[TheForge] Re: ice cleats

[Mike Spencer]

> Last year I made a set of ice cleats....The cleats I made were the
> ones on the "Anvil Fire" web site.  Real simple to make. I think they
> were a colonial design.

I made a set last year when we had everything glazed with hard ice.
I'd seen some of, as you say, colonial design many years ago and made
these from not too clear memory.  I think I may need to modify them a
bit.

Although the heels of my boots are nearly 1" and the cleats fit
against the sole ahead of the heel, the 1-1/2" long spikes make for a
very odd gait.  No slipping, for sure, but the 4 spikes penetrate
deeply enough in ice and frozen ground that my trailing foot doesn't
come *up* right.  It's vaguely reminiscent of Parkinson's, where the
victim struggles to get his foot off the ground.

Well, better than a fall.  Peggy is just now regaining full mobility
after replacement of a hip that was damaged in a fall on the ice.

Mine are made from pieces of 1/8" x 2", chisel-split twice on each end
so that (on each end) two pointed spikes can be bent down and a
central tab (with a hole punched in) bent up for bindings.

About 1972, we had an ice storm that covered everything with an inch
of ice.  I couldn't even walk across the yard to the shop. But I had a
last and some hobnails in the kitchen so I studded my bootsoles with
them.  Worked great.  Then I forgot and walked on sombody's newly
installed hardwood floor.  Yow!  Good thing we were long-time friends.
Remarkably, we stayed so.  But I pried out the hobnails after that.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^