Four Winds Boat Shop and Woodcraft

Wooden Snowshoe Construction

January 26th and 27th and February 2nd and 3rd 2024

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** This workshop requires a significant amount of time (about 30 hours).  The scheduled days can be adjusted to accommodate your schedule**

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Day 1: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m preparing frames

 Day 2 *2-3 hour appointment during day to steam and bend with your partner

 Day 3: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. making cross bars, sanding, drill holes

Day 4: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. lacing

 

Cost of Tuition:  $175 ($50.00 non-refundable deposit with balance due at start of class)

 

Class size:  4 people (age 14 +)

 

The aim of this course is to teach the traditional method of building snowshoes entirely with hand tools.  You will build your snowshoes with wood prepared ahead of time for the class and learn the basic steps of carving the frames and building the mold, steam bending them and shaping them onto a pre-built frame  (week 1), carving the mortise and tenon joint for the cross pieces, and finally lacing your own snowshoes (2nd weekend).  Course discussion will cover a variety of types of bindings and a list of resources for you to buy or make your own bindings outside of class.   It is an extremely rewarding process to be able to craft these shoes by hand, a skill that has been handed down for generations.  Most students will not completely finish lacing in during class, but leave with all of the information they need to do so on their own.  In addition, the shop will be available to assist in the completion of any unfinished project at the end of class.

 

Contact me to arrange a time for yourself, or you and a friend or a maximum group size of 4 people to attend.