Wood is the oldest building material used by mankind. At first, huts and sheds were made from broken branches, and after people learned how to handle logs, they began to build log cabins, ships, and even entire cities from them.

After some time, hitherto unknown processing technologies were mastered, which made it possible not only to save a huge amount of forest, but also to obtain new building and finishing materials, the price of which was significantly lower than ordinary wood.

All about plywood

Scientists are sure that plywood first saw the light of day in ancient Egypt, where it was used more as a decorative element. It can be assumed that such items were isolated, since they are found only in ancient tombs and nowhere else.

This material was most widespread around the 16th century, when French furniture makers began to use several layers of veneer glued into solid sheets to make furniture. But since at that time plywood was made by hand, it was not cheap, and it was not very widespread due to the complexity of production.

And finally, in Britain at the end of the 18th century, the first production machine was patented, which was intended for the mass production of solid sheets glued from veneer of different species. As a rule, there was a cheap veneer in the middle, but more valuable species were glued on the front side, creating the appearance of an array of expensive wood.

This is how plywood appeared, which, without exaggeration, is still the most popular material not only in construction, but also among fans of making homemade plywood.

Varieties, classification and properties

Plywood is classified according to several characteristics:

• by the manufacturing method;
• by the number of layers;
• by the material that was used in the manufacture;
• by the chemical composition of glue and impregnation;
• by variety;
• by the type of processing of the front surface.

Plywood is a number of veneer sheets glued in a certain way, the number of which can be 3, 5 or more.

Areas of application of various types of plywood

Moisture-resistant plywood is used when the operation of the finished product is associated with constant exposure to a humid or aggressive environment. Quite often, these grades of different thicknesses are used for manufacturing in the construction of reinforced concrete structures. A special type of impregnation and a laminated surface do not allow moisture to penetrate into the sheet and damage its integrity and structure.

Also, moisture-resistant sheets are often used for roofing work or in the manufacture of interior or landscape structures that are outdoors for a long time. This condition is necessary due to the use of chemicals, which, being in the room, can saturate the air with harmful vapors.

Examples of plywood crafts

Differs in maximum durability and is massively used for the manufacture of sports equipment. Anyone who knows how to handle this material and locksmith tools will be able to make a homemade snowboard out of plywood or ski in a home workshop.

In order to give them the necessary bend, the workpieces cut with a jigsaw are soaked for a while in hot water, and then fixed in special templates that exactly repeat the bends of the finished products.

Home-made plywood watches, which not every master can make, have become a special top of the skill. The difficulty lies in the accuracy of the manufacture of gears, which are assembled into a one-piece mechanism, and the success of making such crafts depends on how experienced the master is.

But even beginners can do a homemade plywood grinder. All units of the machine are made separately, and do not imply maximum accuracy, since they do not have common gear or other connections.

Considering the fact that working on a grinder implies certain loads and vibrations, it will not be superfluous to make it more durable. To do this, it is worth increasing the thickness of the parts by gluing together several sheets so that the thickness of the racks is at least 1 cm, and the width of the drums is several millimeters larger than the width of the grinder belt.

Some craftsmen, distinguished by their special skill, manage to make a wide variety of crafts from this versatile material. For example, lovers of water walks are quite capable of making a homemade catamaran out of plywood. If you want to do something more, then the best option would be a homemade plywood yacht.

This is a very difficult job, requiring knowledge not only of handling wood and its varieties, but also certain knowledge of many sciences. But if you do not back down, then the result of your labors may exceed your wildest expectations.

We do it ourselves from plywood

Using this wonderful material, you can do a huge variety of useful things yourself. In some cases, you won't even need an instruction manual, since your experience should be enough to make bookshelves or flower stands with your own hands..

More complex things are best done according to detailed descriptions.

How to make skis yourself

Walks in a snowy forest or steppes are pleasant and rewarding. They will give you the opportunity to be alone with nature, enjoying unity with it far from the bustle of the city.

Modern skis are quite an expensive product, but if you have the skills to work with carpentry tools and materials, you can make homemade skis from plywood.

With careful work, they will practically not yield to industrial specimens in running properties.

Advice. The shape of the right and left skis are exactly the same, so it will be enough for you to make only one drawing, and cut out two blanks from birch plywood with a thickness of at least 8 mm.

1. We cut out the blanks.
   
   • Manufacturing begins with cutting out blanks. The best tool for this is an electric jigsaw with files designed for laminated chipboard.
   • Since the thickness of the skis is not the same along the entire length, it is necessary in the part where the bindings will be installed, glue an additional block several centimeters longer than the size of your leg.
   • After the workpieces have been cut out and the glue has sufficiently hardened, on a grinding grinder we give the thickening the shape of a wedge on the front and back side grounds. This will prevent snow from collecting on the ledges, and therefore will not impede walking. It is necessary to grind very carefully, avoiding chips.
   • In the same way, you need to process the socks and backs of future skis, leveling out all the unevenness allowed when cutting.
   • If you have a router and you know how to work with it, then it will not be superfluous to make a shallow groove along the entire length of the skis. Its thickness should not exceed 2 mm.
   • After all the irregularities have been smoothed out and the skis have acquired a finished look, we proceed to the most difficult stage.
2. We bend the workpieces correctly. In order for the skis to spring back when walking and not go under the snow with their socks, it is necessary to give them a certain bend.
   The toes should rise at least 30 degrees relative to the plane, and the middle part of the skis should have a rise.
   
   • To do this, the skis are fastened to each other, and a spacer bar with a thickness of 6 to 8 cm is inserted into the middle part in the sole area. To bend the ski socks, pads are made, which must completely repeat the desired shape.
   • After all the preparations are completed, we begin to bend the workpieces.
   • You need a container that will fully accommodate your skis in length. It can be either a tank welded specifically for this, or an ordinary bath, provided that the skis fit freely in it.
   • Hot water is poured into the container, the temperature of which should be at least 80 degrees, and connected skis with fixed struts are lowered into this water, and the whole steaming procedure should last 1 hour.
   • After the skis are removed from the bath, spacers are installed to bend the socks, and they are clamped with carpentry clamps.
   • The drying process should be carried out at room temperature for one week.
   • After complete drying, you can apply drawings and inscriptions and cover the finished skis with several layers of varnish.
   • Now all that remains is to install the mounts, screwing them in with screws, and you can take the first trip on homemade skis.

Conclusion

Plywood products can be thin and graceful, or they can be strong and durable. For the intricacies of working with plywood, see the video in this article. Depending on the purpose of the thing being made, different tools and methods of work are used. In any case, it will be a beautiful and useful product.

Similar materials

More recently, one of the mandatory hunting attributes was skiing. In the northern regions of the country, they still retain their importance. But in the Ural region, and in our region as well, they began to be used less often.

Due to the warming climate, which is talked about almost daily on TV screens, and less snow, in our forests the importance of wide hunting skis has almost disappeared.

Here you probably need to add a couple more facts, which are now hardly remembered. Firstly, the number of hunters has become much smaller, and even more of the hunters. And today, people who have the opportunity to afford it are engaged in hunting. And this means, or almost equivalently, that those who go to the forest in winter have snowmobiles.

Although for the sake of fairness it can be said that some snowmobile hunters, going into the forest, take short hunting skis.

And if you come across a lone trail of wide hunting skis in the forest, it's almost exotic. But on the other hand, how pleasant it is to go skiing in the morning through a snow-covered forest that has not yet woken up.

Listen to the timid whistling of a few forest birds. On the snow, on a pure white blanket, you can read the most interesting book of the life of the inhabitants of the winter forest.

And in the calm silence of the forest, while you are skiing, you are accompanied by a soft creak of snow.

Moving on skis, you can go through an overgrown clear-cut, through a swamp, along the steep slopes of some ravine, cross the bed of a forest stream perpendicularly, with steep banks.

A small example from the 60s of the twentieth century can be cited. The forests around the city at that time were "stronger", there were more hunters, and there was nowhere to put the snow.

The people lived modestly, sometimes there was not enough money for skis, but there were no conditions for making them themselves. On the balcony of the fifth floor you don't cut a lot and you can't wave an ax.

One winter day, two hunters decided to go hunting for a hare in the forest, but where to get skis? The snow that year was waist-deep.

Friends at the RMZ plant, where one of them worked, found a large wooden barrel. By the weekend, they broke it and to the boards from which the barrel was made, and they were slightly bent, they adapted rawhide belts.

On such improvised skis, they passed through the forest for a whole season. How can you not remember the saying - hunting is worse than bondage!

But we're talking about skiing. And today many hunters of the old school, who were fond of winter hunting, have wide hunting skis.

In addition, there are people who are enthusiastic, especially from the younger generation, who, having seen homemade hunting skis from friends, are eager to have the same.

Today, wide hunting skis can be purchased at the store. The range for purchase is wide. As in height, width, color, method of fastening, material of manufacture, etc.

And even the name and inscriptions, to attract potential buyers, are made in different fonts and, of course, differ from each other.

But if you want to have skis the way you need them, of course, they are not. Such skis must be made by yourself or ordered from a master.

In old hunting magazines, there is detailed description how to make wide hunting skis. This describes the material from which the skis are made, the method of preparation, how to process and bend. In general, all the subtleties of working with wood, which, if desired, you can try with your own hands.

In our area were spread wooden skis naked. Camus skis lined with skins from our hunters moving in the forest have not been found in my practice.

Time is running. For almost fifty years I myself have been "running" through the forest and in my hunting farm, of course, there are wide hunting skis and not alone. I have a whole collection of them, not a set or assortment, but a collection.

The very first skis came to me by accident. They were not even hunting, but probably tourist. It is three times wider than sports cross-country skiing, as athletes skiers used to say - "boards" painted on top with blue paint and they served me for more than five years.

Then I broke one ski and had to throw them into the garage. But my partner, returning from the forest in the winter, saw the same ski, thrown in the forest, in one copy, but green. From this period, my skis became multi-colored.

When our hunting team was replenished with other comrades and in the winter period we saw at our senior hunter wide hunting skis made from spruce back in the 50s of the twentieth century. Naturally, we needed the same.

Before the start of making skis, an experiment had to be carried out. The fact is that according to the classical canons and the recommendations of specialists, skis should be made of straight-layered chopped wood.

And at our disposal was a large pile of spruce boards. Taking one of the boards and stitching it on the machine, to a thickness of five millimeters, they carried out tests.

The length of the board is two and a half meters, we put it on the logs and an adult man, in a set of winter clothes, stood on it and swayed heartily, the board held out.

After that, we boldly took spruce boards as raw materials. Experiments on the manufacture of skis continued for six months, as a result, we had several pairs of wide hunting skis made from spruce by the master of the Remkhoz shop of the Southern mine, Akhatov.

The skis of our senior friend, which we took as a standard, were made of spruce. But in the very first season, after making new skis, he broke one of his skis, then the second was crushed in a car, and he made his own kind, but from aspen.

Here we were able to personally understand the term "musical". Aspen skis, when moving through the snow, ring in the cold, and if you touch a knot, they make a kind of almost musical sound.

Therefore, all specialists for the manufacture of hunting skis prefer straight-layered spruce. According to the old folk science, it is pricked and then treated with an ax.

From practice, we can say that fir skis are slightly lighter. In terms of strength, they are not inferior to spruce, but linden skis are lighter, but slightly worse in strength.

Our comrade made skis from aspen in the midst of perestroika, and here, no matter how bitter it may seem, one example needs to be cited.

We made the elastic bands on the ski surface, under the felt boots, from thin dielectric rugs, which we took, of course, in production.

But it turned out that the "reforms" destroyed production so much that even the necessary rugs were not left.

