Henry Rifle Forums

I was very stoked yesterday when I left for physical therapy. Two large boxes were in front of my door. They were from a gentleman in New Hampshire, Bill Novacek. He makes wooden canoes, seats for the canoes, handmade snow shoes, and furniture. I ordered a pair of modified bearpaw shoes and a canoe seat from him last month. I got a call Monday that the items were ready and the items arrived yesterday afternoon.
I was very pleased when I got home and unboxed things yesterday. We had a discussion about his seat for my Radisson canoe. No one had ordered one of his seats to use to row, normally the seat is for a passenger to be comfortable on their canoe ride. I plan to use it to row my Radisson in some of the small lakes for fishing. It appeared to be robust and the snow shoes would be needed for next seasons rabbit hunting.
















I looked at several different manufacturers of wooden shoes. There are many good places out on the internet. I settled on Mr. Novacek in a large part due to his about us page. He sources his materials locally and has forged relationships with his suppliers and neighbors. He comes from a small town and his canoe seat really intrigued me. I liked the quality look of his items and wish I could use one of his canoes. I have two Radissons and that's all I need.
I have a set of wooden shoes, Alaskan style, that I've had for over 40 years. Just take care of them and they will last. They haven't seen use in the last decade though, being relegated to wall hangers at the camp. They will now join their new hunting shoes and the aluminum cousins (for guests). I had the bindings and cleats added too. The cleats have the holes drilled, but come separately so you can add them when needed. With care, I hope to get several decades of use from them and hand them down. I'm also hoping that I don't get to use them until next year, I've had enough snow and when I ordered them, I knew they would be arriving after rabbit season.

Very nice craftsmanship. Enjoy those for years.

Very nice Dave! I can see the quality workmanship. You're ready for next year with those shoes, but put that beautiful seat to work soon!

those look like high quality ones to me but my assessment isn't worth much .... outside of hanging on the wall as some display in some store, I've never seen them in our part of the country

Good looking shoes and that is a comfortable looking seat.
I have been eyeing a forward row system to put on my canoe. They are a little pricey but I figure I could really move out and be able to face forward. Have considered making one but it might just be better to buy one and make a rudder for convenience.

those look very nice, but like many, the only snowshoes I have seen in person were hanging on the wall at Cracker Barrel.

Never used snow shoes or skies, never lived or vacationed where we needed them. Had friends that loved skiing, I always passed. I figured the Bono solution would have been my luck. I did have a wicked fast 6ft long sled and that was deadly enough on the icy downhills.

A few of my buddies would vacation in the northwest for snowshoeing and crosscountry skiing trips. Trekking, they called it.

Do you have a link for the shoes? I’m want to order a pair.

Those are gorgeous and I do appreciate and use snowshoes as well as XC skis, but these days I use modern snowshoes, simply because they work better for me. Love that old time handmade quality on those items, though.

Gene, here is a link.

http://www.cooscanoeandsnowshoe.com/Woo ... shoes.html

We got at least 8 inches outside since last night and it's still coming down. I'm about to go out and try them.

daytime dave wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 12, 2022 2:59 pm

Gene, here is a link.

http://www.cooscanoeandsnowshoe.com/Woo ... shoes.html

We got at least 8 inches outside since last night and it's still coming down. I'm about to go out and try them.

Thanks. I really like the looks of them.