# Home made snow shoes



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Found a book on how to make snow shoes with PCV pipe. 

In this year of record setting snow depth we have ran into areas we can not prepack a trail with our snowmobiles for the cross country skis, which do work but not as well as in shallower snow.

I have a portable deer blind made with 3/4" PCV frame and if I try to take it down in really cold weather I have to be very very carful or a joint will break and some times several. 
Seem like PCV snow shoes would also be brittle in our record setting cold too?

 Al


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

It is brittle in the cold although I would suspect that your stand would break near the joints.

Is the PVC schedule 80?

Maybe they use it in a warmer climate where it's above zero.

I would hate to break a shoe in the woods this winter. Our snow is below the waist but it's like sugar all the way to the ground.


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## Homesteadwi5 (Mar 16, 2008)

i cant see them working to well in below 0 weather,that and with the snow we get,u'd be working them pretty hard,maybe for temp or emergency situations they'd be ok.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

the pvc ones struck me as play toys , for shoeing around the back yard on a 20-30 degree day , not serious deep snow and the weight of a grown man and pack 

I have thought about building some of the Ojibway style they look like they would be good , and fitting for our area as they are one of the native tribes 

I found some army surplus magnesium and cable snow shoes some years ago and like them the cost less than it was going to cost me to build wooden ones but I would like to go take a class on building snow shoes some day they offer them as weekend deals some times


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

They used to offer a snowshoe making class for $70 here and that included the materials. The design was the Ojibway.

I think they would work well for going through our brush. I use Alaskan trailers and they work okay but sometimes it takes a lot of extra movement to get through the thick brush.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

I once took a nice long walk through the woods on snowshoes and had one come off when I was 5 feet from the plowed road. I thought I could make it the last 5 feet without putting the snowshoe back on. I put my foot down and promptly went in up to my crotch. I was able to straighten the leg that still had the snowshoe on it and get back to standing up. I had to put the snow shoe back on to make it the last 5 feet.

I would not like to break a snowshoe out in the woods in deep snow.

I had a dog that would jump on the back end of my snowshoe just as I was about to move it forward. I wound up doing a face plant into the snow. I think he learned what would happen and did it on purpose just to get me. LOL


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Have decided to have a try at making some this summer, the Ojibway style.

I think I can get away by cutting a Ash that is seasoned in the woods and taking a chain saw and cutting a plank I can work down on the table or band saw. Decided I could place the blanks in a PCV tube full of water to soak good and do the bends that way rather than figure out a steamer to bend them.

I think I will shoot for 36 inch for a size and hope that will hold me (less than 250 LBS.) up.

I like the Iversons but the price is way out of my range.


 Al


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

Sure glad I had my super large snowshoes this year. I used them for exercise when the temps got well below zero and also beat down a trail through my woods that allowed me to easily cut some dead wood down and haul it in when we ran out of firewood. 

I got mine at Gander Mtn many years back. Something like http://i.stpost.com/all-resort-furnishings-vintage-snow-shoes-in-see-photo~p~5770d_99~1500.2.jpg I bet you might find some on Craig'slist fairly cheap as we get into spring. 

Whether you make them or buy them just make sure they are big enough to support you.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

If I were ever to build a pair it would be the Ojibway style. I would probably cut some smaller ash and trim them down to size with a draw knife before soaking them.

My bindings are Iversons. They were spendy (about $60) but they work really well and if I put them on right in the first place they stay secure.


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## sherry in Maine (Nov 22, 2007)

Nimrod, my snowshoes are just cheapies from LLBean. I use them happily, but depending on the snow (someone said 'sugar all the way down' pretty much describes stuff that we've had during parts of this winter and others) my little dogs (mini poodles) love to jump on the backs, especially when I'm breaking a trail.....thinking they dont like to be working so hard when the snow is deep......My german shepherd has only tried that during the times that she has sunk up to her chin (riding the back of snowshoes I mean)


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

we use these home made bindings on our cross country skis so we can wear our pac boots when we are hunting coyotes. Joe uses them on his snow shoes too.










No live Ash left here so the blanks will have to come from dry seasoned stuff.

 Al


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I bought a pair of bindings like that but the string ate a hole in my bunny boots the first time I used them and I had them tied on as tight as I possibly could.

My shoes are Vermont Tubbs 10" x 56" that I bought in AK back in the late 70's. The webbing is broken in several places but I just keep putting polyurethane on them to hold it in place.

My only complaint is that the toes aren't upturned enough.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The bindings I pictured you have to make. You can not buy them that I know of and there is no string to put holes in boots.

 Al


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## puddlejumper007 (Jan 12, 2008)

alley, i would like to see a boot in them, looks real interesting


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Here is Joes post on making the bindings. He may have a picture of them with boots in them.

http://thunderbucks.com/tbforum/index.php/topic,121.0.html


 Al


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## puddlejumper007 (Jan 12, 2008)

thanks , it did . nice info..


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Cut down a 4 inch dia. hickory Monday I had ran over with the tractor in the woods.

Going to try to clamp it with some thing and cut it down the middle and bent while still green but low in moisture from winter yet.

 Al


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

I think you want to split it not cut it , that way you get it strait along the grain then you can use a drwa kinfe to bring them down to the desired size you could probably also use a plane or electric planer then you put them in a pipe of boiling water to get them to bend and clamp them to a jig you have made up then let them dry bent in the shape you want them, then mortice in the cross braces , and start lacing 

I did some reading on this a few years back before I bought my snow shoes thinking maybe I could just make them


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

The bindings that wrecked my boots were factory made but a tan color. The string was used to fasten the two corners to the shoe cross piece.


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