How to make skis from aspen. hunting skis

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

Wood must be harvested in winter, when the movement of juices 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 tulka harvested along the length of the skis is sawn or split into bars. in the bars from which skis are made, the annual layers should be located in arcs towards the sliding surface.

Bars 5 cm thick are tied at the ends with planks, 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 tear for 15-20 days. After the bars are dry enough, a ski pattern is applied to them. All excess wood is roughed off, and then planed with a sherhebel.

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

The ends of the skis are bent on a special block that gives the bend the desired profile. The steamed ends of the skis are fixed on the block with the help of clamps or strips and a rope. In this form, the skis are dried in a non-hot place, for example, under the ceiling, for 5-6 days.

dried skis are removed from the block and finally finished. chamfering on the upper plane of the skis is carried out 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 golits is attached in the same way. as on sports 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 that the skis be easily controlled and that the hunter move silently through the bushes, the skis, finally finished with cycles and glass skins, must be soaked with hot resin. in extreme cases, the upper surface of the skis can be left white, but then it must be soaked with hot drying oil.

lenght and width hunting skis depend on the nature of the terrain where you have to use skis, the hunter's body weight along with the suit and necessary equipment and, finally, the nature of the snow cover.
in order for skiing while hunting to be easy, 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 right choice the type of skis and their sizes depending on the total mass (the body of the hunter plus clothes and equipment for hunting in the steppe, in the forest-steppe and in the forest is given in the table.

weight,	Dimensions, mm (Fig. 1)
kg	D	E	AND	W	AND	TO	L	M	ABOUT	P
skis of the 1st type - 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	—	—	—	—	—
type 3 skis - 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 can be very different in terms of density, so it is useful for every hunter to have two sizes of skis for himself - one is narrower and the other is wider. while the snow is loose, you can use wider skis, and when the snow is compacted, narrower ones.

Every hunter or lover of winter tourism knows how hard it is to walk on virgin snow even on wide hunting skis. If we take into account the mass of equipment (backpack, gun, supplies), it turns out that the supporting area of \u200b\u200bskis for loose snow should be 2.5 - 3 times larger than that of ordinary ones.

Many hunters, especially from the Russian North, successfully do homemade skis from straight birch.

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

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

When the bars dry out, future skis are painted on them, the excess wood is ground down, and then planed with a sherhebel.

For bending the ends, the following method is used. Socks are burned a little, then they are steamed in boiling water for about an hour. The ends are bent on a special block. Steamed and bent ends are fixed directly on the block with straps, ropes or clamps. After that, the skis must be dried in a cool place for six days.

Hunting skin skis must fully comply with the requirements for strength, flexibility, and breadth. It helps a lot to cover skis with skin taken from the legs of an elk, horse or deer. This kind of hunting skis are called kys or kamus. Experienced hunters It has long been noticed that horse or deer skin has excellent driving characteristics. As for strength, here elk skins are beyond competition, in terms of noiselessness and softness, the skins of reindeer and red deer are the champion.

A ski with a glued skin becomes much stronger in bending, but it does not become much heavier. Before gluing the skins, the skis are covered with two layers of glue, then dried and another layer is applied. After that, wet skins can be pulled onto the ski, rolled over the growth of the bristles with a roller, squeezing out excess glue. The skin must be completely level. Next stage- ski winding, which can be done with twine or bandage. So the camus is glued to the sides as tightly as possible.

After drying the ski, the twine or bandage is removed, and the excess pieces of skin along the edges of the skis are cut off with a blade. As for glues for gluing skins, 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 water resistant.

With the fall of deep snow, hiking without skis in the steppe and in the forest becomes impossible.
in different areas apply the most Various types skis. In Siberia, Evenki and Yakut hunters use short skis, shoulder-length, but rather wide - up to 25 cm. For an unusual person, such skis seem extremely uncomfortable. in the Altai, in the Sayans, and in the European north of Russia, skis of a different type are used: they do not exceed the height of the hunter and are not more than 15-18 cm wide.
for forest hunting, skis are usually made "kamas" - lined with fur on the underside. the best camas are deer and elk. hunting on unlined skis - naked, especially over rough terrain and in the mountains - is impossible when climbing without sticks, the skis slide, the hunter quickly gets tired.
the choice of skis is determined by three main conditions. depending on the terrain, either golitsy or camas skis are needed. the width of the skis depends on the nature of the snow cover. for soft, loose snow, they require wider ones, and for dense snow cover, narrower ones.
for hunting in the forest, short skis are needed, and in open areas, longer ones.