On these skis from the beginning of the 80s of the twentieth century, we visited all the lands of our region in winter. In snowy winters, walking is a pleasure.

Three or four of us, changing the first skier, whom we jokingly called the leader, covered long distances in a day. They freely crossed the swamps, which were impossible to pass in the summer, and reached the White Lake.

We also visited the Berezovsky district, passed through the Ostrovistoye, Kamenskoye and Yelnicheskoye bogs. Almost every year we went skiing to Lake Betkulovo, in the Sukholozhsky region. We visited Coin peat mining. We regularly visited stone "pillars" in the northern part of our region.

After the New Year, when the hunting was closed, we went to the forest just for our own pleasure, to go skiing, without weapons. But with cameras and a movie camera. At these exits, of course, we crossed the reserves and entered the neighboring areas.

And already snowmobiles appeared and the hunting inspectors with stern faces were catching up with us along the track and were also surprised at our skis. And it was even more surprising for them that there were still enthusiasts who know how to ski.

Of course, we took pictures. And when our comrades, not even hunters, looked at the photos, it turned out that they also needed similar skis.

To date, one of the woodworking specialists, having watched the film “Happy People” about northern hunters, has made a whole set of skis from different types of wood.

There are traditional skis from spruce, experimental skis from poplar, linden and aspen.

XXI century, technical progress, new technologies ... Over the past three years, our company has not met a single ski trail in the forest. But traces of snowmobiles, ATVs and SUVs are in abundance.

And it is quite exotic, for the modern inhabitants of our city, to see a hunter walking on foot, and hunting skis are tied with a twine behind their belt, which roll from behind.

Time goes by, now I have a whole collection of hunting skis. Not a set or a warehouse, but a collection!

My first multicolored ones are still in service. The second, of the same size, but light yellow, were left from my friend, who left to live in the capital back in the twentieth century.

Another not wide similar skis, made of solid wood, light yellow, with the DOK badge on the background of green Christmas trees, I got from my senior partner.

I got a whole set of skis from my hunter uncle. There are tourist skis with the inscription “forest” and wide hunting skis made of plywood and large hunting skis made of maple made in the 60s of the XX century by the old master Afanasyev.

There were not so many ski masters in the city, and during the Soviet period many were fond of hunting. And the management team had an administrative resource that made it possible to order skis not only for themselves, but also for their comrades.

So, thanks to my friend, I got light wide hunting skis made from spruce by a qualified craftsman.

We will not dwell on the intricacies of manufacturing and other tricks, but we must say about the belts.

One of our comrades made auxiliary straps for the belt. Having inserted the felt boot into the belt with his toes, he tied the felt boot with additional belts, this did him a disservice.

Returning late in the evening from hunting, with a heavy, almost unmanageable backpack, he was the last to go. There was a lot of snow that year, passing through the swamp, he caught the toe of his ski on a branch and fell into the snow face down. The head fell between the bumps, the hands, not finding support, sank in the snow, the legs, to which the skis were tied, could not be pulled up.

In addition, the backpack with wide straps moved to the neck when it fell and pressed on the head, and, moreover, the backpack had a fastener on the chest. And until you unfasten it, you will not get out of the straps and you will not drop the load from your back.

We, having passed the swamp, looked around, there was no comrade, we waited. Heard some sounds similar to mooing. Let's go to see - and we, too, with heavy backpacks.

After walking twenty meters, we saw him with his nose down, almost drowned in the snow. He mumbled something through the snow. We, of course, laughed, gave him some advice, but then, realizing that the case "smells of kerosene" (suddenly suffocates), pulled him out of the snow and planted.

He told us a lot of compliments, but the moral of this fable is this: if he were alone, he could quite possibly suffocate.

Not to pull up your legs because of the tied skis, not to roll over - a heavy backpack is fastened on the chest. Based on this case, the experience was taken into account.

Today I have in stock the hunting skis of one of the high-ranking hunters in our city. And a few more pairs that once belonged to well-known hunters in our city, who were engaged in amateur hunting for several decades.

Some of them are still in health and even occasionally go fishing, but most, due to their age and state of health, have already left once. favourite hobby... Others are already in a better world.

And how many stories and hunting tales are associated with each ski individually and with all together, but this is of course a separate topic.

In winter, skiing through the forest, one recalls scenes of successful hunts, long marches to neighboring districts, interesting conversations around a hot fire. First of all, hunting partners.

Coming out of the forest to the car and barely moving his legs, one of our comrades, taking off his smoking hat, unbuttoning his quilted jacket, straightening his shoulders and restoring his breath, said with pleasure and deep meaning:

How well we ran today! How you did your best! Everything works - heart, liver, kidneys, lungs ...

December 2016 A. Kopyrin.

From the originator. Here is the Veil on the nose. The Great White Trail begins. It's time to think and check on what and how to navigate it. I dug up my library and put together all the printed material I have on snow walking the most. available ways for every hunter. I also added my own thoughts and comments on skiing. The same opinions repeated from article to article can be considered true. However, there are also diametrically opposed opinions on the same aspects. Here logic and common sense will help you. I hope that the material I have selected will partially remove the questions that have arisen at the moment, help to give answers. I have deliberately left out the topic of motorized snowmobiles and horse-drawn sleds. V. SINITSIN ( vicsin)

I. SKIS

D. ZHITENEV

Hunting skis are divided into two groups - golitsy and kamus skis. Plus one more - snowshoes, although it is difficult to call them skis.You can walk and roll on skis, but only walk on snowshoes

What is golitsy is clear from the name itself - a bare tree from all sides. It seems that everyone who reads hunting literature has heard and knows about camus skis, but not every hunter stood on them. The author is more familiar with them, because almost a dozen and a half winter hunting seasons in the Altai and North Ural taiga, I went on such skis.

Camus skis are so called because on the bottom, running side, they are padded or glued with kamus, a skin removed from the legs (from the lower leg) of a reindeer, elk or horse. In Gorny Altai, for example, only horse kamus is used. Its width is just enough to cover the width of the generally not very wide Altai mountain skis.In the Far North and Siberia, in the regions of reindeer husbandry, there are deer, and in places with a sufficient number of elk (the European part of Russia, Western Siberia, the Far East) - elk By the way, it is very durable and the sock, not as heavy as a horse's Reindeer kamus, is even lighter than an elk kamus, but it wears out faster. I must say that the more you go on skis, the better the skis itself becomes. It gradually levels out and even small flaws in the sticker on the ski are gradually corrected. That is, the older the skis, the better they are on the move, but, of course, not to complete baldness.

The mention in some sources that somewhere skis are knocked out not with kamuses, but simply with animal skins, is only partly true. Sometimes they use the skin of a seal (Baikal region), a pig-boar (Far East) The assertion of other authors that the skin of an otter is used for tamping skis seems to me to be fiction and "artistic" hyperbole. Unlike the skin of an animal, kamus is never clogged with snow, and this is its great advantage.

In general, camus skiing, it seems to me, is a purely Russian invention, that is, of those numerous nationalities that inhabit the taiga zone of our country.As far as I know, even in such a snowy and, moreover, hunting side like Scandinavia, only snowshoes are still used. Of course, advanced, manufactured industrially, but - snowshoes

The shape of the skis is different in different regions and it depends on the nature of the snow cover and hunting conditions (plain, littered taiga, mountains, how dense the snow cover is)

In the Altai or Sayan mountains, the skis are not very wide, about 13 cm, and the length is their own height.They sink quite strongly in deep and loose snow, when it has not yet packed, but rolling down the mountain and at the same time being controlled, turning is much more convenient than on wide.

In the flat areas of Western and Eastern Siberia, the width of skis is 18-20 cm, and the farther to the east, the wider they are. The indigenous inhabitants of Kamchatka have skis up to 35 cm wide and 125 cm long. These are almost snowshoes. To walk on them, you need to have special dexterity By the way, in the mountainous places of Eastern Siberia, the skis are also quite wide.At the same time, one important rule is strictly observed - in one locality, all hunters must have the same width of skis.It is simply impossible to use one ski track on skis of different widths

In the manufacture of skis, a condition is mandatory - the wider the ski, the shorter it.At the same time, the specific pressure of the skier on the snow remains almost always unchanged - 25-35 g / cm 2, if we assume that the weight of the skier in hiking equipment is 90-100 kg.

Skis, of course, are made of wood and in different areas from different breeds. Leaves, as a rule, are everywhere made of birch. It is quite light and knitted. However, I saw handicraft skis made of oak, slender and surprisingly light - I somehow had to go on them all day at one of the Moscow region hunts.

For kamus, the Evenki spruce is recommended, for example, spruce blanks are cut almost to transparency, but before gluing the kamus they are still "reinforced" by gluing them with strands of elk or deer dorsal tendons, which significantly strengthens the ski.

In general, it must be said that the camus carries most of the load, and therefore the ski itself, a piece of wood, may be thinner than the barefoot.

In Gorny Altai, bird cherry is used for skiing, although it is a rather dense and heavy tree. In addition, it is difficult to find a trunk of a suitable thickness. The local hunters told me that the tree should be cut in the spring, during the beginning of sap flow, then after drying its wood will be lighter than that of the one that was cut down in autumn or winter. A future ski is roughly hewn out of a log split along the center line. Sometimes a felled tree is dried without splitting it. But this is for those who are in no hurry to live.

The strength of a bird cherry ski is amazing.You can stand on one, which with two ends rests on two dead woods and it will never break, And nevertheless, this elasticity is not infinite.When frost below 40 ° C, the tree becomes fragile and you cannot test the ski for elasticity in such frosts it is worth, as it is not necessary to do it just like that, for fun. A broken ski away from the winter quarters is a very big problem for a hunter.

In the Upper Pechora, where I had to live a significant part of my life, aspen is considered the best material for skiing. The workpiece is gouged out of a straight-layered columnar tree, felled in late autumn, and dried for at least a year. Wood turns out, as they say, your bone. Light, dense, although not very flexible. However, the glued moose skins make the ski very durable.

Some guides recommend painting the ski on top with white paint so that the animal does not notice it - winter, so to speak, camouflage. Yes, the beast will not see the ski anyway, even if it is painted red. The skis on which the hunter stands are always immersed in the snow and covered by it. Oil paint, when it dries, can "lead" the ski with a screw, to the eye, maybe imperceptible. However, it will be difficult to go on such skis. However, this refers rather to homemade skis.

Each locality has its own secrets, subtleties that allow the master to bring his product to the point of perfection that the ski, made by him, is not felt at all on the leg. It is like an extension of your body. Hunting skis can be made not only for a specific person - for his weight, build, but also for a specific season of the year. For example, the northern Altai, Tubalars, have two forms of skis. One with the same width from toe to heel - for winter and fluffy snow. Another is for spring, when the snow becomes denser, melts and damp in the sun. Then a great weight falls on the ski and it is quite difficult to stretch your leg out of the settled ski track. In order to make it easier to walk on spring snow, the front of the "spring" skis is made narrower. It begins to taper almost from the mount itself, like an arrowhead. In this case, the rear part of the ski is loaded with crumbling wet snow more than the front one, and it seems to come to the surface by itself.

The fastening also plays a significant role. There are only two types of it - soft and semi-soft. At the same time, the shoes are almost always soft and leather. A real, experienced taiga breeder never sticks out on the ski track in felt boots or boots with heels.

A very widespread type of soft mount is the so-called yuksa. It is found both in the west among the Karelians and Komi, and in the east - among the Siberian Russian population, the Evenks and the peoples of the Far East. Such an attachment is attached to the ski through four holes drilled through and through (Fig.). Yuksa is the same perfect and practically unchanged invention for many centuries as a horse harness or a sled design. It allows you to stand on the skis and, without undoing the mount itself, fix your leg in it or, on the contrary, remove your leg without touching the mount. Needless to say, how important it is if the hunter suddenly fell through the ice in a deep place.

