Ron Kulas
Active Member
Ive wanted to learn to make snowshoes for some time but never got around to it. Before I set out to make actual sized and wearable snowshoes I started by making half scale versions to learn the process. Here is the process I used as I learn about steam bending wood. Im using oak since Ash is hard to come by here. I shaped and thined the oak stick in the areas where the bends are otherwise it will break and I have broken many until I got a pattern that works.
The form I made.
The high tech steam creator (since one cant buy steam, premade)
The steam chamber is PVC
After a hour of steam It can be coaxed around the form.
and the nose bent
After a day or two its dry enough to hold the shape and crossbars are added and its sanded because the steam raises hell with the wood
Then I lace the heel and toe with deer skin and varnish everything.
Since the prototypes are half scale and cant be worn and I didnt want to waste the effort so I turned them into art pieces. The first batch will have deerskin leather centers with artwork. I had a lot of tanned deer and elk hides and this seemed like a good use for them
Again, these are half scale.
Then I thought, since this is the 21st century I should make electric snowshoes so I bought a small light and cord set and fashioned up a lamp but I wanted a lamp that I could customize or change with the seasons. For the lampshade I printed oak and birch skin on legal sized paper on my printer. For the frame I steam bent small strips of oak.
Then I thought about adding a background that appears only when the light is on. (with oak)
Then birch
Then I went kind of nuts because its easy to change the skins.
The sky is the limit for options in regards to silhouettes but then I had another thought on how to customize behind the bark only when the light is on.
The form I made.
The high tech steam creator (since one cant buy steam, premade)
The steam chamber is PVC
After a hour of steam It can be coaxed around the form.
and the nose bent
After a day or two its dry enough to hold the shape and crossbars are added and its sanded because the steam raises hell with the wood
Then I lace the heel and toe with deer skin and varnish everything.
Since the prototypes are half scale and cant be worn and I didnt want to waste the effort so I turned them into art pieces. The first batch will have deerskin leather centers with artwork. I had a lot of tanned deer and elk hides and this seemed like a good use for them
Again, these are half scale.
Then I thought, since this is the 21st century I should make electric snowshoes so I bought a small light and cord set and fashioned up a lamp but I wanted a lamp that I could customize or change with the seasons. For the lampshade I printed oak and birch skin on legal sized paper on my printer. For the frame I steam bent small strips of oak.
Then I thought about adding a background that appears only when the light is on. (with oak)
Then birch
Then I went kind of nuts because its easy to change the skins.
The sky is the limit for options in regards to silhouettes but then I had another thought on how to customize behind the bark only when the light is on.
