Does anyone know of some different companies that make traditional wooden snowshoes? Thanks for the info.

GV, Country Ways

I have a pair of Faber Ojibwa style snowshoes. They were fairly priced and worked well last winter. I would buy another pair. I got them from VTArmyNavy.com. I had good service from them and they had several styles. Good luck, you will enjoy whatever pair you buy!

PW

My wife made two pairs from a do it yourself kit online.

http://snowshoe.com/index.cfm?pageid=30

I was waiting for the local state park's annual snowshoe tying demo but they must have had a low turn out last year and called off this year's event. I was thinking that the kits that they used were from Country Ways. I may go that route this year.

This would likely be alot more expensive than buying trad snow shoes but North House Folk School has "build your own" classes during the winter months; would be a fun weekend.

Always outdoors..
A few years ago I purchased an Ojibwa Sytle snowshoe kit...from Wilcox & Williams

With the help of a friend, I made the snowshoes in about five/seven hours...It was fun and they have given me some good times in the woods...

Not that hard to make and they're just cool to say I made these!

Woodpecker

This weekend I have a couple of students making some Michigan/Maine style shoes while I am making a pair of Ojibways. Got the plans from a book by Gil Gilpatrick. Sawed up the ash strips, built the forms, and on Saturday will be firing up the steamer. I'll post the results later.

Today we cooked up the ash strips for three sets of snowshoes. This was my second attempt at it. The first time involved my brother, a college administrator from Northfield, MN where we spent about 12 hours on one of the coldest days of the year eventually making some ash firewood. This time I used two teenage students of mine who thought I knew what I was doing. All three sets urned out great, so far. The steamer worked great, the wood bent well (only a couple minor splinters so far), and we got done in time for me to take a November paddle on Lake Wausau before supper. In a few days we will take the shoes off the forms, and begin the process of completing them, then the lacing, coating them with the polyurethane, and then waiting for the first good snow dumping of the year.

Iverson's snowshoe company in Michigan, up in the Yoop. I have a couple pair of their shoes, and I like 'em a lot.

Iverson's Snowshoes

There are still a bunch of companies out there making traditional 'shoes. Personally, I like Faber (http://fabersnowshoes.com) but I bought my wife a real nice pair of GVs (http://www.gvsnowshoes.com)a couple years ago. Other companies would include Iverson, mentioned previously, Havlick in New York's equivalent of "da U.P.", the Tug Hill Plateau (http://www.havlicksnowshoe.com), The Snowshoe Store (http://www.snowshoestore.com) and Arrowhead Wood Products (http://www.arrowheadtoboggan.com/) in Carlton, MN. Unless otherwise noted, most of them are in Canada, and you'll have to look around most of the websites, since they all offer "modern" snowshoes as well.

'shoe safe,
Hans

Today I resteamed the Ojibwe models I had done a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those examples where I had taken the instructions of someone who has made a couple of thousand pairs of snowshoes and decided I could tweek his plans to make my first set of shoes better than his plans suggested. WRONG. The surface was a lot smaller than it should have been and they looked more diamond shaped than football shaped. I was humbled, and fortunately I was able to resteam the strips. I also steamed up the strips that I had handy the last time in case we split out on the ones we were bending for the Maine/Michigan style. Both pairs bent really well, we (one of my students helped me) got them done in about half the time we expected, and now I have an extra set of snowshoes (Guess what my wife is getting for Christmas?). With our first real snowfall the last couple of days, my students have really been chomping at the bit to get them finished. They are all sanded and mostly assembled. We should be able to start on the lacing this week and the polyurethaneing next week if all goes well. Then with the right weather, we may be shoeing in time for Christmas. I'll post more pictures later.

With less than a week to go til Christmas, and plenty of snow on the ground, we have really been working hard to get the snowshoes done. The lacing is really a putsy job, especially if you're a perfectionist like me who will spend 10 minutes undoing a weave because you made one little underweave instead of overweave and then another 10 minutes getting it right. But the whole snowshoe project has gone really well. Today, one of the students informed me he tok his home to finish the weaving and then put 3 coats of quick drying polyurethane on them so he could try them out today. He challenged me to get mine done by Sunday so we could go on a hike. I finished my weaving today and put one coat of spar varnish on this afternoon. Below are some pictures of the lacing process and the test run.

Last weekend I got my first snowshoe outing of the winter. Shoed back into my cabin for 3 days of quiet.

These are hybrid shoes, wood frames and neoprene lacings.

Last weekend I got my first snowshoe outing of the winter. Shoed back into my cabin for 3 days of quiet.

