How to Make Leather Snowshoe Bindings

Traditional snowshoes were made from wood and tied together with sinew and animal hide. These traditional snowshoes worked in exactly the same way as new plastic models. The snowshoe disperses the body's weight over a larger area, deterring a person from falling through the snow. Over time, with ground and water contact, the snowshoe bindings can break or become worn. You can make new snowshoe bindings out of leather using the traditional methods applied in original snowshoe making.

Things You'll Need

  • Leather
  • Tape measure
  • Knife
  • Hole punch
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cut the leather to a slightly round cornered triangular shape for the toe binding. Cut the front edge of the leather as wide as the snowshoe. The length of the leather binding needs to be 3 to 4 inches longer than the distance from the pivot bar to your heel while standing in the snowshoe.

    • 2

      Stand on the snowshoe. Use a tape measure to measure from the pivot bar to the apex of your foot arch. Cut a piece of leather into a rectangle shape to fold over the top of your foot arch to the other side of the shoe using your measurements.

    • 3

      Punch two holes holes using a hole punch or a sharp knife into both sides of both leather pieces to attach to the snowshoe.

    • 4

      Cut leather into eight thin strips for lacing, each 2 feet in length. Insert the lacing through the holes you just made on the binding. Lace the bindings onto the snowshoe frame. Since all snowshoes vary widely in design, this may include lacing through grommets or hooks on the sides of the snowshoe. Tie the lacing off tight.