming water. A bunch of rags tied on the end of a stick will do for a mop. The center of the stick must be given the most attention. After the wood has softened, bend slightly, then repeat the mopping and keep on until the wood will bend into the shape desired without cracking. Small splinters can be cut and sanded off. The stick is held on the board by cleats nailed in place. A form will be required for each snowshoe. The frames should dry in a week or ten days. The two crosspieces for each shoe should be made in time to dry thoroughly by the time the frames are set, and are then mortised in tightly. They will be about sixteen inches apart and the snowshoe must be heavier at the tail end when balanced midway between them. The tail end of the shoe may be riveted together, or bolted with very light bolts, countersinking the head and nut. However, the woodsman's method is to drill holes and tie the tail together with rawhide throngs , countersink to prevent wearing. With the frames finished, you are ready for the rawhide filling. Light cowhide is generally used for the center filling, and calfskin or some other light leather for the ends. Seine twine is often used here, but some prefer light rawhide. The cowhide should be grained (have the hair taken off) while green. This is done by putting the skin over a smooth beam and scraping the hair with some tool sharp enough to remove the hair and scarfskin, but not too sharp. After the skin has thoroughly dried, it should be dampened and the edges trimmed off before the strands are cut. Sharp shears or a small knife will be needed. The thongs should be cut rather wide, particularly in thin places, to allow for shrinking. The strands should be cut around the hide in lengths eight to twelve feet long, leaving the ends a little wider to permit splicing. After the strands are cut they should be soaked, stretched, and resoaked. The toe of the shoe is drilled for the lanyard, which is strung tightly and allowed to dry before the filling is put in. The needle should be about two inches long and preferable made of bone, although hard wood will do. Splices should not be made on the frames or under the foot. In doing the filling, the strands must be kept moist and soft. It is a good idea to work over a pail of water, and fill the toes first. Different craftsman use different systems of filling. Perhaps the novice will have better success by borrowing a snowshoe and tracing its filling as a guide. In the toe, every other round loops back around the preceding one. When filling has reached the entire width of the end of the toe, the looping-back is discontinued and the toe is finished. In filling all sections, the twists, loops and meshes must be exactly right, and if you make a mistake, go back and correct it. A hardwood pick will be useful for straightening out meshes. When a section is started, it must be finished before you stop. The center is filled in the same manner as the toe, except that the strands are looped over the frame in stead of a lanyard. And , of course, heavier thongs are used. The heaviest strands should be used for the toe cord, crossing the shoe four times for a twelve-inch shoe and six times for a fourteen-inch shoe. This toe cord will be started about four inches back to the front cross bar. There should be no sharp edges on the frame to cut the strands. The weaving in the pictures looks like macrami to me. A toe hole about for and one half inches wide must be left in the center of the toe cord. At this point the filling is no longer looped around the front cross bar, but is woven through the toe cord. Knots and rough places must be avoided on this toe cord where the foot rests. The filling will end in the center of the toe cord, and should be woven in and out several times to make a secure fastening. A strand of rawhide is looped around the front cross bar, passed down to the toe cord, around this cord several times, back to and across the cross bar, then spiraled around the bunch of strands all the way back to the cross bar. After the filling is completed, the shoe should be put away to dry slowly never in the sunshine or by artificial heat. Comfortable snowshoeing requires proper foot wear and fastenings. The fastening, which is the connecting link between the foot and the snowshoe, is very important. If too tight, it will bind the foot and cause the toes to freeze. If too loose, the foot will slide through and the toes will contact the forward crosspiece. Most Canadian Indians and trappers use for-foot straps or strings to form a fastening. To make the string fastening, a toe strap must be fitted over the foot and tied securely at each end to the snowshoe filling. Then the strap of soft leather, or lamp wicking, is passed around the heel. Each end is looped under the toe filling and crossed over the foot, one end being passed over and the other under the toe strap. The strings are then looped around the side straps, pulled taut and tied in a half bowknot back of the heel. Do not ruin good snowshoes by wearing heeled shoes on them. The heel will soon wear through the filling. Shoe pacs are preferable. The non-waterproofed moosehide pacs are best for real cold weather. In thawing weather or swampy country where you are apt to drop through occasionally into water, waterproofed pacs will keep you feet dry. Pacs must be large enough to permit you to wear two or three pairs of heavy wool socks. Rubber footwear is even worse than waterproofed leather. It is fine for Southland swamps, but unthinkable for the cold Northland. Perspiration condenses in such footwear and results in frost-bite.

- From The Amateur Craftsman's Cyclopedia 1937

-- Mabel Dodge (cynical@me.net), December 05, 1999.


As soon as I can get a copy of the Mushing article scanned will post it for you. We made a bunch of them up a couple of years ago and they worked great. Won't do for REALLY deep snow, but for less than 5 foot drifts they're just the ticket.

-- justme (arewehavingfun@yet.com), December 05, 1999.

Hiding,

I don't have a URL for plans online but I do know of a book that shows you how to build snowshoes from start to finish - Including detailed photographs and diagrams on how to lace the snowshoes. It also shows how to build the bending forms and how to boil/steam the wood for bending.

The book is titled: Building Snowshoes by Gil Gilpatrick. I bought my copy from Piragis Northwood Outfitters in Ely, MN.

Here is the URL for the book:

Building Snowshoes by Gil Gilpatrick

The book shows how to build three styles of snowshoes: Maine, Bearpaw, and Ojibway.

IMO, this is THE book to have if you're serious about building snowshoes.

Good luck,

-- Jim Morris (jim_morris@hushmail.com), December 06, 1999.



My deepest gratitude and thanks to all of you. I've been trying for months to find info on making snowshoes .... can't afford $200+ per pair.

South Texas Gulf Coast country boy met High Rocky Mountains last winter.

I went from: "It's the middle of January and it's 80 deg outside - snow? what's that?" to: "OHHH, M M M YYY !!!! - So this is what 20 below feels like!" (said thru chattering teeth) ... immediately followed by "HELP, How do I get outta this stuff? Gawd ... tell me again WHY I moved here?" (Both asked while spitting out mouthfuls of snow after falling through the top of all that pretty white stuff in over my head, and I'm 6'5" tall).

Needless to say, I've been trying to solve this ever since.

And thanks to y'all, hopefully, no more repeat performances ... Next step is to improve my Grizzly Adams impersonation ... :-)

Now that I've thoroughly embarrassed myself by revealing my own foibles ... time to crawl back into hiding... :-)

-- hiding in plain (sight@edge. of no-where), December 06, 1999.


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