Snowshoes for my kids

[IsaacW]

 I finished the snowshoes that I was making for the kids.  I split out the hickory and bent the frames earlier this summer.  Over the Christmas break, I was able to mortise in the crossbars, put in the selvedge cord and yarn tufts, and lace them up with bison rawhide that I cut to lacings.  These are not great works of art, but they should keep the kids on the top of the snow and give them the opportunity to learn to use snowshoes.  The big question I have now is whether their modern boots will work well or if I should just make some winter moccasins for them.

[Pat B]

Those are very cool, John.

[YosemiteBen]

very nice! That is some durn good work!

[stickbender]

     Very nice!   Are the tips turned up?  I see no reason why their modern boots would be any problem.  They have been  used with snow shoes for a long time, with both the home made, and commercial snow shoes.  If you make another set, try turning up the tips, so that they are not digging into the snow, and the kids won't have to lift their feet so high.  Try drilling small holes in the sides to run the mesh laces, so that they won't wear against any rocks or sticks etc, that might be stepped on.  You can run a small grove for the strings to lay in, as they go in and out of the holes.  But man, those look good!  I bet the kids will think those are the greatest things since texting!   The only problem I see with them, is that all the neighbor hood kids are going to want a pair .  Hmmmm, could be a winter cottage industry there.   Lets see some pictures of the kids, with their bows, arrows, and snow shoes, in the woods!   Great job!  I like em!  I have some magnesium Military ones, and a set of plastic ones, but I want to copy a pair of the  old hickory ones that my Buddy's Mother used when she was younger, and did a lot of cross country skiing.  He has her hickory skis also.  I think the snow shoes he has are the Huron style, the long ones, with raw hide mesh. 
It takes more work than most people would think it would.  Sort of like the arrow versus the bow.


                                                                                Wayne

[IsaacW]

Thanks guys!

Stickbender... the tips are not turned up on these.  I didn't do it because this style typically is flat.  Actually, of all my shoes that I use, only my Ojibwe ones are turned up and I tend to stick with the flat ones without problem.  For the kids, turned up may be easier though... we will see.  As for the holes for lacing... the toes and heels are made that way with the selvedge cord (also rawhide).  Only the middle section has the lacing wrapping around the outside. This photo may show that better...

[KHalverson]

awesome!
the wife and I have talked about trying to build our own snow shoes.

Kevin

[stickbender]

     I have seen some that were straight designs.  I like the turned up ones as you don't have to lift your feet up as high, and they don't load up with snow as bad.  I had thought about making some bear paw style, but just for the styling, I like the long style, not as maneuverable in the trees as yours, or the bear paw style though.   thanks for posting this.

                                                                         Wayne

[Parnell]

If I lived in a place where it snowed I'd be on that project.  I like those.  Really cool work.

[mullet]

If I lived in a place where it snowed I'd be on that project.  I like those.  Really cool work.

Beach sand, Steve,,Oh yea,, that's what Fip-Flops are for.

Those are cool looking, sometimes I wish we had snow for a day or two.

[tipi stuff]

Very cool project. It is always nice to complete a project, especially something as involved as these.

[Zuma]

Isaac, Those shoes are really nice. I wish I had a dad like that growin up. We had some awesome
snow storms back then. The snow would always get in our flimsy boots and turn our feet blue.
Zuma