Such fasteners are usually made from a worked rawhide tug (it has already stretched out as far as possible and will not stretch anymore, even if it gets slightly wet), and they also smoke it for some time in the chimney at the very exit from it or (Altai) at the top of the ail (plague). If the belt is too thick and strong, it is slightly notched just in case. This is so that when a skier falls, when he rushes down the mountain, the belt would burst and the leg would remain intact.

Special type ski bindings from the Upper Pechora hunters. I have not come across his descriptions in any reference book or in a single article. And the ski itself is made somewhat differently than elsewhere in Russia. Even at a distance of only a few tens of kilometers from the Upper Pechora Russian hunters, Komi hunters use the usual, as in other places, ski with a Yux mount. Its profile is almost the same along its entire length (a slight thickening under the foot is a cargo area), and the yuksa is attached in the same way as elsewhere - through four through holes.

In the Upper Pechora and in the Northern Kama region, hunting skiing is, figuratively speaking, an ethnographic sign of this region. It is done so that the leg is not on a flat platform, but on a special elevation, the so-called padlas (Fig.). This is very convenient, because the snow immediately falls to the sides and does not interfere with the foot. And the snow in the Urals is great - even on the plain in some years its height reaches one and a half meters!

For greater strength, padlas itself is drilled vertically in two places, and wooden plugs are hammered into the holes with glue. In the front of the paddle, just in front of the center of gravity, two horizontal holes are drilled, which serve to install the mount. The so-called ring is passed into the front hole, and the heel strap is passed into the back hole, which also covers the ring in its lower part.

In the old days, the ring was made from a narrow and thin spruce shingle, folded to the required size and passed through the front opening, and then sheathed with leather on the outside. The skin was pre-moistened so that it dries out more tightly around the ring and does not creak. Today, "technical progress" has reached this area of ​​human activity, and the ring is now made from a fan belt from a car or tractor motor. However, it is still necessary to sheathe it with leather. Otherwise, you will rub your shoes badly.

The diameter of the ring should be such that the shoes fit into it only with the toe, up to the second phalanx thumb... However, this is the principle of all ski bindings - to fasten the shoes to the ski with the toe, and not by raising the leg. Shoes and clothing for hunting will be discussed in subsequent essays.

It is best to stick birch bark under the foot on the surface of the cargo area, padlas. One condition must be met - it must be glued inside up, to the sole, and the layers, they are clearly visible, should be located along the axis of the ski. For example, I went to one like this for eight winters in a row and it did not get down at all.

Talking about how to make skis yourself is hardly appropriate. Basically, everything has already been told, and for such a case you need not only a special tool and material, but also certain skills in working with wood, for example, the ability to bend steamed blanks, especially the ends of skis.

By the way, it is cool to bend the limbs of the skis, contrary to popular belief, it is not only not necessary, but even harmful. Such a bend can be seen in factory-made hunting skis. It is much more correct for the toe of the ski to be pointed and not bent at all very much. After all, as soon as you move the ski forward, it seems to float in the snow, even if its toe is bent quite a bit.

In short, making good camus skis is not at all as easy as it might seem. I'm not even talking about dressing and sticking the camus, because this process is not at all an easy one. And then - getting the material now is a whole problem.

That is why a legitimate question arises. I can't understand how to this day and why it is impossible to make good hunting skis, using, perhaps, even a synthetic kamus, which, in terms of its characteristics, would be close to natural. A huge number of Russian hunters would say thank you for this. Is it only hunters?

I find it very painful to watch films about the conquest of the North Pole. Its conquerors literally wrestle, overcoming snow-capped hummocks, slipping on the most insignificant bumps, while on camus skis they would go the same way with much less effort. I know from myself how the smallest slippage on the track is exhausting, it would seem out of the blue. But if this continues from dawn to dark, then you come to bed completely exhausted.

And then - two sticks, like sportsmen-skiers. After all, this is only a tribute to the tradition - to push against the snow with two sticks. To stand firmly on the ground or roll on a steep slope, three points of support are enough - two feet on skis and one stick. At the same time, leaning with both hands on one stick is always easier than one on one. The forces are required in half. Yes, and the second hand on occasion may be needed, should be free. Hunters call such a stick that helps to handle skis when walking and when descending in the mountains - kayok.

A kayok is a stick used by hunters when skiing, mainly on skis. Length - from the ground to the end of the fingers of the outstretched hand, that is, the same oblique fathom. At the lower end of the kayk there is a spoon-shaped or spade-like expansion. On the upper one there is a metal spear, a koibed, for the Komi hunters, a ring made of a willow twig for the Amur hunters, or without any tricks among the Altai and Sayan hunters. However, the "spoon" at the lower end of the kayk, apparently, is found only in them. The kayok serves not only as a reliable support when descending from the mountains, but also as a shovel for setting traps and even as a stop when firing rifled weapons at long-range targets, when a particularly strong position of the weapon is needed.

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From the originator. Making skis on your own is a business that requires space, quality material, tools and good professional skills. For the last fifteen years, often visiting areas traditionally hunting and snowy, I have come across homemade skis made by the grandfathers or fathers of today's hunters. They take care of them like the apple of an eye. The reason is that there are only a few people left in the entire district who can make high-quality skis. Now, in the outback, they prefer to buy ready-made skis of factory production.

Who and what produces in our native spaces?

The most popular hunting skis are produced by Vologodskaya Ski Factory LLC and Novo-Vyatsky Ski Factory. Both companies produce skis glued from excellent wood. The wooden part of the skis is of the highest quality.

Novo-Vyatka skis go on sale under the trade name "Hunting". Their width is 150 mm, length is 1650 or 1750 mm. The platform is made of 10 mm plywood, glued with varnish and fastened to the ski with screws. In vain. Difficult to rip off for more correct positioning of the pad in relation to the center of gravity of the ski and for the installation of the mount. The groove in the site is not painted or finished with anything. Skis are available in two versions - shanks and coated skis sliding surface black, nylon-like plastic. Under the cargo area, the plastic is milled with large "fish scales", as is done on plastic cross-country skis.

The plant started production of skis with plastic coating about three years ago. I bought them last winter and only used them once, in dry, frosty weather. They glided well. There was no slap, absolutely (the skis were not smeared with anything). But at the same time, there was a strong "recoil". So, for now, I cannot make unambiguous deep conclusions - it is too early.

I can say the following about golitsy. I bought them in the summer of 1973 and since then I drove them "in the tail and in the mane." Barbarously, at times, kept. But they are still alive to this day. They lie in the country. Used in winter on weekends. During this time, cracks appeared along the glue seams of the upper veneer layer. The plywood deck is completely delaminated. All the varnish has completely come off the upper surface of the skis. The sliding surface began to crumble. Taking a piece of first coarse and then fine skin, I removed the crumbling tree to a "living, healthy" layer. The skis are now even lighter. I restored the varnish with varnish for painting the decks of yachts. Now they look like new and will serve more than one season in sparing conditions.

Vologda skiing go on sale under the trade name "Taiga". They are produced with a width of 160 mm and a length of 1550 or 1650 mm (i.e., in terms of area, both manufacturers produce skis the same). The platform and mounting screws are included with the skis. The platform is only lacquered on top. The belt groove and the ski-facing surface of the platform are not finished or painted in any way. Skis are made in three versions - skins, skis with a covering of the sliding surface of the getinax with similar plastic of various colors, camus skis.

I am very pleased with the Vologda golitsy (I bought them in addition to the old Novo-Vyatsky ones). They are shorter (1550 mm). Otherwise, the same positive emotions.

I did not dare to choose plastic-covered Vologda skis, despite the fact that they are shorter. I was confused by the type of plastic. Getinaks is tougher than nylon, scratches less, but also peels off more easily from wood. When examining several pairs of skis, one pair was found, on which the plastic had a transverse joint seam. True, the seam was sanded and without a step, but it looked very doubtful. In addition, the entire surface of the plastic is absolutely smooth. Strong "kickback" is guaranteed.

Camus skis. In truth, it is difficult to call them "kamusnye". The sliding surface is covered with plastic like getinax. In those places where there are grooves on ordinary hoists, two ribbons of reindeer or elk kamus with a width of about 20 mm are glued into the "kamus" ones, about 20 mm wide along the entire length of the ski. The production of these skis is irregular due to the irregular supply of kamus to the factory (according to the sales department). I ordered such skis as a gift for a friend right at the factory, without seeing them. I saw them in action once. The comrade said that they behave like ordinary girls.

A year ago I tried to order kamus skis for myself in the northern regions or beyond the Urals. Useless. There they are made only "for themselves", and even then purchased hunting skis are sheathed with camus.

Elk and deer kamus have not disappeared anywhere, but have become an expensive commodity for making souvenir products, torbaz. For a camus for a pair of skis, they ask for about 4000 rubles. But they told me the way out. You can try to get a horse camus (it is considered one of the best) at the city slaughterhouse. Horse meat is constantly used to make sausages. Honestly, I haven’t applied to the slaughterhouse yet, but I will definitely do it. - (V.S.)

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N. MIKHAILOV

MANUFACTURE OF HUNTING SKI

Hunting skis are made from wood, cut down, if possible, in winter, or from planks. from the boards, it will be much worse.

Let's start with processing both halves of a tree cut in winter, chopped and dried, up to 320 cm long. To do this, smoothly cut both parts at the split points. Then, measuring 4, 4 cm from the planed side, we split off the slab and get a board-like piece, which we cut off on the other side. Before proceeding with further work, we must find out the device of a hunting ski. A hunting ski has the following structure: the front end of the ski ("nose") is bent up, the rear end ("tail") is completely straight. The middle part has a platform for the skier's feet.

The bottom (sliding) surface is smooth in the middle to facilitate sliding. It is advisable to hollow out a groove along it, 2-3 cm wide, 2-3 mm deep, with the goal of directing the ski straight and not letting it slide sideways. Not all hunting skis have this groove. The dimensions of hunting skis are as follows: length - from 153 to 213 cm, width - from 12 to 16 cm, thickness - 1-2-3 cm. When making skis, keep in mind the weight and height of a skier-hunter. For a skier's weight up to 75 kg, skis with a length of 153 cm are required, for a weight from 75 kg to 90 kg - 183 cm, over 90 kg - 213 cm.When preparing bars, you must remember this basic provision for setting the length of skis. The shorter the ski, the easier it is to control, but the weaker its glide. (A short ski in the bushes and hummocks is incomparably more comfortable, according to the fair opinion of S. Buturlin, and the absence of a heel strap, which allows at any time not only to throw the skis, but also instantly stand on them directly or on their knees, or sit down - sideways and even backwards - has very great importance for a quick shot at a fleeing or attacking animal, if the animal was to the right or behind the hunter. (Shooting to the left is easy by simply turning your body.)... The Novgorod and Vologda hunting skis are famous, made from the best birch, which is considered the northern one (Novgorod and Vologda regions).

Suppose we want to make Novgorod hunting skis. We carry out further work as follows. We chop off the sapwood from the resulting board-like bar. Then we shape the boards, knocked out of the chock, into a wide board of such dimensions, which are required for hunting skis.