These are hybrid shoes, wood frames and neoprene lacings.

Snow today was a real killer. Still about knee deep with 58" shoes but I lifted a lot of weight. Not as much fun as when the snow was dry.

I've had my Ojibways out a couple of times the last two weeks but have spent most of my free time lacing up the pair I made for my wife for Christmas. Today I put the second coat of spar varnish on them. One more coat while I wait for the bindings to arrive and then we can both go out. Here is a pic of what my Ojibways look like and the trail print they leave from a hike on Lake Wausau last week.

Yesterday may have been my last snowshoe outing for the season. The temps they are predicting for the next week will be warm, with precipitation that will melt most of the snow. I guess it is time to finish the paddles I started last fall and get ready for knooing. We ended up steaming 7 pairs of snowshoes through the winter. Some are still in the process of getting laced. We cut up strips of ash for another 5 pair that will be next fall's projects. I have several people, students and adults, who want to be a part of making them for next winter.

I did my last snowshoe hike of the season on Saturday, at Shingobee Winter Recreation Area on the Chippewa National Forest, south of Walker. 'Shoed for about three hours, saw a deer and lots of tracks. Videoed the hike for a bit to watch again when it's 90 degrees out. It was between -5 and +5 F all day. It was great.



Skied both Tuesday and Wednesday, also probably for the last time. Took the skis and snowshoes out of the van. Took my bikes in for a tune-up. It's been a good winter, and I am sad to see it go. Hopefully, my touring and trekking bicycles will take me far and wide this year.



But it is March. There is always a chance!

Be safe,
Hans

Time to bring this topic back to the top of the page. Today I bent up three pairs of snowshoes for the first batch of the year. One did not turn out too good so I may have to go back to the drawing board to modify the thickness of a tight bend of the toes before I try it again.

Knoozer,
can you talk more about your supplies? Where do you get your ash strips. I live in the city unfortunately so I do not have access to ash trees. Do they carry ash lumber at home depot? what do you use for your webbing nylon neoprene? Where do you get this from?

Thanks for the help,

Jerry

I'd also be interested in pics of your steambox setup. I've wanted to build some snowshoes for a while.

I originally got my ash from a guy I met through another knooing forum who lives about an hour away. Used most of that up. Recently I came across a local hardwood dealer (He supplies most of the area high school wood shop classes). He even planed them down to the 13/16" I need for the thickness. Check with one of your high schools that still has a woods program. The price per board foot was very reasonable.

The lacing material I use is 36# mason line I found at Lowe's. That is used for the toes and heels. I then dye it to get a brownish tan color. The middle part of the shoe is 1/8" parachute cord. I got the tan color on ebay on a 1000' spool for about $46 shipped.

My steamer is a box made of 10' sections of 1x6 and 1x8s. One end has a board closing it off. I put some wires through it so I can have two layers of strips without them touching each other. I can get six strips in the steamer at a time. I use a turkey cooker with a covered soup pot (with clamps holding it shut)filled with water. A garden hose connected to the cover with brass plumbing fittings is fed into the bottom of the steamer box. I have a piece of pipe insulation on the hose and I cut up a sheet of 1" pink styrafoam insulation to insulate the box. The one open end I stuff with a large rag to allow some steam to escape. I soak the strips for at least 24 hours before I put them in the steamer. Than 2 hours of steam and they are ready to bend. This is the steamer box before I added the insulation to it.

The instructions I use is from Gil Gilpatrick's book on making snowshoes. Excellent details on the lacing steps as well as the different kinds and sizes of shoes to make. I've found the Cabela's bindings to be the best I've bought, while the military type you can get on ebay are OK if you can figure out how to attach them. This year I got a bunch of old innertubes from a Pomp's tire dealer (free) so I'm trying to make the GV type bindings. I like making things by hand and I'm cheap. These shoes can be made with bindings for about $20-$25. I've got five kids from my school making them right now with about a half a dozen adults wanting to make some that we'll start after Christmas. The other thing you need are the forms for the shoes and the steamer.

Oh yeah, tonight I went out to do some night time geocaching on my snowshoes. Went with the Korean exchange student that lives with us. It was our first snowshoe outing of the season. 3-5 more inches expected tonight.

Great post! Even though it's a warm spring day, my thoughts are on next winter so I just ordered Gil Gilpatricks book on snowshoe building. My 16 year old is excited and when given the time, he wants to build his own as well.

Being one who loves the outdoors but has only been snowshoeing twice, I wonder what style / styles will work best for me. I'm excited to start the process and look forward to the final outcome. Thanks to everyone who posted here.

Erik