CAMA SKI
hemmed skis are made from thin-layer seasoned spruce, of course, the spruce tulka must be thick enough to completely cover the width of the skis, the tulka must be split and blanks should be cut out of the block. layers of wood should be located in the same way as on bare skis with annual arcs to the sliding surface of the blank, it must be dried for 20-30 days, after which you can start processing them. The toe bend on hemmed skis becomes quite insignificant. toe straps - yuks - are fastened through holes turned in place of the foot. the rear end of the skis is also bent slightly; the middle of the skis should have a small spring - a bulge after the skis are completely finished, they start pasting them with camas. Camas are sewn together with reindeer veins along the width of the skis so that they can be pulled over the upper edges of the ski. from the side of the mezra, camas, like the lower surface of the ski, are smeared with hot fish glue and then stretched. the edges of the camas on the upper side of the ski are pulled together with threads, and in this state they are allowed to dry when the glue dries, the excess edges of the camas on the upper side of the ski are evenly cut off, and the skis are ready. for skis raised on a toe strap, the rear end should outweigh the camas well glued with fish glue, it lasts for years. on hunting skis, it is useful to make holes in the socks in order to be able to tie them to a cord and drag them along. When hunting on skis, it is convenient to use one ski pole. the stick should be the height of the hunter. at the lower end, a ring is attached to it, as on sports sticks. a ski pole makes walking easier, and when shooting from a rifle, it can also replace a bipod. for the summer, camas skis need to be tied with the sliding side together, just like the bare, with a strut in the middle. To prevent the moth from beating the camas, you need to wrap the skis with a newspaper soaked in kerosene.

Instruction

For self-manufacturing skis, you can take boards about 5 cm thick. Peel off the bark, cut it into bars 10 cm wide and 3-4 cm thick. You can split along the length, getting two identical bars. The length of the bar should be equal to the skier with his arm raised vertically.

Now tightly tie the bars at the ends, put spacers (8-10 cm) between them and leave to dry in a hot place for a week. After drying, give the bars the shape of skis. To lift your ski toes, warm them up with a blowtorch or oven, or soak them in hot water until you can bend them and secure them in the block. After making sure that the ends of the skis are bent evenly, dry them for 3-4 days on the oven.

After drying the skis, proceed to processing. On the bottom of the skis, cut a semi-circular groove for better glide from the heel to the rise of the ski bend. Gutter width 12-15 mm, depth 2 mm.

Hollow out in the place where your leg will stand, a hole for the front (nose) strap 4-5 mm wide, 3 cm long. If you hang the ski by the front, then the front of the ski should outweigh a little. More straps for skiing in felt boots will not be needed.

Thoroughly sand, coat with varnish, tar or resin the entire surface of the skis.

For a good glide, coat the underside of the ski with resin. First, heat it by the stove, then cover it with wood resin and heat it again. Avoid charring the ski and make sure that the resin is evenly absorbed. After impregnation with resin, the sliding surface should darken and become dark brown. Insert a spacer between the still heated skis and tie at the ends, and upper part and wax the sides of the skis so that the snow does not stick to them. And on the cargo platform on which the leg will be located, stuff a piece of tin, thin iron or smooth rubber, then snow will not stick to the platform.

Skiing is a great recreation and an exciting sport that is impossible without special equipment - ski poles, the skis themselves and, of course, the bindings with which the skis are attached to your shoes. There are three main types of ski bindings suitable for different types skiing, and if soft bindings are practically not used by skiers, then hard and semi-rigid bindings are used everywhere, and every skier needs to learn how to fasten them to their boots.

Instruction

If you don't have special ski boots, metal semi-rigid bindings in the form of staples that are attached to the skis are suitable for you. The boot is held in the bracket with the help of special straps and buckles. It is enough to tighten the straps correctly, fasten the buckles, and the fasteners are ready. But their disadvantage lies in the lack of strength and big weight.

Best for skiing and learning to ski are hard mounts, which are like a solid metal frame and are put on special ones. When choosing these fasteners, make sure that they fit your ski boots, and also check their quality and strength - all spikes must be strong, there must be no cracks in the metal, and the fastening shackle must firmly hold the boot. In extreme cases, the bow can be adjusted additionally or supplemented with rubber pads.