The block from which we gouge boards for Novgorod skis should be about 2.43 m long and approximately 17.8 cm thick. From each block we gouge a ski board about 25.4 mm thick. When the board is ready, we shave it off on both sides until the whole board reaches a thickness of 9.5 mm. Further, the end, intended to be the front ("nose"), is still cut off, and then sharpened on both sides. Beforehand, of course, we also align the sides. It is necessary to plan the boards on a layer from the nose for better ski glide. For each ski, we leave a board 127-140 mm wide and 213 cm long. Thus, our Novgorod skis will have: length - 213 cm, width - 127-140 mm and thickness - 9, 5 mm. When the bottom side is smoothly aligned, it is advisable on it in the middle of the ski, in its entire length, to cut, cut or hollow out an absolutely straight groove, without any lateral bends, no more than 2-3 cm wide, 2-3 mm deep, with a goal direct the skis straight and prevent them from sliding sideways. The groove should be perfectly parallel to that of the other ski.

When the board is processed in the above way, we measure the middle of it and measure 26.7 cm from it to the rear end of the ski, making notes with a pencil. Between these two lines, we attach special wooden slats on both one and the other side of the board.

We make these slats from birch or other strong wood - beech, oak, etc.

We make slats from a punctured and then planed plank 15.9 mm high, 12.7 mm wide and 26.7 cm long.At a distance of 6, 64 cm from the front end, they have an incision of 4.4 cm and a depth of no more than 6.4 mm. When the slats will be ready, we attach them to the skis; in this case, the end of the rack (shorter) falls to the front end of the skis, and the other to the rear. We put the slats themselves so that the slit falls from the bottom. For strength, these slats, before nailing, we put on glue. These two slots in both rails attached to the ski serve for threading the toe strap.

METHOD FOR BENDING TOE ENDS OF NOVGOROD HUNTING SKI

Our next operation will be to bend the noses of the skis. The toe bend is intended to eliminate the ski burrowing in the snow when walking on loose snow and descending from the mountains, as well as to overcome minor irregularities when walking along roads and tracks.Only the front end (nose) is bent quite significantly in Novgorod hunting skis, while the rear end (tail ) does not bend at all. In order to bend the ends of the noses of the skis, first steam them well with steam or boiling water; in the latter case, in a tub or, in the absence of one, in a bucket for an hour, and then set into wooden slats (four) folded like a ladder. It is necessary to bend the noses, starting from the end of the groove, so that the center of the bend is 10 cm from the end.

In this form, they are left until they are completely dry again and take the desired shape. In this case, it should be observed that both toe ends of paired skis are equally bent.

When the skis are ready, they must be very carefully guided with a substance that protects the ski from moisture absorption and damage. We will saturate our skis with the following special compound. Pour into a pot and heat 400 g of linseed oil; when it starts to boil, add 400 g of birch tar to it and boil these two substances for an hour; then add 200 g of paraffin. When the paraffin is dissolved, remove the pot from the heat and add 400 g of wood alcohol and 200 g of formalin. With this, still completely hot mass, we will cover the skis from all sides with a brush, and if it is poorly absorbed, then it can be diluted with kerosene. After abundantly soaking the skis for the first time, let them dry out and thoroughly absorb the applied composition, and then again soak the skis with the hot composition and let them dry again, and so on until the ski stops absorbing the mass ... After the impregnation and drying is complete, we cover the skis a layer of hot drying oil. Once the last skis have hardened, they are ready. (You don't need to cover skis with linseed oil)

SOCKET BELT

Now we just have to equip our skis. Since we have already made and attached to the skis rails with slots that serve for threading the toe strap, our ski equipment will be limited to the fact that we will make and fasten toe straps in the slots of both rails and wrap up space for the skier's feet (20-30 cm) any available material to eliminate slipping of the shoe on the ski and damage it. We will cut the toe strap from thick, strong cowhide. Due to the large width of the skis, we take belts 31.1 cm long and 38.1 mm wide. At the ends, each toe strap is provided with double holes, which can be punched with a punch.

A strong, not rotten, is stretched into these holes, good quality a rawhide strap 26.7 cm long. This strap, threaded through a couple of holes on the opposite end of the strap, is used to tie the sock strap. We will cover the places for the skier's feet (the platform of each ski) with reindeer skin (hair forward); in the absence of such - a seal or calf skin, rubberized jute canvas or rubber heels (for example, a sole from old rubber galoshes with the bottom side up). If there is no skin or rubber, then you can simply cover the site with birch bark. Canvas, rubber or birch bark must be stuffed so that a bulge forms. As the skier progresses, this pad will rise and fall, and the snow, falling under the foot when raising the foot, will jump off from straightening the pad and will not stick under the shoes.

Due to their small length, Novgorod hunting skis are among the most convenient for hunting and walking in the forest. Hourly speed capabilities, according to experience, for hunting-type skis (in general) are determined as follows: under bad conditions - 3 km, under average conditions - 4 km and with good conditions- 5 km. For forestry (including Novgorod and Vologda): under bad conditions - 3 1/2 km; with medium - 5 km, with good - 5 1/2 km.

Among other Russian skis, Vologda and Arkhangelsk skis deserve attention. They represent a rather long birch or pine plank, finely crafted, with high curved toes. Their sizes (approximately): the length is very diverse (1, 55-2, 15 m), the width is 15-20 cm.

In the Arkhangelsk ski, a hole is often made at the toe, through which a rope is threaded, the end of which serves as a guiding reins when descending from the mountains and makes it possible to pull the skis along when going uphill or if the hunter is walking along the road. Such skis are used by hunters of the middle and northern regions of Russia.

Rarely, but there are skis covered with reindeer skin below (for example, among hunters of some peoples of Siberia). Such skis provide the convenience that you can climb steep slopes on them, since the wool, being placed with the pile from front to back, does not allow the skis to slide down; True, the skin is quickly erased and padded skis are heavy, but in damp or mountainous areas they are indispensable for a hunter, since skis on deerskin without any lubrication slide well on wet snow during a thaw.

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I. LEGALOV

LARGE SKI

In the everyday life of taiga hunters, skis play an exceptionally important role. Here, in the Yenisei District, Krasnoyarsk Territory, already in the first ten days of November the snow in the taiga becomes deep and loose, fishing is impossible without skis. Only by the end of February does the snow become denser, but then the fishing season also ends.

In our and many other northern regions, it is impossible to fish on skis, not even all kamus skis are suitable for a hunter.

Despite the fact that camus skis are widespread among hunters of the North, the experience of making them has not yet been generalized, industrial enterprises do not produce them, they do not have any technical documentation and even approximate data for individual dressing. Therefore, many novice hunters, having made skis at random, soon become disappointed in them: walking on them turns out to be prohibitively difficult. For this reason, areas rich in fur animals remain non-industrial, and the number of commercial hunters is gradually decreasing.

The dimensions of the skis, that is, their length, width and thickness, must correspond to the weight of the hunter. On loose snow, long and wide skis give less draft; even in a thaw, it is relatively easy to overcome long distances, spruce forests and swamps on them. But, at the same time, the larger the sliding surface of the skis (be they camus or skins), the harder their course. Wide skis are uncomfortable to walk in dense thickets; long ones "refuse" to go into the thicket and are dangerous to break in forests with an abundance of creases (a convict). Therefore, when making skis individually, these features must be taken into account.

In conditions of loose snow, 1 kg of the hunter's weight should have an average of 50 cm 2 of support; for hunting in coniferous forests, where kukta falls and the snow is denser, 45 cm 2 is enough. If you put the ski upright, it should reach the hunter's eyes and, in any case, not exceed the height of the owner. So, if the height of the hunter is 170 cm, and the weight is 70 kg, then the area of ​​the ski support should be equal to 3500 cm 2, that is, it should be 160 cm long and 22 cm wide, or, for example, 170 cm long and 20, 5 cm wide.

To prevent skis from scooping up snow, they are made conical in plan, reducing the width from toe to heel by 3-4 cm (Fig. 1). Thus, if the required width of the ski is 22 cm, then the width of its front bend will be 24 cm at the base, and the heels will be 20 cm wide.

Since the camus gives the skis great strength, some hunters tend to make them as thin as possible, including in the middle. This idea can be considered unsuitable due to the large draft of the skis under the feet. The thickness of the ski here should exclude its deflection in the middle. Only under the condition that the ski evenly, with its entire area, presses on the snow, its advance becomes easy.

Therefore, for a ski 22 cm wide, the thickness of the tree under the feet of the valley reaches 14-15 mm, with a thinning up to 4-5 mm to the toe (Fig. 2). Further 25-30 cm from the end of the sock, this thinning should not spread, otherwise the sock will become flexible and under the weight of the hunter will remain on the surface of the snow. Thinning gradually from the foot to the ski heel, 15 cm from the latter begins the thinnest - 2-3 mm - section of the ski. Faced with the resistance of the snow, such a thin heel curves up sharply, and the hair of the kamus rests against the snow crushed by the ski. Therefore, when the walker's leg is raised, the heel of the ski extends and pushes the ski forward, greatly facilitating the movement. Bring the heel thickness to the desired limit after applying the camus and testing the skis on the go (Fig. 3).

The mount is positioned so that the heel of the ski gives a slightly more draft in the snow than the toe. If the ski length is 160 cm, then the first mounting holes are located 72 cm from the toe, the second - 3-4 cm obliquely and further. Yukses (fastening) are required with a back strap. The toe of the shoe should pass no more than 3-5 cm behind the front strap. This strap is covered with fabric and tightened on the leg with a rawhide strap or lace. When tightened tightly, the snow does not pack under the foot, does not stick in wet weather and does not create a squeak, allowing the hunter to quietly approach the target.

Some hunters believe that the best kamus is from the legs of a deer or elk. This statement is not entirely true. In addition, these ungulates are licensed and it is difficult to acquire such a camus. In our country, it is considered the best for loose snow horse legs kamus or the skin of young horses 2-3 years old: horse fur glides better in frost.

Speaking of skiing, I proceeded from the experience of the hunters in our area and from my own practice. Of course, my advice is not exhaustive, but I hope that they will make the hunter's work easier to some extent.

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B. ARDASHEV

CAMUS SKI

Camus skiing in our North, in the basin of the river. Pechora, made from thick spruce. The tree is chosen even, straight, with a thin bark, without knots in the lower part of the trunk. From the felled spruce, a two-meter ridge is sawn off from the butt and, depending on its thickness, is split in diameter into 2 or 4 blocks, which are then pricked into layers and cut, resulting in boards with a thickness of 3, 5-4 cm. Side of the board facing to the core of the tree will be the top, and facing the bark will be the sliding side of the ski. After not less than a month of drying, the board is shaped like a ski 13-13.5 cm wide, its thickness under the foot is 22 mm, and at the ends - 5. Then the planed end, which goes to the top, is steamed in boiling water for about 30 minutes. and folded over a template (see fig.). After drying, the lower part of the fold is "fried" over coals so that it does not unbend. Only now can you remove the template and sharpen the nose in the shape of the ski. For belts, special slots are made in the board.

The best kamus is deer, then elk. As a rule, elk kamus is sewn along from two, and deer - from three strips. Before gluing the camus, the ski is covered twice with carpentry or fish glue. After drying, a third layer of glue is applied and the wet camus is pulled over the ski, carefully smoothing and keeping the seams straight. The ski is wrapped around with twine so that the kamus sticks more tightly to the glued tree. After drying, the twine is removed, the excess kamus at the edges is cut with a knife and the ski is painted white.

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P. TOLMACHEV

SKI AND WINTER SHOES

A hunter who loves to ski in winter in order to get off a hare, shoot black grouse holes and, who knows how, - to bypass a fox or a wolf, meets a frequent and usual difficulty in unexpected weather changes. You went out, say, in the morning in good powder, on skis with your feet; slightly freezing, no sublimation, excellent skiing. You look, after an hour or two the weather has warmed up, and it starts to get stuck. Then give up the hunt and return home, and if you went far from the road, then you will suffer a lot. Of course, you can have several pairs of skis for different weather, but, firstly, you cannot always guess which ones to stand on today, and secondly, not everyone can afford it. In addition, skis lined with fur squeak on dry frosty snow, and get very wet in wet weather. In addition, normally hemmed skis do not have a good ride on loose snow. The skis of the golitsy squeak strongly in the cold and frighten the game, thunder and slide sideways on the crust.

