Chapter VI

COASTERS, SKEES, AND SNOW-SHOES

All real boys welcome the approach of the winter season with its glorious opportunities for sport on the snow and ice. Toboggans, double-runners, skees, and snow-shoes—the very words make the blood tingle in one’s veins, and happy is the boy whose home is in the Northern climes where there is real winter for at least four months out of the year.

Nowadays it is possible to purchase almost everything for winter sports, but the boy who is handy with tools and of an inventive turn of mind will take more pleasure in constructing his own things than in buying them out of a shop.

Very few boys would care to make their own skates, as the modern steel-clamp skates are superior in lightness and durability to anything he could construct; but the various varieties of sleds, coasters, and snow-shoes are quite within the measure of his abilities, and their making will fill most pleasurably the leisure hours after school and on Saturdays.

All the cold-weather countries have their distinctive and peculiar forms of winter amusements. Tobogganing and snow-shoeing are particularly popular in Canada; skeeing is the national sport of Norway. But it is the American boy who has reduced coasting to an exact science, and the Yankee bob-sleds and “jumper-coasters” are now pre-eminent wherever the snow flies. To take the best wherever we find it is the sportsman’s motto.

Toboggans

There is no more enjoyable winter sport than tobogganing, and in many parts of America, notably Montreal, large and expensively constructed artificial slides are in constant use throughout the winter season.

For ordinary hill-coasting most American boys prefer bob-sleds and coasters, but in the extreme Northern States and throughout Canada the plain toboggan is the favorite coaster.

A boy who is at all clever with tools can make a good toboggan from three or four thin hickory boards, a few cross-battens, and some rails. For the bottom quarter-inch hickory should be employed, as that is strong and will bend easily when steamed.

To make an eight-foot toboggan with a width of twenty inches, obtain the hickory boards and batten them with three pieces of hard-wood two inches wide and three-quarters of an inch thick. Make the fastenings with brass screws or copper rivets having the heads countersunk in the bottom. At the front ends rivet on a wood batten long enough to project two inches beyond the boards at each end.

From a curtain-pole cut six pieces two inches long and bore a quarter-inch hole through each one from end to end. Cut two hickory rails three-quarters of an inch square and plane off the sharp corners; then with copper or iron rods, to act as long rivets, attach the rails to the toboggan so that they are separated from the battens by means of the wooden blocks, as shown in the illustration of the plain toboggan. Fig. 1.

At both ends of the rod-rivets place washers or burrs to rivet on, as otherwise the rivet would pull through the wood, tearing the hole larger and at the same time making the anchorage insecure. Cut notches in the projecting ends of the front stick as shown at the right side of Fig. 2, so that ropes can be lashed fast to the stick as shown at the left side of Fig. 2.

Steam the boards between the front end and the first batten, or pour boiling hot water over both sides of the boards; then bend the wood up and with the ropes as a help to hold the boards in place continue the wetting and bending until the proper curve has been gained, as shown in the illustration. Lash the ropes fast, and when the wood is dry sand-paper it smooth and give it several good coats of varnish.

A sled-toboggan (Fig. 3) is made from two hickory boards eight feet long and a quarter of an inch in thickness. If the toboggan is to be twenty-two inches wide each runner should be several inches wide.

Three hard-wood bridges twenty-two inches long and four inches high are cut, as shown in Fig. 4, and attached to the runners with screws (Fig. 3). They support a seat eight inches wide which is screwed down to the top of the bridges.

In front of the first bridge and behind the last one short bracket-braces are attached to prevent the bridges from rocking, and these as well as the bridges can be cut from wood about an inch and a half in thickness.

The front ends of the boards are attached to a batten, and by steaming the boards may be curved up as shown and held in place with a stanchion-rope lashed fast to the batten and to the front bridge. A supporting bridge should be used to give it additional power. Fig. 3.

When the varnish wears off the bottom give it another coat, as the smooth, hard finish helps the toboggan to slide easily over the snow.

A Rocker-coaster

A very good coasting-sled is shown in the illustration of a rocker-coaster (Fig. 5), and for short hills a sled of this sort will prove very fast and easy to steer.

It is from four to five feet long, twenty inches broad, and seven inches high at the middle. The lower edge of each runner is curved from end to end with a long, sweeping line, and it is grooved to receive a round runner of steel, which a blacksmith will make and attach.

