Classic Canadian Faber Wooden Snowshoes
Wood, Rawhide, Leather, Metal
42.5x14
Canada
Vintage Winter 

This pair of vintage Faber snowshoes is ready for mounting above the fireplace. Adult size - at 45x14.  They are still in good enough condition to strap onto your feet and take you far into the wilderness. Original leather bindings.  Handmade in Canada the same way for many, many years.   White Ash is harvested, and then HOT steam is used to bend the frame into the snowshoe shape.  Rawhide lacing is woven (while wet) to create the distinctive snowshoe footprint.  When the rawhide dries, it becomes taught and can hold the weight of a grown adult on the snow.  Leather bindings were a major upgrade from a simple cloth rope tie, which constituted the foot attachments on the earliest snowshoes. 

Image credit:  Canadian Archives