Doctor Hooves

I'm aiming for this

The two main things I had learned from my previous attempt at building digitigrade stilts were than my hooves needed to be lower and more lightweight. I’d basically have to construct a pair of heel-less platform shoes. Unfortunately, for Muggins is a bit of a sasquatch, shoes with heels that can be cut off are not generally available in Euro Size 45. (I have no idea how I’d kit myself for some Rocky Horror.)

I’d have to build the shoes from scratch.

Basic framework

First I found an old pair of canvas gym shoes, some wood, and a steel U-section off some shelving, cunningly repurposed. I cut one piece of wood down to hoof size, as fitted to the toe of my shoe, and screwed and glued a 45° wedge to it. The steel would provide a rigid support to my heel.

Cardboard shell

Next, the hoof shell. This I made from cardboard, stapling it in place with a heavy-duty staple gun. Small nails would work, but stapling is a one-handed operation. I bent more cardboard to form the gap between the two pieces of a cloven hoof. I do realise that in reality the entire hoof is composed of two independent pieces, but I wanted rigidity. Anyway, everything except the front would eventually be buried in fur.

Expanding polyurethane foam

My cunning plan to keep the weight down was to fill the hoof with expanding polyurethane foam. This stuff comes in an aerosol can, is easy to apply, and expands alarmingly as it goes off. It’s important to wedge the two toes apart rather more vigorously than I did. I ended up with a gap that was really too small, but it was too late to do anything about that by this stage.

Trimmed to final surface

I cut off excess foam with a hacksaw blade. It cuts really easily, and a breadknife would probably do it, but I’d need a hacksaw later anyway. Leave the kitchen knives in the kitchen.

Covered with a thin layer of body filler

Now, a hard outer shell. Car body filler. It goes under several trade names, including Bondo and Plastic Padding. I found a local brand, but it’s all the same stuff. Mix with a little hardener, apply with a palette knife, and smooth it. Bondo is very sticky, and it also goes off in about four minutes, so only mix a small quantity at a time. I covered the walls and sole with Bondo and let it go off for an hour, by which time it was rock hard. Getting the filler in between the toes was very difficult; another good reason for making the gap rather bigger than I did. Some body fillers come with fibre reinforcement. I suspect that this would help, but as I could only buy plain old Vanilla, this is speculation.

Sanded and sculpted

A paddle-wheel sander makes short work of rough Bondo, and it’s fairly quick process to achieve a smooth outer surface. Again, between the toes is almost impossible to get at, but a sanding disc on a power tool gets there eventually. I also used a Surform plane, a hand tool that looks like a cheese grater. I was able to cut some shape into the sole of each hoof in the hope of leaving more realistic hoofprints in the dirt.

The sanding produces an incredible amount of dust, so do this in a well-ventilated space, and definitely wear a dust mask if you don't want to be sneezing Bondo powder for days afterwards.

And then it all went pear shaped.

A thin layer of Bondo is nowhere near strong enough to support my body mass, and cracks almost immediately appeared at the rear of each hoof. As I didn’t want to make them any larger, more drastic action would be required.

Some foam removed to be replaced with more Bondo

First I sawed the hoof soles off, making the hooves about 10mm lower, and dug out about half of the lightweight foam filler. I replaced it with more Bondo, especially at the rear which is where most of my weight would be concentrated most of the time.

Refilled. Now to sand down the soles again

Now with thicker soles, I had the opportunity to sculpt more hoof features into the soles.

After a walk test to check that these would now work without immediately falling to pieces, I glued and screwed the shoes to the wooden plates, and bolted the heels to the metal U-sections. Application of glue would stop the bolts from coming undone. Then I painted the hooves using acrylics, and finally a couple of coats of Elmer’s Glue-All as a sealant and varnish, before gluing the fur in place to cover up all the hardware.

They look OK I think, they leave great hoofprints, and they clop nicely on hard surfaces. These hooves are rather heavier than I originally planned, but the front-loaded weight does help me keep my balance.

Furred and finished

Walk test