Making snow shoes (final pictures added)

[Rick Prentice]

I know some of you are wondering how to make a set of snow shoes. It helps if you have an ELMER 2 or a Hossfeld bender, but a drillpress, a jig, and a torch will also get the job done. The first step for me is cutting the steel to the perfect length, 12 inches.

next is to sand off those sharp edges left from the saw


ELMER 2 has a small jig installed to slide in a cut piece, then slide the pattern
piece over the top and clamp, then use a transfer punch to stamp the hole locations for the drillpress.



the next step is at the drillpress. The holes get drilled and corners deburred.



Once the holes are finished, it's off to the ELMER 2 for some bending on the turntable.
A holding jig had to be made to pull the flatstock around the center post. Notice the old wheel weight bolts

and once the turntable reaches the mark, the first bend is finished

here's three just for comparison.


The next step involves the Hossfeld bender and an old cub brake drum(did I mention I don't throw anything out )


More tomorrow after I refasten the Hossfeld to the floor, I'll post the final pics. It's been in storage for a year.

Thanks for viewing,
Rick

[ricky racer]

Thanks for these "how to" posts that you've posted lately, showing your manufacturing process. I have enjoyed them. It's fun to see how others do their fabrication. You are certainly a fine, innovative craftsman.

[beaconlight]

Go to it Rick. YOU DA MAN

[ScottyD'sdad]

Wish I had some of your toys! Ed

[Buzzard Wing]

Funny.... I was expecting wood and rawhide....

Now I know the rest of the story!

[grumpy]

Funny.... I was expecting wood and rawhide....

Now I know the rest of the story!

Thats what I thought Larry. I thought "thems gonna be heavy to lug around"

[CapeCodCubs]

[Rick Prentice]

Here's the final pics of the procedure. I use a 1/2" new rivet to slide into the 3rd hole

that locks onto the Hossfeld angle block. This allows me to pull the material around and the shoe will not move.
This assures each shoe comes out the same.

The next pictures shows white lithium sprayed onto the shoe that helps the block slide across the shoe. It's more to help me than help the bender. It takes a pretty good pull to bend that 3/8" flatstock.


A stop clamp is placed on the Hossfeld degree wheel that assures each shoe has the same curve.


you can see they come out pretty close.


I heat my shop with an old Franklin wood stove, so there's always hot coals available. I attach a coat hanger and set the shoes onto the red hot coals for about 15-20 minutes


then quickly dunk them in cold water.


Soon as they cool, I hang them on a rod to dry, with the help of the heat reclaimer. It's blowing out 250 degree heat, so they dry quickly.


Spray some Valspar primer on then, install the bolts, and they're ready to ship.


Thanks for viewing,
Rick

[Bob McCarty]

Rick, Are you heating and quenching to clean off the scale prior to priming or to alter the steel?

Bob

[Rudi]

Bob:

I think I can answer that one. The shoes I had made here were not heat treated and they wore out in one season. He is case hardening the shoes so they will last.

Rick:

Did I get it

Thanks for showing us how you make em. Really enjoyable thread.

[beaconlight]

Rick you make it look so simple and easy.

[Boss Hog]

Rick, Are you heating and quenching to clean off the scale prior to priming or to alter the steel?

Bob

Just guessing but I think it is heat treating a bit

[Barnyard]

Bob:

I think I can answer that one. The shoes I had made here were not heat treated and they wore out in one season. He is case hardening the shoes so they will last.

Rick:

Did I get it

Thanks for showing us how you make em. Really enjoyable thread.

That's the answer. Rick had me add the phrase "The bottom surface is hardened for longer life of your shoe" to his website when he first started out a couple years ago.

[sdurnal]

Excellent, Rick!

[Bill E Bob]

Nicely done Rick I assume the Hossfeld bender requires your physical input, rather than hydraulics, to complete the bend