The frame of the coaster should be made of hard-wood five-eighths of an inch in thickness, and the three cross-ribs are one inch and a half in width and one inch in thickness. Laps are cut in the top edges of the sides, and the cross-ribs are let into them and made fast with screws. Wooden brackets or cleats are attached to the sides and to the under side of each cross-rib to strengthen the construction, and at both ends a piece of round curtain-pole is made fast as shown in Fig. 5.

The ends of the poles are trimmed off so as to form dowel ends, and these fit into holes made in the ends of the sides.

Hand-holes are cut with a bit and compass-saw at the ends of the sides; a deck of half-inch wood is laid over the ribs and held down with screws. Have the blacksmith flatten the ends of each runner and bend them over so they will lie on top at the end of each side.

A few good coats of paint will finish the wood-work nicely, and the rocker-coaster will then be ready for use.

A Single-runner Coaster

A few years ago the boys of New England invented a new kind of sled and called it a single-runner coaster or jumper-coaster. They sit upon it, keeping their balance with the feet, and it is remarkable how rapidly and easily they go downhill on this queer-looking affair, and without the slightest danger of toppling over. Fig. 6.

The coaster is very simple in construction and any boy can make it from pine or hard-wood, the latter being preferable as it has more body and is heavier. The runner is forty-two inches long, one inch and a half thick, and four inches high, curved at one end and cut at an angle at the other. The upright is of wood the same thickness and width, and eleven or twelve inches high, so that with the top board or seat and the height of the runner the coaster is sixteen or seventeen inches high; and for taller boys it can be made still higher. The seat is ten inches long and seven inches wide, and attached to the upright with screws, as shown at Fig. 7. The upright is cut from wood about ten inches wide, so that, with a compass-saw, a broad foot may be shaped at the bottom which will give a better bearing on the runner than would a narrower one.

From wood two inches wide, make two side-plates or braces to run from under the seat down half-way over the runner as shown in Fig. 7. To steady the seat at the top of the uprights cut two angle-brackets and attach them as shown in the figure drawing. A blacksmith will fashion a runner from quarter-round or thin tire iron and attach it as shown in the illustration. The runners can be held on with flat-headed screws countersunk in the iron, and after a few trips the surface of the metal will be worn bright and smooth, insuring easy and rapid running.

A Bob-sled

Every boy wants a double-runner of his own, for there seems to be nothing quite like bobbing on a sled carrying from six to ten boys—enough to give it weight and a good impetus on its downward course. A bob-sled is not at all difficult to construct, and a very satisfactory and substantial one may be made from inexpensive materials and with the tools that nearly every boy possesses. Fig. 8.

For the seat obtain a clear spruce plank ten feet long, ten inches wide, and one inch and a half thick, planed on both sides and edges. The front sled is thirty inches long and fourteen inches wide, with the sides five inches high. The rear sled is forty inches long from prow to end of runners, and is the same width and height as the front one. The sides are of hard-wood seven-eighths of an inch in thickness, and braced with cross-pieces of hard-wood two inches wide and one inch and a half thick.

Laps are cut in the top of the sides, and with screws the ends of the braces are securely held in place. Under each cross-piece and at the sides brackets must be securely fastened with screws as shown at Fig. 9, to strengthen the sides and take some of the strain from the cross-piece fastenings. Eight inches from the rear end a stout block is set in the runners through which the king-bolt passes that fastens the seat to the sled. This is of hard-wood fourteen inches long, two inches and a half wide, and four inches high at the middle, as shown in Fig. 9. A similar block two inches high is attached to the under side of the plank and bears on the lower block. Between the two blocks and on the bolt, two large, flat iron washers are placed, so that it will be an easy matter to turn the sled when there is a heavy weight on the plank.

The head of the five-eighths-inch king-bolt should be embedded in the top of the block that is fast to the plank before it is attached, and the bolt should be provided with two nuts for safety. In the summer-time, when the bob is stored away, the forward sled can be removed by unscrewing the nuts from the lower end of the bolt under the sled.

To steer the bob a hard-wood cross-bar piece is let into the runners as shown in Fig. 9. It projects six inches at each side, and foot-notches are cut at the rear edge as shown in the illustration. The rear sled is attached to the plank by means of a block and bolts.

