Homemade Snowshoe Bindings

A fresh foot of light snow awaits you the first morning at the hunting camp. The day looks like a perfect one with chilly dry air and a bright blue sky overhead. All in all a fantastic day for a hike on snowshoes. Anxiously, you go out to the storage shed to get your snowshoes and and make a terrible discovery; the squirrels have gotten to your snowshoes and chewed the bindings, rendering them useless. Don't despair, making some new bindings with easily found materials will take only a few minutes.

  1. Making the toehold

    • The front part of the binding, called a toehold, is easily fashioned. Find a piece of leather, perhaps from an old boot. Heavy canvas will work almost as well if no leather can be found. Cut out a rectangular piece about three or four inches wide and long enough to encircle the toe of your boot. Use a nail or an awl and punch holes in the edges of both ends such that the ends can be sewn together using a strip of rawhide, if you have it, or a boot lace if you don't. When completed properly it will be a leather circle that slips over the toes of your boot easily.
      Place your foot on the snowshoe and mark the location where your toehold should be mounted. Punch two holes through both sides the toehold, about an inch from the front edge. These holes are for tying the toehold to the snowshoe. Again, use rawhide strips if possible. Alternate tying material would be nylon rope or a boot lace, though multiple wraps may be necessary for strength and wear resistance. Tie the toehold to the webbing of the snowshoe loosely to allow your foot to raise off the webbing when walking with the snowshoe.

    The heel strap

    • It is necessary for your foot to stay firmly implanted in the toehold while you are walking on snowshoes. With this type of binding this is accomplished with the use of a heel strap.
      The heel strap could be a strip of leather with a buckle added to allow adjustment, a piece of rawhide or a rope. Another suggestion, and perhaps the easiest, is a strip of rubber. This could be cut from an old tire tube.
      Fasten the heel strap to the snowshoe at the same location as the ties for the toehold. When fastened in this manner your foot can move naturally when snowshoeing.

    Using the bindings

    • To use your new homemade bindings, simply place the toe of your boot in the toehold and the heel strap around the back of your foot, just above the heel. If you made an adjustable or tie-on strap, tighten the strap enough to be sure your foot will not slide around on the shoe, but not so tight as to hinder free walking movement of your foot.