 Poster: A snowHead
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Where can I find more details of the old style bindings with wire, cable, springs and leather?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Boredsurfing, ski heritage site?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Boredsurfing wrote: |
| Where can I find more details of the old style bindings with wire, cable, springs and leather? |
Are you upgrading then? 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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PM Ernest Goldsmith, I heard he's giving up skiing and might sell you some.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Unless he is referring to 1930s style Kandahar cable bindings which when the lever in front of the boot was pushed down locked the heel down for alpine skiing, (but did not have safety release!)
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Alastair Pink, Yep thats closer  I bought an old pair of skis at an auction to use as decoration but the leather cable bindings got me wondering ...when I get a moment I'll put a pic on here.
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As Alastair says, cable bindings preceded the invention of step-in safety-release bindings and replaced the 'bear-trap' bindings which earlier locked boot to ski.
Cable bindings were the norm until the early 1960s* and people were still using them until the early 1970s, though they were dangerous in comparison to the best (Look Nevada, Look N17 etc) release bindings then available. Although the above link focuses on Marker release bindings, the Look 'single pivot' toe and turntable heel made a far superior combination, and the former was eventually copied by Salomon when the Look patent expired.
I was on cable bindings from 1959 until about 1963, when my dad bought me a pair of skis with Looks. If you were lucky with cable bindings in a fall, the boot did - in fact - wrench itself out of the cable loop (which slotted into a groove around the back of the boot sole) and you saved yourself a broken leg.
I escaped many potential broken legs, but they were commonplace!
Here's a good photo of the Look combination in the early 1970s:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stones55/396127157/in/photostream/
Check out the solid-metal pure engineering. They were absolutely brilliant, and would be safe to use now - 40 years later.
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* though several safety release bindings had already been developed in the 1950s
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Coincidentally we have just returned from the Arlberg where we stopped off in St Anton to look at the museum. Most interesting experience with archival film and exhibits which include bindings on display showing the changes over the last century. Included were bindings used by Karl Schranz which looked very primitive in comparison with the modern exhibits which were used by Ortlieb and Matt.
I also started on cable bindings in the late '60s. I junked the boots, skis and binding some years ago under pressure from the wife (a mistake in hindsight...err the junking, I mean 
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Having cleaned them up a little bit they are LOOK ESS Nova does that help anyone date them?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Almost certainly 1950s. I don't think they would pre-date that. Look was established three years after the Second World War by the Beyl family.
Does the toepiece swivel, or is it fixed?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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A photo would be interesting
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You know it makes sense.
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That's what I suspected. My memory is that Ess was a separate factory to Look. It was quite common, up to the 1960s, to see people skiing with a different brand of toepiece to cable unit or heelpiece. There were relative advantages of different brands.
I'd estimate that equipment to be late 1950s, possibly early 1960s. The toepiece is relatively advanced, compared to what was available in the 1950s generally.
The skis look as if they are solid wood, painted. Fibreglass appeared around 1962, but it was pre-dated by metal-laminated skis etc. A high proportion of skis were still solid wood around 1960, because it was so cheap, comparatively.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Yes, screw-on edges were the only way to have edges, originally. The first skis I owned were like that. Earlier in the 20th century, the edge of the ski was simply the edge of the wood. The Salomon family entered the ski business by making ski edges and delivering them to various ski workshops/factories in the Savoie.
I've been thinking more about Ess and Look. It's a real memory test. I've a recollection (needs checking) that Ess - which may have been East German - and Look - entered a reciprocal patent agreement to 'co-licence' what they owned in relation to toepieces and heelpieces. As I say, this needs verification. But I seem to recall that Ess ended up making a version of the Look turntable binding.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Picking up this thread has got me thinking about the bindings I learned to ski on in Norway in 1980.They consisted of a plate that was effectively attached to the base of the boot and slotted between two anchor points attached to the skis. The release was basically caused by pressure pushing the plate out sideways from the anchor points. Can anyone shed any light on the make and exactly how they worked? Suspect they would not be too good for my dodgy old knees nowadays!
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