How Do You Make a Skishoe?

November 06, 2017

We advertise that our skishoes are handcrafted in central Pennsylvania. But what does that mean? How do we do it? It may sound simple in theory, but it gets complicated. I must confess that not every part or component of a skishoe is made here, or even in this country, but we do our best to keep things local, or at least made in the United States.

The main component of our skishoe is the ski, actually a hunk of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic, the same #2 material you see in common plastic jugs. For small quantities, we have the ski machined from 4’x8’ sheets of material by MPC Industries, a machine shop in Lancaster, PA. Machining doesn’t lend itself to offering different colors. The material comes in black and red, and black is cheaper, so we go with that to keep our costs down. The skis are machined straight, so once we get them in house, we form the tip on the front end. We do this by heating it with a torch and then bending and holding it in a fixture.

For production quantities, we will injection mold skis. We’re working with a molding company called Selmax in Selinsgrove, PA. They plan to have the mold made by a machine shop in Michigan (this is often done in China). Molding will produce a lighter ski, and we will have greater flexibility in colors.

Next come the tracking fins, another key component of the skishoe.

Made from aluminum sheet, we have these waterjet cut by Stainless System Service in nearby Danville, PA. These press into slots in the bottom of the skis and secure with roll pins. With this design, they can be replaced.

With the ski complete, we can assemble a binding to it. Our snowshoe bindings consist of a standard snowshoe binding mated with a custom-made hinge. Made by Marlboro Manufacturing in OH, the hinge attaches to the ski with screws using the standard 3-hole mounting pattern used for NNN bindings. We have used Redfeather snowshoe bindings made in Wisconsin, and we are also using bindings made by GV Snowshoes in Quebec, Canada. And we are looking at a binding made by NeviTREK Snowshoes in Albany, NY. While all of these work well, we strive to find the snowshoe binding that is easiest to use and work with and performs the best.

For cross-country ski bindings, we use NNN and NNNBC bindings made by Rottefella in Norway and purchased through Vemo Sports in Vermont. NNN is the standard in cross country skiing, and there isn’t a lot of choice on what to use.

As for our accessories, the removable crampons are made by Wilke Enginuity in Hanover, PA. Made from aluminum sheet, they are cut and bent and fasteners pressed in place. We buy the knobs used on them from J.W. Winco, a distributor in Wisconsin. Climbing skins are purchased from Black Diamond Equipment in Salt Lake City, UT. We buy a roll of skin material, cut it to length, and assemble the tip and tail attachments to it.