Balance the ski flat surface- for example, on the edge of the ruler to determine its center of gravity. Place the mount on the ski so that the front edge of the brace is located on the center of gravity line, and the longitudinal axis of the boot in the mount, passing between the big and index toes and the back point of the heel, coincides with the same axis of the ski.

Putting the mount on the ski, install the boot into it and check whether it sits firmly enough in the mount and whether the side edges of the bracket fit snugly enough to the welts of the boot. In order to check if the heel is moving away from the main line of the ski, tighten the front fastening screw and insert the boot into it.

Make sure everything is in the correct position, and screw the binding with the remaining screws, and then make holes for the spikes in the sole of the boot. If you have plastic and not wooden skis, before screwing the screws, fill the hole with epoxy or BF glue.

When everything is ready, lift the boot with the ski attached to it. If the front side of the ski outweighs the back, you did everything right.

Hunting skis, do it yourself

With certain skills and knowledge hunting skis you can make your own. The most durable skis are made from birch and maple, the less durable ones are made from spruce. A birch ridge for skiing is best harvested in winter, when the movement of juices in the tree is suspended. The tree is chosen even, with thin bark, without knots in the lower part of the trunk. From a fallen tree, a two-meter ridge is sawn off from the butt, which is split or sawn into bars, parallel to the run of the trunk and the direction of the wood fibers. After that, the blocks are hewn, resulting in boards 3.5-4 cm thick. The outer side of the board facing the bark is always used for the lower sliding surface of the skis, and the butt part for bending the socks. After drying for at least a month, the board is shaped like a ski, then the nose of the ski is steamed in boiling water for half an hour, while it must be borne in mind that insufficient softening of the wood can lead to a break in the toe when it is bent, and excessive steaming leads to the formation of wrinkles on the inner surface wear or cracking. The bend of the ski toe is made on a wooden, home-made template, and its curvature should be made somewhat steeper than the desired bend of the ski toe, since they are unbent ten millimeters removed from the template after a week of drying. Before removing the skis from the template lower part the bend, for its better fixation, is “roasted” on coals. After all this, the ski blanks are processed in accordance with the required dimensions, which must correspond to the weight of the hunter, but in any case, the height of the skis should not exceed the height of the owner. With loose snow, one kilogram of the hunter's weight should account for about fifty square meters. centimeters of support, based on this it turns out that with a hunter weighing 70 kg, the ski support area should be equal to 3,500 square meters. see, which is achieved by the following dimensions: ski length 160 cm, width 22 cm. Holes are drilled in the ski toes for towing them. Finished hunting skis it is necessary to impregnate with heated wood resin diluted with turpentine and tar.

Hunting skis and their types

There are three types of hunting skis:

golitsy;
kamus;
combined.

golitsy- skis not lined with skins. Before going hunting sliding surface golits must be treated with a specially prepared ointment, for example, consisting of melted wax (three parts) and one part of stearin and fish oil. It is better to prepare special ointments designed for certain temperature conditions. The ointment used during a thaw or with a slight frost (down to -10 ° C) consists of three parts of paraffin, two parts of brown wax and a small amount of tar. A frozen piece of such a mixture is rubbed on the heated lower surface of the ski, then rubbed to a shine with a cloth. At lower temperatures, an ointment is used, consisting of three parts of wax, one part of stearin, one part of blubber (or fish oil) with the addition of a small amount of tar and rosin. In very severe frosts (below -30 ° C), it is good to lubricate the skis with commercial tar. The main drawback of the golits is the difficult climb uphill. Known tricks - climbing "herringbone" or "ladder" - in the dense taiga are impossible. To overcome a steep climb, you have to make large zigzags, which take a lot of time and effort. All this can be avoided by equipping the barren heads with a simple device - brake plates. To do this, a plate is cut out of three-millimeter aluminum along the width of the ski and 15 cm long. One end of it (stubborn) is made rounded, the second is bent into a tube into which a thick, preferably stainless, wire is inserted, its ends are bent in the form of a bracket with loops at the ends , which are fixed on the heel of the ski with an aluminum plate 4 cm long. On the heels of the skis, 16 cm from the edge, clamps are installed that secure the thrust plates when driving on level ground. When overcoming the rises, the plates are removed from fixation and freely stretch along the track, without interfering with the movement forward, but as soon as hunting skis went back, they rest against the snow with their lower end and hold the hunter in place.

