David Dermott wrote in message ...
On 2 Feb 2004, Jason G Tucker wrote:
I am very interested in building a traditional (mostly wooden)
kicksled. If anyone out there has blueprints or at least a fairly
detailed drawing and could post them or e-mail them to me directly I
would greatly appreciate it. Thank You J. G. Tucker Warren,Pa
Several years ago Tom Strang, from Ottawa, had a WWW site with plans
for a kicksled. Unfortunately the WWW site and Tom Strang have
disappeared. I tried e-mailing him, but my mail came back.
Lucky I saved his plans!
The plans included a text file (spark_bu.htm) plus about
20 picture files, totaling about 350 kbytes. I think I've got them all.
The easiest way so send all the files is to put them in one ZIP file.
Can you uncompress a ZIP file? I have temporarily put the ZIP
file at:
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dermott/ski/sparkbuild.zip
Download that file and "un-zip" it. It will create a
directory "build" with all the files. The main file is
"spark_bu.htm"
The project requires some blacksmith skills, bending the metal rails
for the sled runners. Tom said it was easy! But my propane torch isn't hot
enough. I was going to take the rails to a blacksmith or welder and have
them bend them.
Also, check out Jeff Potter's "rustic" kicksled:
"http://www.outyourbackdoor.com/articles2003/spark.sled.html"
Everything I know about kicksled at:
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dermott/ski/spark.html
Thank you very much. These plans are exactly what I was looking for.
Great details, it looks like it will be a nice challenge to build. I
have a couple of questions about the runners. I tried a Crossled a
couple years ago on some groomed x-country trails with the snow
runners and it went great. I'm considering making this kicksled with
wood or wood and plastic runners of about 35-50mm in width. The metal
runners seem as though they would only be effective on ice or very
hard snow. Is this the case? We frequently get heavy lake-effect
snow so there is rarely open ice and the tracks we set get covered up
quickly. Also what is the deepest snow you can use a kicksled in and
still have fun?