Maple is the best tree for skiing; it is elastic, strong, polished well, does not get wet, does not bulge and is relatively light; in the absence of maple, you can use black alder or birch, both serve satisfactorily, although they do not fully possess the qualities of maple; perhaps they will be a little easier, but due to the fact that skis from them have to be made more massive for strength, and this quality is almost nullified. Ski boards must be dry, seasoned, properly cut or, better yet, chipped. The thickness of the board should be at least 3, 3-3, 5 cm.The width and length of the ski depends on the weight of the hunter, and therefore in my description I will give the dimensions of the skis calculated for the average weight of the hunter in winter equipment 80-90 kg, with a length 180 cm and a width of 15-16 cm. In order to get skis with good move, they need to be made longer, but narrower, although in mountainous, wooded and ravine places you will have to put up with a shorter length and build skis shorter, but wider.

The lightness and correctness of their course on loose snow depends on the total area of ​​the skis and their elasticity, calculated for a given weight of the hunter. When walking, skis should spring and push the snow, crushing it under themselves, otherwise they will bury their noses in the snow, not letting roll when pushing the snow. The severity of the body, transferred when the foot is pressed on the ski, should fall slightly closer to the end of the horizontal surface of the ski. My calculation when building skis provides for this. The dimensions given by me are suitable for skis used in normal hunting conditions in our central zone of Russia. From above, the ski is hewn out and trimmed so that the place under the leg, which is half the length of the entire ski 35-36 cm in length (depending on the length of the foot of the leg), is 2, 85 cm thick in the finish and gradually from the back and front would descend to the normal thickness of the ski at 0.8 cm; in the middle of the entire ski there is a ridge, descending to the ends of the ski to a height of 1, 4 cm, and the top of the ski is compressed to a sloping end; to lighten the weight of the ski (especially when the ski is made of maple), this ridge can be made sharper, but higher. This comb achieves greater elasticity and strength of the skis without burdening them with weight. The front ends of the skis should not be sharp and bend abruptly, the end of the ski rises from the horizontal line no more than 8-9 cm, the bend begins 35 cm from the end of the ski. This is done so that the nose of the skis would not cut the snow, but would climb onto the snow, crushing it under themselves.

It is necessary to get skis with good travel, make a bend under the middle of the ski with a height of 2, 2 cm from the horizontal line, this bend will achieve the fact that when you press your foot on the ski, its entire surface will work evenly, and the skis will not bend in an arc in the opposite side.

The bend must be the same as with Finnish skis. With this construction of skis, even in deep and loose snow, every step you take when pushing the snow gives the ski a forward motion. In the thickening under the foot at a distance of 1/3 of its length, counting from the front end of the ski, a quadrangular hole is cut for a ski strap 2.5 cm wide, and on the sides, in order to prevent the leg from rolling off the ski, slats are screwed in 1.25 cm in height and 1 cm of thickness, although I personally do not use the latter, since with them snow is packed under the foot, and for an experienced skier, the leg will not curl up with a well-fitted toe strap.

The place for the leg is made somewhat narrower than the entire width of the ski, which eliminates the touching of the leg and snow belts from the sides. Under the foot, with copper studs, a skin, a seal or from a foal's leg, is nailed under the toe, with the wool up, with the pile back, and under the heel, rubber or birch bark; with such an upholstery under the foot, it will not slide back and without a heel strap, and snow will not stick under the heel. Anyone who wants to tie a leg to a ski can use a long belt, which, wrapping around the toe, goes around the leg. I do not do this, because with this method of tying the skis, the hunter is deprived of the opportunity to jump off the skis, which is sometimes necessary when shooting sideways or backwards. Skis with 15 cm width should have a length of 180 cm for the above weight, with more lightweight the width of the ski can be reduced to 13 cm, but I would not advise reducing the length, since then the skis will lose in their course, but, I repeat, it depends on the nature of the terrain where the skis will be used. From below, along the entire length of the skis, a flat depression is selected, leaving 1 cm wide edges on the sides; the recess is made so deep that the skin glued into it would fill it with the thickness of its flesh and smoothed hair; approximately a depression is made 1.5 cm. Skins for filing skis are best taken from seals, but skins from foal's legs can be used, skins are glued in with carpentry glue, wool along the course of skis. For strength, they are still nailed with small copper nails, since iron ones are not suitable, for they rust and spoil the skins. You can successfully use a paper stapler using brass staples. Pieces of skins are sewn together over the edge with a cross.

Ski top

Ski from below

Scale in inches (1 inch = 2.54 cm)

On hard snow and crust, such skis slide on their wooden edges, with soft and loose snow they slide over their entire area, lateral sliding on hard ice is eliminated by edges, sliding back when going uphill - with a pile of skin, and snow sticking - because the area , hemmed with a hide, is much more than the area of ​​uncovered edges, and if the snow is stuck in the strongest and sticks to the edges, then when the ski is sent forward, it is easily scraped off them and slows down the ski sliding a little. The bend of the ends of the skis and the bend under the middle is done by steaming and bending an already hewn ski, which is placed in clamps or a special machine and dried in them. It is extremely important that both skis are angled equally correctly without any skew. To dry wet skis and maintain the correct curvature, the skis must be folded with wool inward, the ends should be placed in clamps or rope loops, which are twisted with sticks, between the skis, insert a spacer in the place where the ski strap passes. It is necessary to dry the skis gradually so that they are not led or warped, certainly in the clamps, as indicated above. In general, skis, when they are not used, must be kept in the clamps. The skis are varnished on top. The attached drawing will clearly explain the ski device.

In addition to skis, the hunter needs warm, comfortable and waterproof shoes, equally suitable for skiing and without them. I have been using such shoes for a long time in winter and I dare to recommend them to hunters. Ordinary felt boots, not very rigid, are cut along the sole and sit on the last along the leg. An insole made of well-pierced leather is tightened onto the insole, which is laid and swept to the boot. The felt boot is removed from the shoe, and the sole is sewn to it in two ends of the middle weight, the edges of which protrude; a good felt insole is sewn to these protruding edges, previously stitched for strength in several rows, you can put a double insole under the heel, in the form of a heel. The osoyuzka is made of such a height that it covers the place where the toe ski strap passes, otherwise, when skiing, the snow falling under the strap will melt and wet the boots. The felt insole makes the boots non-slippery, soft and comfortable when skiing and without skis, makes them warmer, preserves the more expensive part of the boots - the leather sole and makes it easy to dry the boots by placing them on a warm oven, as the felt insole dries gradually and prevents cracking and cracking of the leather sole and osoyuzka. The felt insole can be easily replaced with a new one when worn out. Such felt boots served me for several years with vigorous walking, and the felt insole was enough for the winter. These boots, being well sewn and made of good stuff, completely waterproof up to the height of the leather band. In the spring I had to walk in such felt boots literally all day through the puddles, and my leg remained dry.

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K. VASKIN

KISS SKIS

In the Urals, most hunters make skis themselves or order them for a joiner. Linden, aspen, birch are used for the craft; skis made of elm are appreciated above others. Ilm is a flexible, durable, unbreakable tree. Sheathed hunting skis are not called kamus skis, but kys skis. The best kisses are from the feet of a horse or foal; moose kisses are also used. The skins removed from the feet are salted, then scraped, in places cutting off the flesh and, finally, sewn along the length of the ski. One ski takes from 4 to 6 skin flaps.

Sewn kisses are sewn to the ski with a varied gratva or a strong hemp cord. To do this, stepping back one centimeter from the edge, a line is drawn with a pencil along the entire length of the ski (along the sliding side) and transverse marks are made on it every 5 cm with a pencil. At the points of intersection, holes are drilled (with an awl, drill) or holes are burned along the thickness of the cord. Holes are made on the toe of the ski every 2-3 cm (see Fig. 1). A groove 2-3 mm deep is inserted between the holes with a knife. The cord should lie in it flush with the sliding surface of the ski; if the cord protrudes above the surface of the ski, then the hair of the kysa will be wiped out here.

When everything is ready, the kys are soaked in warm water and sewn with a welded cord (at two ends), starting from the toe of the ski. To do this, the ends of the cord are reduced to nothing and thin copper wires twisted in half are tied to them in a knot, which replace the needles. A hole is pierced in the kys with an awl, one end of the cord is passed into it, after which both ends are aligned. Both ends of the cord are passed from different sides into the uppermost hole of the ski. Now one end of the lanyard will go down one side of the ski and the other on the other side. After that, the kysu is folded over the edge of the ski toe, pierced in the kysu (at a distance of 1 cm from one another) two holes, a cord is passed through them, pulled back into the same holes, after which the kysu is pulled onto the ski. When sewing on the kysy with stitches on one or the other side of the ski, the skin must be tightly pulled all the time (Fig. 2). The sewn kys are dried. Such skis, made without a single stud, are not at all afraid of dampness, the kys do not "peel off" from them.

Kys skis serve for tens of years - until the kys are demolished. Failed skins are easy to replace with new ones. Without damaging the wood, this cannot be done if the kamus is nailed to the skis with small nails.

Sometimes dressed horse boxes are used for filing skis. Each hunter can make them himself. To do this, take wooden dishes with a capacity of 2 buckets; 10 liters of water are poured into it, one kilogram of sodium chloride is poured into it and 200 cm 3 of sulfuric acid is poured into it (the acid must be poured carefully, in a thin stream) All this is stirred so that the salt disperses. In the resulting solution, salted kisses are placed for 3 days. Then the kys are removed, slightly dried, the cuttings are removed from the flesh, stretched on a board, nailed (flesh up), and finally dried. Such finished kysy can be glued to the tree with nitro glue. On skis, they hold on tightly, without fear of dampness. In this way, skis bought in a store are sheathed or glued.

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K. VASKIN

HOW TO SHEAR SKIS

Sheathed hunting skis in the Urals are called not kamus skis, as in Siberia, but kysov skis. The skins removed from the feet of an elk or a horse are kysy, if they do not go into business immediately, you need to sprinkle thickly with salt on both sides and put in a box where they can be stored for several years. As needed, the kys are soaked in water (changing it 3-4 times) for two days to remove salt from them. Then they are stretched on a board along the width of the ski, nailing the edges with nails. Until the kys are dry, the flesh, films are cut off from them, and they are scraped. The dried kys are adjusted along the length of the skis (with a margin of 10 cm), cut off the sides, and marked which key it is fitted to.

Before skinning the skis, the kys are again soaked (for a day) in water until they are completely soft. Then they are sewn together with a fishing vein with a cross section of 0.5-0.6 mm according to the previously made marks. If the kys are used immediately, then they are not salted. One ski takes from 4 to 6 pieces of kys.

Kys sewn along the length of the skis are sewn to the ski with a 1 mm vein.

Before sheathing, ready-made skis are impregnated with hot linseed oil on both sides: then the tree will not get wet during the thaw. Stepping back 1 cm from the edge, a line is drawn along the sliding side of the skis with a pencil along their entire length, on which transverse marks are made every 5 cm with a pencil. At these points, they drill (with an awl, drill) or burn holes for a vein (cord). Holes are made on the toe and heel of the ski every 2-3 cm. Grooves with a depth of 2 mm are cut between the holes with a knife. A vein should lie in them flush with the sliding surface of the ski.