The second device that eliminates the lack of golits is a brush made of coarse hair (bristle), for which the ski itself serves as a block. The brush is placed in front of the support platform and behind it. The brush hair bundles are placed in relation to the sliding surface of the ski, to its heel at an angle of 45°. For the manufacture of brushes on the lower surface of the skis, holes for them are broken out. Holes that are best pierced with an awl are staggered. They should be conical with a diameter of 2 mm on the upper surface and 4 mm on the lower surface. To facilitate the work, the holes can first be drilled with a two-millimeter drill, and then, to give them a taper, processed with a four-millimeter wire awl. To ensure the same inclination of the holes, it is necessary to make a template.

So that the brush hair bundles do not bend very steeply, a recess is made opposite each hole at the back along the course of the ski. After all the holes are ready, they need to be deburred. Next, we proceed to the manufacture of brushes, for the device of which bristles 7 cm long are harvested. fishing line with a section of 1 mm, with the help of a carnation, we fix it with one end on the upper surface of the ski at the front extreme hole, then we put the line itself in the form of a loop from top to bottom and put a bundle of bristles into this loop. The intended bend of the bristles on the loop is liberally smeared with glue, preferably epoxy, after which the free end of the fishing line is pulled up, while the bundle of bristles fits tightly into the conical hole. Then the fishing line is threaded into the next hole and the whole operation is repeated again, and so on until the end, after which the second end of the fishing line is fixed in the same way as the first. After the necessary drying, the hair on the brush is cut in a plane parallel to the plane of the ski, leaving tufts of hair no more than 15 mm. The puncture points on the upper surface of the skis are covered with a colorless varnish. If converted in this way hunting skis do not keep you on the slope, then either the slope is very steep, or the weight of the skier is heavy, and it's just worth adding a few rows of beams.

Camus skis devoid of the flaws of the golits. They provide speed of movement and stability in deep loose snow and the ability to climb uphill with a normal step. Camus - a hard-haired part of the skin, taken from the lower part of the legs of an elk, deer, horse. According to most hunters, horse skin is considered the best skin, it is also called the most popular. Elk skin is considered the most durable, and the softest, non-creaking skin is reindeer skin. Roe deer, musk deer, deer are also used. In coastal areas, seal skins are often used for these purposes. Camus is selected so that there is as little "transverse" hair as possible. To lighten the weight, the skins are skinned to an extremely small thickness, after which they are sewn into one long strip with a pile directed in one direction. When installing the skin on hunting skis it is necessary to follow the general direction of the hairline, it is necessary that in the middle of the camus the hair lies parallel to the edges of the ski, otherwise, when moving, it will go to the side, in other words, “mow”. When fixing skins on skis, they either nail it or sew it on and, finally, it can be put on glue.

Hunters do not have a unanimous opinion on this matter. The skins are nailed starting from the toes of the skis, first along the “axis” with studs with a wide hat, maintaining a distance of 5 cm between them. If some nails have gone through the ski, it's okay, the skis bent to the side of the heel of the ski hold the skins more securely.

You can sew on a camus with a smeared with var. For strength, the edge of the camus is overcast with a vein. Before installation, the skin must be soaked in warm water. Then, every 10 cm (at the toe of the ski after 5 cm), two holes are drilled or pierced with a diameter of the thickness of the dart: one retreating from the edge of the bast by 10 mm, the second by 18 mm. Through these holes, a thread is pulled through, which is used to attract and tie the skin to the ski. The free end of the thread, overcasting the edge of the skin, goes to the next pair of holes, and the whole operation is repeated around the entire perimeter of the ski, starting from its toe. With this method of attaching the skin, it can be quickly replaced when it becomes unusable and wipes off. Without spoiling the skis, this is difficult to do if the skins are nailed with small nails.

Most hunters believe that hunting skis with glued skins are stronger in bending, because all the strength is in the ceilings and glue. Before gluing the skin, the ski is covered twice with glue. After drying, a third layer of glue is applied and the wet skin is pulled onto the ski, after which it must be rolled with a roller in the direction of the hair until the excess glue comes out and the skin is completely leveled. Then the ski is wrapped with a bandage or twine so that the skin on the sides sticks well and does not warp. After the necessary drying, the bandage (twine) is removed, the excess skin is cut along the edges with a sharp knife. For gluing the skins, various adhesive compositions are used. This is both BF and epoxy-based glue, but wood glue with a small addition of acetic acid is most preferable, which makes the glue water resistant. For the summer, skin skis are tied with the sliding side inward with a spacer in the middle. To prevent skin damage by moths, it is necessary to wrap the skis in newspaper soaked in kerosene.

