Maintenance and Repair
The rawhide webbing of traditional snowshoes, as noted above, needs regular waterproofing. Spar varnish is the preferred waterproofing for traditional snowshoes. A light sanding is preferred before 3 coats of spar varnish is applied. Modern snowshoes need no regular maintenance save a sharpening of cleats if desired.
Both kinds of snowshoe, however, can and do break. The most common damage suffered is to the frame, which can be splinted with a stick or piece of wood if necessary. Decking rarely gets broken, but if it is punctured and the hole looks as if it might continue to grow, the best solution is the patching kits made for tents.
Cable ties can serve many purposes in repairing snowshoes. They can splint frames in a pinch, replace a broken rivet, secure a tie or lace, and repair winter clothing as well.
Read more about this topic: Snowshoe
Famous quotes containing the words maintenance and/or repair:
“In public buildings set aside for the care and maintenance of the goods of the middle ages, a staff of civil service art attendants praise all the dead, irrelevant scribblings and scrawlings that, at best, have only historical interest for idiots and layabouts.”
—George Grosz (1893–1959)
“Better to repair the pen after the sheep have escaped than not at all.”
—Chinese proverb.