Sew on in the following sequence. In the kys intended for the toe of the ski, pierce two holes 0.5 cm from one another (see fig.). Pass the end of the vein into each of them, align both ends and pass into the uppermost hole on the toe of the ski from the top side. Pull the kysu to the ski. Now both ends of the vein have come out onto the sliding side of the ski. One of them will go on one side of the ski, the other on the other. Thread the vein again (from the sliding side) into the adjacent hole, grab the kysa, bend it in half and, stepping back from the edge 0.5 cm, pierce it with an awl. Pass a vein into this puncture, and pass the end of it back into the same hole. Pull firmly on the vein and tighten the stitch. Having made 4-5 such stitches on one side of the ski, start sewing the other side of the kysa to it. Kysu must be tightly pulled all the time. On the heel of the ski, both ends of the vein will converge; they are tied with a strong knot. The cladding is finished.

Now, while the kysa is damp, the excess is carefully cut off from the sides with a knife. Within a week, the skis are dried in the shade or near the stove, laying them up with the sliding side. Kys skis, trimmed without a single stud, are not afraid of dampness at all; they serve for decades until the hair is dry. It is easy to replace the worn-out skins of kys with new ones without damaging the wood of the skis themselves.

You can sheathe skis and skis bought in the store. They need to round off the side edges, otherwise the fur will be wiped out on their sharp edges.

To prevent snow from sticking under the foot (it creaks and interferes with walking), a piece of an old bicycle tire is nailed onto the skis under the foot with small nails. It springs resiliently and throws off snow that has fallen under the foot.

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The hunter from the village. Syuzma P. M. Trifonov believes that the total area of ​​the ski support should be approximately 2500 cm 2. Thus, with a hunting ski length of 160 cm, their width of 15 cm will be quite sufficient. Short skis should be made wider accordingly. In the Primorsky district of the Arkhangelsk region, where P. Trifonov lives, the ski toe (1/3 of its length) and the heel are upholstered with sheet duralumin, and the middle part - with camus. "Very little skin is used for this, and gliding is much better and there is no recoil of the ski back when lifting."

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N.M.

Skis. On many winter hunts, especially in the north, it is sometimes impossible to do without skis. Therefore, for such a hunter must, firstly, be able to ski in general, and, secondly, have at his disposal skis of the proper quality. The fact is that sports skis, due to their relative narrowness and long length, for hunting purposes, especially when hunting in the forest, are almost completely unsuitable.

The best skis for hunting in the woods and on rough terrain are the skis of the Nordic game hunters. These skis are usually made of spruce, sometimes birch or larch, completely dry boards without knots and with straight layers. Their length, depending, on the one hand, on the weight of the hunter, and on the other, on the usual looseness of snow for a given area, fluctuates quite strongly. The width of the skis fluctuates even more. For most areas and for an average-weight hunter, skis are made in lengths of 180-220 cm with a width of 15 to 22 cm. The thickness of the ski board in the middle under the foot is about 1 cm, to the sides and ends it is slightly less. The ends of the skis are slightly rounded, the front end is bent upward by 5-8 cm, the middle of the ski is curved upward by about 2 cm.The skin removed from the legs of a deer, young elk, horse, seal, etc. is glued to the bottom of the ski. The best (in terms of ease) skis glued with the skin from a deer's leg ("kamus"). The skin is glued to the ski so that the movement falls on the wool.In addition to the sock strap, a heel strap must be made, reinforced on the instep of the leg (most conveniently with a buckle) and connected to the sock strap with side straps. It is extremely difficult to walk in the forest on skis without a heel strap, since the skis, clinging to knots, will constantly fall off it.

Place the leg so that the toe strap is about 5-8 cm in front of the middle of the ski. To prevent the leg from sliding back on the ski, the skin is lined under the leg with the hair forward. Perhaps it is more convenient to nail an ordinary rubber ski plate or even the sole of an old galoshes with the bottom side up on the ski instead of the skin.

Fitted skis are very light on the move and, thanks to the skin, do not slip backward, which, on the one hand, makes it easier to ski, and on the other, allows you to climb even relatively steep slopes.

The skin is glued to the skis with fish glue, and the skin is taken of such a size that, at least on the finger, it goes on the upper side of the ski.

For gluing, northern commercial hunters usually peel off the skin with scales from the fish, roll it into a tube and heat the end over a fire. With this heated end, a more or less wet skin is lubricated (both the skin and the ski should be slightly heated) and quickly, until the glue has frozen, glue the lubricated part of the skin to the board. The entire gluing operation is carried out as quickly as possible, the upper edges of the skin are nailed with small nails for strength. After a day, the skin is quite firmly glued to the tree and then, even when wet, does not lag behind it.

The skis described above are excellent, but, unfortunately, not every hunter and not everywhere can acquire them, that is, buy ready-made ones or make them yourself. Therefore, most hunters have to be content with ordinary skis, the so-called golitsy, that is, not covered with the skin of Golitsa, perhaps somewhat lighter than skis covered with skin, especially over loose snow, but in severe frost they creak pretty much, which interferes with the approach, they slide into the crust to the sides, and during the thaw snow adheres to them, which makes walking on them in such weather completely impossible.

Several measures must be taken to prevent snow from sticking to the skis. These measures consist in the fact that in the very manufacture of skis, their wood is thoroughly impregnated with a special composition, and subsequently, during use, it is necessary to lubricate them with fatty substances, also with a special composition.

Before going hunting, the skis should be lubricated from below, if there is nothing better, with a mixture of bone oil and lard or even just a tallow candle, heating the lower surface of the ski over the fire. However, it is best to use either special ointments, bought ready-made, or ointments of the following composition.

For frosty weather- 3 parts wax, 1 part stearin, 1 part blubber, a little tar and rosin; all this is mixed hot and then stored in a lump. A piece of this composition is carried out on the lower surface of the ski and then the thin layer of ointment remaining on it is rubbed thoroughly with the palm of the hand. Such layers are superimposed in this way several one on top of the other.

During the thaw or a slight (6-7 ° C) frost, an ointment of 3 parts of paraffin, 2 parts of brown wax and tar (a little) is used. When it thaws, the skis are first smeared with tar, and then rubbed with a piece of the appropriate ointment.After that, the lower surface of the ski should be heated over a fire, but not too much so that the tar does not melt, and again rub the hot surface of the ski with a piece of ointment. During a thaw or in low frost, you should not polish the skis with your hand.

In very cold weather(30 ° C or more) and dry snow, it is better to just lubricate the skis from below with good tar.

The main disadvantage of the hooders is the inability to climb hills or slopes straight: the skis slide backward. In this case, it is necessary to rise either in a zigzag manner or in another, always slow and baggy, method. To eliminate this drawback of the hooders, the following method of their arrangement can be recommended.

On the lower surface of the skis, during their very manufacture, a part of the tree is selected in the entire width of the ski under the place where the hunter's foot will be, 30-35 cm in length, so that the back of the notch falls slightly behind the heel. In this part, the depth of the notch should be barely noticeable; to the front end, which is somewhat in front of the toe, its depth gradually reaches 2 mm. A board of the same width and the same wood as the ski itself is fitted to this recess, also neatly taken along the layer of fibers, 5-5.5 mm thick. Before gluing this board into the groove, it is cut off (not from the side that will be out, but from the underside) so that it remains only 2 mm thick in front, and the planed side is glued into the groove of the ski. Such a board does not prevent the ski from sliding forward, but when it is backward, the rear comb cuts into the snow and stops the ski.

Since sometimes you have to go on skis while hunting, sometimes on foot, it is recommended to make a small through hole in the ski socks for attaching the cord. When walking, there is no need, in this case, to drag skis on your hands, which is inconvenient and tiring, but after passing one ski through the toe strap of the other (so that the ski lies on the ski), drag them along with you on a cord tied at one end to the hunter's belt on the back, and others - to the end of the lower ski

In conclusion, it should be pointed out that for walking on very loose snow, where ordinary skis, regardless of their length and width, do not help, sometimes, not without success, the so-called Canadian rocket skis can be used. These skis are very short and wide and consist of a wooden, oval-shaped frame with a strong mesh of veins or straps stretched over it.

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N. RUKOVSKY

IF SNOW GETS TO SKIS

If you happen to get your skis wet, the snow starts to stick to them. No matter how much you scrape off the ice crust from the sliding surface of the ski, it will form again. In this case, only a fire can help. The skis should be well dried over a fire and cooled well before placing them on the snow again. It is better to spend an hour and a half on this procedure than to lose the whole day of hunting.

If there is a sudden thaw, then the snow begins to stick to dry skis. The stick can be so abundant that you have to give up hunting and get out to the well-worn road. To facilitate movement with such a sublimation, you can use the needles of spruce or pine. A broom of coniferous branches is thrown onto the snow and skis are rubbed on it with sliding movements without removing them from their feet. Skis rubbed with needles glide for some time (300-400 m) even on wet snow. Sometimes, without breaking the broom, you can use the paws of a spreading spruce creeping along the surface of the snow.

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SKI GLUE

N. KUKLIN

From kamus

Remove the cartilaginous formations, etc. from the back side (from the flesh) of the kamus, which are called "bolognese" by the traders, finely chop and cook. More water: you need to cook for a long time. How do you know the stickiness? Dip your fingertips and squeeze them: fingers stick together as they dry; if not, you still need to cook.

From the fish stomach.

Take from the stomach of a sterlet, beluga or sturgeon a bag, which we call "navel". Dry it. Use a hammer to pound on a tree. ... Peel off the fat film. Separate 100-150 g in small puffs: enough for skis. Take the cans, pour 500-600 g of water, stirring, cook the glue on the stove. The glue is gone, but is it ready or not? Drop on the board, plywood. If the drop is round and does not spread, the glue is ready. If it diffuses, you need to cook more. Then you spread the camus and ski, warm it up by the fire or stove, repeat the spreading and, heating, glue them.

Fish skin.

Take fresh burbot, taimen, catfish or pike. Remove the skin from the fish in a layer, scrape it on both sides with a sharp knife, chop it on a board and dry it. After a day, cut into centimeter squares from the skin and cook in a jar. How do you know if the glue is ready or not? Take one square with your fingers and squeeze: if it is crushed between your fingers, then the glue is ready, and if not, you still need to cook.

It is impossible to overcook: the glue will be weak. They cooled it down. You take your ski, warm it up by the stove. Gather the welded squares into a handful and, pressing them firmly, rub the ski. A sticky foam is produced on the wood. Warm up and rub the ski again. Insert the warm ski with your toe into the kamus cover and iron it. The best glue is obtained from burbot skin.

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K. ABRAMOV

Isinglass. For sticking the camus on the Amur, fish, mainly chum glue, is used. To prepare it, they take fish that have already spawned. Cutting it lengthwise into two halves, the skin is separated from the meat and soaked in water. When the skin is saturated with water, it is carefully scrubbed with a knife, scraping off the remnants of meat and fat on one side, and scales on the other. The cleansed skin is wrapped on a stick, wrapped in a wet cloth and steamed over a hot stove or fire coals. The skin gradually becomes sticky, and when it starts to stick together the fingers strongly, then it can be considered ready. With the glue prepared in this way, they carefully smear the volgy (but not wet) kamus and the lower side of the ski, on the upper side, the sides are carefully coated with it. When this is done, hold the ski and camus with the sides, smeared with glue, over a hot stove or the heat of a fire. Heating, they are connected so that the kamus lies on the ski exactly, pressed it with your fingers to the sides and smooth pebbles are driven along the pile, achieving a snug and ubiquitous adherence of the kamus to the tree. So that the camus does not lag behind on the sides, the ski can be swaddled thicker with a strong twine, braid or thin strap.

Dry skis pasted over with camus should be in a machine (template), but not in the heat, but gradually, away from the stove.