The disadvantage of skin skis is that the skin gets wet and hunting skis become heavy and unmanageable. Therefore, many hunters make combined skis, for this, gluing a narrow strip of skins on the sliding surfaces of the skis, which is located in the middle, along the entire sliding surface. The width of the skin strip must be at least 8 cm, which ensures sufficient braking of the skis from sliding backwards when climbing uphill. The skin tape is glued as follows: glue is applied in an even layer on the surfaces to be glued, after which the skin strip is placed strictly in the middle of the sliding surface of the ski with a pile to the heel and pressed tightly until the glue is completely dry. After gluing the skin strip, excess glue along its edges must be removed. The ends of the skin strip must be bent at the toe and heel onto the upper surface of the ski and fixed with glue, it is allowed to glue the skin strip directly onto the sliding surface of the ski, but, to improve performance, it is better to place it in a specially selected groove 2 mm deep and 80 mm wide.

In all the options described above, kamus is used both dressed and not dressed. You can make camus yourself. To do this, 10 liters of water are poured into a wooden container, 1 kg of table salt is poured into it and, with special care, 200 ml of sulfuric acid are poured in, all this is thoroughly mixed. Kamus is placed in the resulting solution for three days, after which it is taken out and nailed with carnations, stretched on a board, to dry, with the flesh up. Kamus made in this way is not afraid of dampness. And one more thing: when working with the skin, it is necessary to correctly process it at the joints, for which, at the junctions of the skin, both ends of it are cut to "no", in the same place it is necessary to cut the hair itself.

Hunting skis and their binding

And the last important detail - fastenings. On the one hand, they must securely hold the foot, on the other hand, for example, in the event of a fall or, if necessary, quickly get off the skis, they should almost automatically release their legs. Mounts are installed in such a way that the heel of the ski during movement gives a greater draft than the toe. To do this, find the center of gravity of the ski and draw a transverse line through it, then stepping back from the toe 40 mm, draw a second line parallel to the first, which will be the line for the beginning of the fastening. The support platform for the foot is best made from multilayer plywood, select a groove for the loop from below and glue it to the ski with waterproof glue, for greater reliability you can also screw it with screws. Under the foot itself, it is necessary to stick microporous rubber, which, when compressed and unclenched, does not allow the snow to be compressed under the foot. In the absence of rubber, a birch bark plate can be used, and it is glued only along the edges. Fastening straps are best made from well-smoked elk skin, it does not get wet and does not stretch, as is the case with rawhide, sagging from dampness. You can also use canvas straps. There are many ways of fastening, I will give some of them.

First. The main strap passes through the toe of the shoe just behind the toes, and the heel strap is attached to it, which, on the leading foot, crosses twice in the instep (double figure eight). The tension of the strap should allow you to pull your leg out from under the main fastening strap at any time. On the second ski, the toe of the foot goes deeper under the main strap, the back strap fits the shoes more freely and crosses once.

Second effective method fastening is that the heel strap is not attached to the main strap, but to a metal hook attached to the front of the support platform, or to the front of the ski itself. With this method of fastening, the leg gets tired and freezes less, since the main load belt practically does not carry and does not squeeze the leg in the shoe.

Sometimes the bindings are sheathed with special stocking bags made of dense material, which, together with the skis, are put on the legs and tied just below the knees. With this method of fastening, the snow does not pack under the foot and does not creak, thereby ensuring the noiselessness of the course, but there is no way to quickly get off the skis.

Since ancient times, the simplest and at the same time reliable fastening has been known. The heel strap is completely absent here, the whole secret lies in the fact that bosses are sewn onto the toe of the felt boot, tarred with tar (it is good to make it from the top of another felt boot). It is enough to raise the heel of the foot higher, put the toe of the felt boot with the boss under the main belt and that's it. When moving through deep loose snow, some hunters tie the ropes with one end to the holes in the toes of the skis, and with the other - under the knees, thus freeing the front halves of the skis from falling through the snow.

In this article presented to your attention, I have tried to cover the richest experience hunters of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. I apologize in advance if this came out a little awkward. With great respect to all fellow hunters.