To make the frame soft for bending to shape, steaming must be resorted to, and perhaps the easiest way of doing this is to provide boiling water in a wash boiler, place the wood over the top, and soak well by mopping with the boiling water, shifting the stick about until the fibers have become soft and pliable. After 10 or 15 minutes of the hot-water treatment, wrap the stick with cloth and bend it back and forth to render it more and more pliable, then use the hot-water treatment, and repeat the process until the wood is sufficiently soft to bend easily without splintering. The toe being the greatest curve, must be well softened before putting on the form, otherwise the fibers are likely to splinter off at this point. When the frame is well softened, place it on the bending form while hot, slowly bend it against the wooden inside blocks, and nail on the outside blocks to hold it to the proper curve. Begin with the toe, and after fastening the outside blocks to hold this end, finish one side, then bend the other half to shape. The bent frame should be allowed to dry on the form for at least a week; if removed before the wood has become thoroughly dry and has taken a permanent set, the frame will not retain its shape. The same bending form may be used for both frames, but if one is in a hurry to finish the shoes, two forms should be made, and considerable pains must be taken to make them exactly alike in every way.
Locate the Cross Bars by Balancing the Frame, Then Fit the Ends in Shallow Mortises
When the frames are dry, secure the tail end of the frame by boring three holes about 4 in. from the end, and fasten with rawhide. The work of fitting the two cross bars may now be undertaken, and the balance of the snowshoe depends upon fitting these bars in their proper places. Before cutting the mortise, spring the two bars in the frame about 15 in. apart, and balance the shoe in the center by holding it in the hands. When the frame exactly balances, move the bars sufficiently to make the heel about 3 oz. heavier than the toe, and mark the place where the mortises are to be cut. The cross bars and mortise must be a good tight fit, and a small, sharp chisel will enable the builder to make a neat job. It is not necessary to cut the mortise very deep; 1/4 in. is ample to afford a firm and snug mortised joint.
The lanyard to which the filling is woven is next put in, by boring pairs of small holes in the toe and heel sections, and lacing a narrow rawhide thong through the obliquely drilled holes. Three holes are then bored in the cross bar—one on each side about 1-1/2 in. from the frame, and the third in the center of the bar; the lanyard being carried through these holes in the cross bar.
Begin Weaving the Toe Filling at the Corner of Cross Bar and Frame, Carrying It Around in a Triangle until Complete
Begin the toe filling first, by making an eye in one end of the thong, put the end through the lanyard loop and then through the eye, thus making a slipknot. Start to weave at the corner where the bar and frame are mortised, carry the strand up and twist it around the lanyards in the middle of the toe, then carry it down and make a like twist around the lanyard loop in the opposite corner. The thong is now looped around the next lanyard (No. 2 from the crossbar lanyard) and fastened with the twisted loop knot illustrated. Continue the strand across the width of toe space and make a similar loop knot on No. 2 lanyard on the starting side, twist it around the strand first made and loop it under the next cross-bar lanyard loop, then carry it up and twist it around the lanyard loop in the toe of the frame, continuing in the same manner until the last lanyard of the toe is reached, when the space is finished by making the twisted loop knot until the space is entirely filled. It is a difficult matter to describe by text, but the illustrations will point out the correct way, and show the manner of making an endless thong by eye-splicing, as well as illustrating the wooden bodkin or needle used in pulling the woven strands taut. This bodkin is easily made from a small piece of wood, about 1/4 in. thick, and about 2 in. long. To simplify matters, the heel may be filled in the same manner as the toe.
An Endless Thong is Made with Eyes Cut in the Ends of the Leather, and Each Part is Run through the Eye of the Other