Two triangular hard-wood blocks one inch in thickness, with the grain running vertically, are screwed fast to the inside sides of the runners as shown in Fig. 10, and through holes in the upper end a long half-inch bolt is passed from side to side. This bolt fits in a groove made at the under side of the block that is attached to the plank; and across the groove in several places straps of iron are fastened as shown in the inverted block at Fig. 11. A hinge-joint is the result, and to prevent the rear sled from dropping too far when jumping over a bump a rope should be passed under the forward cross-piece and attached to a staple driven at the under side of the plank.

The plank can be padded with hair from an old mattress and covered with a strip of carpet nailed all around the edges of the board. Cross-pieces screwed fast to the under side of the plank will serve as foot-rests, and with a coat or two of paint this bob-sled will be ready for use.

Skees

Skee running and jumping is one of the favorite winter sports in Norway and Sweden and is steadily growing in favor both in the Northern United States and in Canada. On very steep hills it is a dangerous sport, but it is perfectly safe to use the skees on either short hills or on long ones that are not too steep. Once you start you must go to the bottom, and a good skee-jumper should be as agile as a cat, for he must always land feet down when jumping.

A skee of the right proportions should be seven feet long and four inches wide. Hickory, oak, or other hard-wood three-quarters of an inch in thickness will be the best material from which to make the skees. Two or three grooves cut in a straight line along the entire bottom length will hold the skee slider on his course, as the keel does a boat.

The skees are tapered and bent up at the front ends as shown in Fig. 12. This can be done by steaming and bending until the proper pitch is obtained; but if a high curve is desired it would be well to attach a thong to the end and draw it back to the body of the skee as shown in Fig. 12 A.

At the middle of the skee a foot-block is attached and provided with a toe-strap as shown in Fig. 13. This strap fits under the block and can be removed if necessary as a lap is cut at the under side of the block.

A shorter and broader skee is shown in Fig. 12 B. This is safer for smaller boys to use as it is five feet long and six inches wide.

Many of the Norwegian skees are beautifully carved and ornamented, and the boy who has some decorative ability can embellish the tops of his skees and varnish them all over to improve their appearance and make them smooth, so that they will slide easily.

A skee made from a hogshead or crockery-cask stave is shown in Fig. 12 C, and a great deal of fun can be had with this makeshift on short hills.

Snow-shoes

For travelling over the snow the most widely known and useful appliance is the snow-shoe in one form or another. The Esquimau and the American Indian do all their winter travelling on snow-shoes, and through the Alps and in the snow-bound parts of Europe and Asia they are commonly employed as a means of locomotion from place to place.

The long snow-shoe shown in Fig. 14 A is the one commonly used by the Iroquois Indians, and it measures from three to four feet in length and from twelve to fifteen inches in width. It is usually made from one long strip of hickory bent while green and dried in the desired shape, then braced and interlaced with thongs of rawhide or deer-gut.

The rim is usually from three-quarters to seven-eighths of an inch square and is rounded on the outer edges. The braces or spreaders are let into the inner edges of the rim as shown in Fig. 15 A, and are held securely in place with a thong passed through a hole in the end of the piece and wrapped around the rim as shown in Fig. 15 B. The spreaders are of seasoned hickory two inches wide and five-eighths of an inch thick. The edges are bevelled slightly, and near the centre line two rows of holes are made through which to lace the thongs. Two smaller sticks are arranged at each side of the broad spreaders, and the lattice weaving is caught around them as shown in the illustration. Some of the thongs are caught over the rim while others are passed through holes made in the edge similar to the manner in which a tennis racket is laced. Foot-laces are fastened at the front spreader to which the shoe-toes are lashed, for when travelling the heels should be free to lift while the ball of the foot and the entire snow-shoe remains flat on the snow.

The shoe in the form of a tennis racket (Fig. 14 B) is the shape commonly used by the Esquimaux and is about thirty-four inches long and fifteen inches wide. It is made somewhat similar to the Iroquois shoe but the mesh is more open.

The oval shoe (Fig. 14 C) is made from two U-shaped rims lashed together at the middle and provided with two spreaders. Two stout pieces of rawhide are laced in the ends, and through the middle a lacing of thongs is woven across between the spreaders and sides of the rim.

These and many other forms of snow-shoes can be made by the boy who is interested in snow-shoe travelling. The wood can be procured anywhere and the rawhide thongs may be purchased at a hardware store. They are sold as belt-lacings for machinery, but they can be easily split and so made available for snow-shoe use.