The dried kamus still lags behind in some places along the sides. It is best to glue these places with nitro glue, slightly lifting the camus with the tip of a knife and pouring nitro glue into the gap thus obtained; with a thin hairpin, temporarily pull the kamus to the tree. Nitroklei is not afraid of dampness and holds the boards firmly even when walking on wet spring snow. I also put birch bark or rubber under the foot on nitro-glue.

It is easy to prepare nitroclay yourself by dissolving cellulose in acetone - washed film or film, etc.

Blood glue. They take the blood of an animal, pour it into a pot, cover it with a rag and put it in a warm place. When the blood becomes rancid and begins to emit a strong smell, flour beads (dust), swept from the walls of the mill, are added to it. When adding beads, it is well stirred in the blood and placed in a warm place for several days. To find out if the glue is ready, dip the tip of a knife into it and raise it up. If there is a thin thread behind the knife, then the glue is ready.

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From the originator. Skis covered with camus are a very valuable thing and require careful storage. The most terrible enemy of kamus is moth and skin eater. In one summer, if stored improperly, the moth can completely destroy the nap of the camus. It is recommended that before storing your camus skis for storage, fold them with the sliding sides to each other and lay a newspaper moistened with kerosene between them. Surely, this will scare away moths and skinheads, and, at the same time, all household residents. In winter they will feel you a mile away. A good, modern way was suggested to me by an experienced taxidermist - two large polyethylene bags are taken, put on top and bottom on skis connected with sliding sides to each other and "Dichlorvos" is injected into the bags. The seam of the bags is sealed with tape, the bags are tied. In a day, the packages are removed and in another day the smell of "Dichlorvos" disappears. This processing is done twice a year - in March and July. (V.S.)

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V. DASHKEVICH

MY SKI BOX

The surroundings of our polar station are replete with uneven hills, ending in cliffs, steep slopes, and ravines. In winter, in some places the snow is "head over heels", and in some places last year's grass turns yellow. Hunting for partridges and checking traps require the ability to make sharp turns, overcome steep descents and ascents. On skis with an ordinary semi-rigid mount, you often “grind your bones”, without expecting it, a simple mount, used by most of our hunters, is much more convenient.

The main strap (on the cleat) grips the toe of the shoe just behind the toes. A strap is attached to it, tightened on the rise in a cross (see Fig.). For the "leading" leg (I have for the left), this strap is crossed twice. Then the ski sits firmly on this leg, and the leg "feels" the ski. The tension of the strap should allow at any time (for example, in case of a fall) to pull the sock out from under the front anchorage strap. The second ski is attached in the same way, but the fastening fits the shoes more freely, the toe goes deeper under the front strap, the second strap crosses once. General form the ski attachment on the leg is shown in the figure. On steep climbs, the right ski replaces my stick.

This minor "redesign" of the mount turned my standard forest skis into an all-terrain vehicle.

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Y. SLADKOV

MY SKI MOUNTING

I am an amateur hunter since 10 years old, now I am 45 years old, and in last years I became interested in hunting foxes with a burrowing dog. And during this hunt I have to repeatedly take off and put on skis. I tried many ski bindings, but they all did not suit me. And I came up with my own method of fastening, maybe someone will need it.

A felt boot is taken, hemmed, and on the toe I sew the felt from the felt boot and trim it with leather, and I put a rubberized tug strap on the ski. I adjust the belt 2-4 cm wide exactly according to the felt boot. Now it remains to insert the boots into the belt, and the ski is firmly held on the leg. To remove the ski, you just need to raise the heel and the ski will come off. I cut the boots short, as I put on a camouflage coat on top. I put two layers of felt under the skin on the toe, stitch it, and then sheathe it with leather The skin should be up to the fold, as the rubberized belt will wipe the felt boot. The leather comes from a chrome boot.

Those who are too lazy to sew can cut off the rubber ring from the car camera and put on a felt boot under the toe and on the heel. The camera is taken from a truck. The belt is also rubberized

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An old hunter from the city of Nizhneudinsk PI Lyaptsin writes that fastening skis with belts for a long time, in the frost during this time their hands have time to numb. From his own experience, he was convinced that it is much easier to sew on the same felt bosses on the toe of a felt boot (see Fig.). It is enough to raise the heel of the foot higher, put the sock of the felt boot with the lug under the belt - and the ski is put on.

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A. TAIMENEV

CONVENIENT HUNTING SKI MOUNTING

When hunting, ordinary ski bindings are inconvenient and often very annoying for the hunter.

Our area, adjacent to Karelia, is replete with ravines, hills and hollows. In addition, in the forest you have to overcome blockages of trees, dense thickets of bushes, etc. Therefore, most hunters use skis with one toe strap without a heel attachment, which is also very inconvenient. All this made me think about improving the ski bindings For several years now I have been using a simple and convenient device that will not yield to any other bindings (see fig)

The toe strap, the main strap, can be made with a buckle, sewn or, as is found on commercially available soft mounts, with ends tightened with rawhide straps. For a reliable connection of the leg with the ski, I take a piece of non-rigid wire with a diameter of 4-4.5 mm and make a bend with a height of 15-20 mm. Then, at the free ends of this hook, I make ears 25-30 mm high, and twist or seal the ends, after passing them through the slots of the belt having a width of 20-25 mm. The strap is designed to firmly connect the wire hook to the shoe. The buckle end of the strap should be left long enough to fit on the side, outside of the ankle. The fastening strap can be connected to the hook ears and by tying knots, leaving a distance of 25-30 mm between the ears. The free end of the belt must be left longer to make it easier to fasten the device on the tops of boots or felt boots.

The length of the wire hook must be made according to the size of your shoes so that the bend falls over thumb legs

When walking in any conditions, the skis do not fall off, and when you fall or for any other need, you can instantly get rid of them.

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V.SINITSIN (vicsin)

SKI BASKET WITH HEEL RETAINING

Traditional hunting ski bindings are referred to as "soft" bindings. The toe-loops of the bindings, which are correctly fitted to the shoe, cover the foot only up to the point where the toes are bent. The use of this type of attachment is obvious - it allows you to use any footwear, quickly throw off the skis if necessary. At the same time, these mounts also have a significant drawback - when walking, it is difficult to turn the ski. The ski lifted on the weight, resting on a twig slightly thicker than a match, does not want to turn in any way, although the heel of the foot has already turned forty-five degrees. Trying to shovel off the snow with the toe of the ski becomes very difficult. A long heel strap extending from the toe strap often falls off the heel (if there is no special "tide" on the heel of the shoe. This drawback is completely eliminated in the proposed fastening.

The design of the mount and its operation are clear from the figure. Dimensions are not specifically given as they are determined by the dimensions of the shoe.

A little about the manufacture. The thickness of the nose boss must be equal to the sum of the thicknesses of the rubber sheet and the back pad. If the rubber is thinner, then you will have to cut one layer of plywood veneer. If the rubber is thicker, then you will need to make a nose boss either from two layers of 4 mm plywood or from 10 mm, cutting off one or two layers of veneer. Plywood parts (nose boss and back lining) must be varnished on all sides before installation. If this is not done, then they will begin to rot from below and the wood of the ski will begin to rot under them. The width of the window between the nose boss and the back pad is equal to the width of the toe strap.

The rubber sheet is cut 2 mm wider and longer than the back pad. And they nail the rubber with staples flush with the edges of the back lining. Rubber swells with a small "hump" and does not allow ice to form under the movable part of the flexible platform. Staples made of stainless steel wire (stainless safety wire o1 mm) are driven into the ski with a stapler, passing through the elastic and the lining.

The flexible platform is made from a conveyor belt. At my disposal was a conveyor belt 10 mm thick. It was obvious that bending such a thick platform would put a lot of pressure on the shoe and the instep of the foot. To reduce the bending force, a triangular cross-sectional groove was cut on the tape. The groove is cut only in the rubber and does not touch the belt cord. It turned out that it was enough to cut the groove on only one side. If this were not enough and the bending force remained large, then a similar groove would have to be cut in the lower surface of the flexible platform. I am sure that when making a flexible platform from a conveyor belt with a thickness of 5 - 6 mm, no groove is required at all.

The triangle-ring brace fits on a flexible platform opposite the ankles. It is attached to the 10 mm conveyor belt of the flexible platform with three o4 mm galvanized screws with heads "in the back" (not shown in the figure). The protruding ends of the screws have been cut off. With a thinner flexible platform, the bracket will have to be riveted to it.

Triangular rings are made of 3 mm wire (steel, copper-plated - used in the construction of power lines.). The rings were bent using a steel angle 25 x 25 mm as a mandrel. The joint of the ends of the ring wire is made in the middle of the long side and soldered with tin solder. The spike not only strengthens the ring, but also protects the nylon tape from rubbing at the junction of the ends of the wire.

The flexible platform fits over the rubber and nose boss, overlapping the toe strap window. Fastened with zinc-plated screws o5 mm with heads "in a secret". Two rows of screws are installed along the edges of the toe strap window. The front row runs right through the nose boss and into the ski tree. The back row runs right through the rubber sheet and lining into the ski tree. If necessary, in addition, you can attach the platform along the front contour, without going beyond the contours of the nasal boss. If you deem necessary, you can fix the toe strap in the window by passing the screw through the flexible pad.

When drilling holes for screws, never drill through the ski! Carefully calculate and check the length of the mounting screws so that they do not go right through the ski.

The lifting and heel belts can be sewn to the rings with one end, and with the other they can be threaded into the other ring and fastened with a “burdock fastener”. They can also be detachable, with a buckle.

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N. KAZAKOV

YOUR SKIS

A good ski has no knots. Take a look along the sliding surface of the shank: its groove (sometimes hunting skis are made without a groove) should be straight. It is not at all difficult to check whether the ski is "twisted" when drying. To do this, place a pencil (across) on the ends of its sliding surface and again look along the ski as you look at the light of the barrels of your gun. If the pencils are parallel, then the ski is not twisted.

The skis must be firm enough. Very "soft" are usually fragile, and "hard" do not spring on the bumps and depressions; it's hard to go on such skis.

Returning from the hunt, you should remove the snow from the skis, wipe them with a rag and put spacers (in the heads).

At least twice a winter, the sliding surface of the hooders must be impregnated with resin or liquid thaw ski ointment. To do this, the resin is applied in a thick layer, and then warmed up with a blowtorch over a kerosene stove, kerosene stove, etc. Unabsorbed resin is removed with a dry cloth. The impregnated surface takes on an even dark brown color. Resin-impregnated skis are not afraid of dampness.

SKI REPAIR

Small dents and scratches on the sliding side of the skis can be sanded down with emery cloth or a glass shard. If necessary, a sheet of tin is cut into the damaged area.

Cracked ski areas are sealed with casein, fish or wood glue. Then a drill (with a diameter of 1.5 mm) drills holes along the edges of the crack through which copper or iron wire is passed. The ends of the wire are fixed to the edges of the skis, level with the surface. Put tin or plywood on top of the ski on the crack, fix them with small nails or screws.

Small cracks can be repaired with putty recommended by the Honored Master of Sports, Candidate of Technical Sciences V. Polikarpov: a mixture of finely crushed pine bark, wax and sawdust. This putty is used in a heated form.

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P. TARASOV

SKI REPAIR

Fishing skis are made thin - 6-8 mm thick, otherwise they would be too heavy and not elastic enough. For strength and good sliding, and most importantly - so that they do not "slip" when climbing uphill, the skis are glued with kamus, that is, with the skin from the legs of deer.

These skis, which require a certain amount of skill to make, are usually expensive, difficult to obtain, and therefore a hunter must be able to repair them. This is often necessary directly on the hunt, for example, when they break.

