I have a cow's shin bone at the back of my freezer. (I thought of it today* because I slipped on my first patch of ice crossing over the bridge to the train station. Winter's getting real!) I mention this old bone whenever I do a school event on my medieval series, The Wickit Chronicles, because someday I mean to make medieval skates with it.
This is what skating has looked like for a long time -
- with a blade that cuts into the ice. But the kind of skates my character Pip has made for him don't cut, but glide.
To get a really good idea of the process, have a look at Hurstwic's wonderful site here - but basically, what you do is, you split your bone lengthwise, dig out the yuck, roughen up the flat side to get a better grip with your shoe, tie them on with leather thongs and, over time, polish up the curved side for smooth sliding. THEN, get hold of one or two sticks with metal points to help shove you along and figure out what way of combining bones and pole(s) works best for you.
This is what skating has looked like for a long time -
Henry Raeburn's Skating Minister
- with a blade that cuts into the ice. But the kind of skates my character Pip has made for him don't cut, but glide.
To get a really good idea of the process, have a look at Hurstwic's wonderful site here - but basically, what you do is, you split your bone lengthwise, dig out the yuck, roughen up the flat side to get a better grip with your shoe, tie them on with leather thongs and, over time, polish up the curved side for smooth sliding. THEN, get hold of one or two sticks with metal points to help shove you along and figure out what way of combining bones and pole(s) works best for you.
"There was a lot of shouted advice, and enthusiastic disagreement among the spectators, and different monks miming different skating styles up and down the foreshore. It was impossible to follow everyone's advice (and besides, whenever Pip stopped to watch them they were so funny he would fall over with laughter), so he just cobbled together his own technique by trial and error. At the cost of innumerable tumbles and a sore backside, he ended up with something halfway between punting and a strange walk."
An image of hunters skating from Olaus Magnus' Historia
(a book which looks like it's full of excellent blogging fodder)
courtesy of the excellent Hurstwic site
Viking bone skates
Image courtesy of the Jorvik Centre, York
* When I say today, I don't mean actually today - i.e. Friday 5 December - because I'm not home today and that's because some of the History Girls are meeting up for High Tea and General Frolics in London as we speak and I'm joining them! 3 huzzahs and pass the cake!