To do this, a so-called "goby" is made from a frozen birch stick and tied up on the lower side with dratva. The goby is a half-meter stick 10-12 mm thick, the ends of which are rounded into a cone. One side of the bull, adjacent to the kamus, is made flat, while the other remains semicircular.

The front end of the goby is inserted through the slot made for the kamus, and the middle and the rear end are tightly pulled up to the kamus by dratva. So that the trash does not interfere with the sliding of the ski and does not fray in the goby, it is necessary to cut the corresponding indentations for it. The tree is taken raw (frozen), as it glides well and has sufficient strength. In order to make repairs, you must have an awl, a needle and a dratva with you. The additional weight to the ski turns out to be so insignificant, and it died at the point of the break so small that I went on two more fishing seasons on the repaired skis. Often, the front ends of the skis straighten out from long work. The skis begin to dive into the snow. This tires the hunter very much, forcing him to stop often, shake off the scooped snow from the skis, and sometimes abandon further hunting.

Meanwhile, this drawback can be eliminated very simply. It is enough to warm up the end of the ski over a fire (preferably over coals), but so as not to set the ski on fire and not set the camus on fire, then step on it with your foot and lift the ski up to 50-60 °. After 5-10 minutes, the ski cools down and takes the required shape.

In conclusion, I will share my experience in making skis. On one of the sable hunts in Southern Transbaikalia, we brought two culled horses to feed the sables and used the skins for kamus. With an ax and a small plane with us, we split straight-layer pine logs into blocks and hewn them down to finger thickness. Further processing of the boards was carried out with a plane. The thickness of the boards was adjusted to 6mm at the ends and 8mm in the middle for the foot.

We had a camus, and we welded glue from scraps of leather. The whole work took, in fact, only one day, except for the fact that drying the boards took several days. The most important operation was the camus sticker. For a long time we could not glue the edges of the kamus, and we just sewed them to the ski with a piece. After the skin, being stretched still wet, then began to dry, the folds of the skis straightened.

We got out of this predicament in the same way that the deficiency in old skis was eliminated, that is, we warmed them up at the stake and bent them. The skis turned out to be very strong and springy enough.

It is useful to learn this experience for the development of deep hunting grounds, which in most cases are the most deeply snowy, where skis are needed.

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HOW TO TURN THE ENDS OF SKI

Many hunters use homemade or homemade skis. Often the socks of such skis during summer storage are strongly unbent. The easiest way is to fold them in the following way. This will require two strong sticks 2-3 fingers thick and 60-70 cm long, a log cut into two equal parts, round timber 15-20 cm in diameter, a piece of soft wire and a strong rope.

One of the ends of the stick is loosely tied to a well-steamed toe of the ski with a wire, and a round timber is put in place of the fold, and through it, with a stick, like a lever, the end of the ski is gradually bent. The free end of the stick is tightly or not very tight (depending on the diameter of the round timber, the length of the stick and the size of the bend), attached to the ski with a rope. In this position, the ski is left to dry out for several days (see fig.).

So that the socks of the skis do not unbend over the summer, it is useful to keep them tied in this way.

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N. ALEKSEEV

REPAIR OF SKI AND STICKS TO THEM

In the event of a crack or split in the toe of the ski, the damaged area can be glued with casein glue, then clamped in clamps and dried for at least 24 hours. , for greater strength, a cut is made at the end of the heel of the ski (Fig. 1), a wooden dowel is glued into the cut.

If the ski is broken in the toe or tail, you should not make wooden or metal pads attached with nails and screws. A fractured or broken heel or toe must be removed by making a saw cut obliquely "on a mustache" towards the tail, that is, to the rear end of the ski (Figure 2). The removed part of the ski is replaced with a bar. The width of the heel block should be 3-4 mm more than the width of the ski, and its thickness should be 20 mm more than the thickness of the ski.

When changing a broken ski toe, a birch block 60-65 cm long, 11-12 cm wide and 2 cm thick is cut with a plane on a cone along a length of 30 cm, so that its thickness descends to the front end of the bar to 1, 2 cm. The birch block is planed from side facing the core of the tree. Then the planed part of the bar is dipped into a tank of boiling water and steamed for one hour. The sock can be bent in a frame of wooden bars (Fig. 3) The clearance of the frame is 30x30 cm.The steamed end of the bar is placed on the frame, bent in the middle and an oval bar 4x6 cm thick is laid between the bent bar and the frame from below.The curved toe is dried without removing it from the frame on a stove or some other heat source for 6-7 days. A new toe or heel is glued with glue, clamped with a clamp or in a carpenter's bench and dried for at least 24 hours. Then the bar is planed and trimmed to the required size using a hump plane and chisels. The enlarged part is impregnated with resin, dried for 36 hours and varnished with oil varnish. The skis repaired in this way will become reliable in operation.

The hunter does not always need sticks, but it is still not bad to be able to repair them. If a stick made of ordinary wood cracks, casein glue is smeared into the crack, the shaft is clamped into clamps and dried for at least 24 hours. Then the glued place is coated on the outside with glue, allowed to dry slightly and wrapped with twine, carefully securing the ends. There is no need to glue the crack in the bamboo shaft. The damaged area is wrapped with twine, strong thread or cord (Fig. 4). If a wooden ring is broken, then on the damaged place on the outer and inner sides of it you can put tires, fixed on the ring with a wire winding with a thickness of 1-1, 5 mm. Shinks 7-8 mm wide and 4-5 cm long are best cut from a canning cans or sheet roofing iron with a thickness of 0.5-0.6 mm. To replace a damaged spike (tip) with a new one, you need to drive a wooden rod (cork) lubricated with glue into its socket. When replacing a thorn in bamboo poles, carefully inspect the end of the shaft into which this thorn is driven. If there is a crack in the bamboo, then remove the damaged end by shortening the stick by one link. The cut is made 3-4 mm above the bamboo lintel, and then a wooden, preferably birch, cork greased with glue is inserted into its hollow section.

Sticks should not be stored in an inclined position, as the shaft is bent by sagging. Bamboo sticks should not be placed in the immediate vicinity of heating devices, because the air in the hollow chambers of the shaft, oh expansion when heated, contributes to the formation of cracks.

From the originator. Additionally, you can see the materials on the manufacture of skis on the website:

DIY ski making

hunting skis

hunting skis

dressing of moose kamus (V.S.)

Many people successfully make good skis for themselves. The material for them is usually a strong straight-grained birch. Such trees are most often found in dry, high places.

Wood must be harvested in winter, when the movement of sap in the tree is suspended. The tree must be cleaned of bark, as it interferes with the drying of the wood and promotes decay. then the tulle harvested along the length of the skis is sawn or split into bars. in the bars from which the skis are made, the annual layers should be located in arcs to the sliding surface.

Bars 5 cm thick are tied at the ends using strips, and a spacer about 5-6 cm thick is pushed into the middle.In this state, the bars are dried in a cool place so as not to break for 15-20 days. After the bars are dry enough, a ski pattern is applied to them. All excess wood is roughly trimmed and then trimmed with a scherhebel.

After that, they begin to bend the ends of the skis. their socks are burned a little and for 40-60 minutes they are steamed in hot water the water should be very hot all the time, for which two or three stones heated on fire are placed in a tub or in a tub every 15-20 minutes.

The ends of the skis are bent on a special block, which gives the bend the desired profile. The steamed ends of the skis are fixed to the last with clamps or straps and a rope. In this form, skis are dried in a cool place, for example, under the ceiling, for 5-6 days.

dry skis are removed from the block and finally finished. chamfering on the upper plane of the skis is done using a humpback planer or a semicircular chisel. on the lower sliding surface, a semicircular or square groove is selected. it is made 4 -5 cm deep and 2 cm wide.

The toe strap on the hunting loaf is attached in the same way. as on sport skiing... but the center of gravity should be approximately in the middle of the foot so that the backs of the skis always outweigh. This is very necessary when walking on soft snow, when it is necessary for the skis to be easily controlled and for the hunter to move silently through the bushes, the skis, finally finished with a cycle and glass skin, need to be impregnated with hot resin. in extreme cases, the upper surface of the skis can be left white, but then it must be saturated with hot drying oil.

The length and width of hunting skis depend on the nature of the terrain where the skis have to be used, the body weight of the hunter along with the suit and necessary equipment, and, finally, the nature of the snow cover.
so that skiing while hunting was not burdensome, the pressure on soft snow should not exceed 0.3 kgf / dm2, on medium-density snow - 0.35 kgf / dm2 and on dense snow - 0.4 kgf / dm2.

For the correct choice of the type of skis and their sizes, depending on the total mass (the hunter's body plus clothing and equipment for hunting in the steppe area, in the forest-steppe and in the forest, the table is given.

weight,	Dimensions, mm (Fig. 1)
kg	D	E	F	Z	AND	TO	L	M	O	NS
type 1 skis - steppe
65-80	1900	950	850	300	750	110	5	100	35	40
85-100	2250	1125	1000	300	950	-	-	-	-	-
skis of the 2nd type - forest-steppe
65-80	1900	950	850	300	750	135	10	115	40	50
85-100	2100	1050	950	300	850	-	-	-	-	-
skis of the 3rd type - forest
65-80	1800	900	775	300	725	150	10	130	45	55
85-100	2000	1000	875	300	825	-	-	-	-	-

The snow cover during the winter in terms of the degree of density is very different, so it is useful for every hunter to have skis of two sizes - one narrower, and the others wider. while the snow is loose, you can use wider skis, and when the snow is thicker, you can use narrower ones.

Any hunter or winter tourism enthusiast knows how hard it is to walk on virgin snow, even on wide hunting skis. If we also take into account the mass of equipment (backpack, gun, supplies), it turns out that the support area of ​​skis for loose snow should be 2.5 - 3 times larger than that of ordinary skis.

Many hunters, especially from the Russian North, successfully make homemade skis from straight-grained birch.

The wood should be harvested in winter, when the movement of sap in the tree has stopped. The tree is cleaned from the bark, a tulle is made along the length of the skis. The tulle is sawn, split into bars five centimeters thick.

With the help of strips, the bars are tied, a spacer about six centimeters thick is pushed into the middle part. After that, the bars are sent for drying for twenty days. Drying should take place in a cool place.

When the bars are dry, future skis are drawn on them, the excess wood is ground down, and then shaved off with a sherhebel.

To fold the ends, use the following technique. The socks are burned a little, then steamed in boiling water for about an hour. The ends are bent on a special block. The steamed and bent ends are fixed directly on the block with strips, ropes or clamps. After that, the skis must be dried in a cool place for six days.

Hunting kamus skis must fully meet the requirements for strength, flexibility, breadth. Sheathing skis with leather removed from the legs of an elk, horse or red deer is very helpful. This kind of hunting skis are called kysovy or kamus skis. Experienced hunters have long noticed that horse or deer skin kamus has excellent driving characteristics. As for durability, here the moose kamus is out of competition, in terms of the noiselessness and softness of the move, the champion kamus made of reindeer and red deer.

A ski with a glued camus becomes much stronger in bending, but it does not become much heavier. Before gluing the camus, the skis are covered with two layers of glue, then dried and another layer is applied. After that, you can stretch a wet camus on the ski, roll it over the growth of the bristles, squeezing out excess glue. The camus should be completely aligned. The next stage is ski wrapping, which can be done with twine or bandage. So the kamus sticks to the sides as tightly as possible.

After drying the ski, the twine or bandage is removed, and the excess pieces of kamus along the edges of the skis are cut off with a blade. As for adhesives for gluing camus, epoxy BF glue is quite suitable, but it is still better to use wood glue with the addition of a small amount of acetic acid, which makes the glue waterproof.