Just about everything in the days of wooden skis wanted to bend one way or straighten in the other. The ski tips were often steamed into the curve at the front and would straighten out during the warm summer months unless some device was used to prevent it, likewise the camber which required a block, or spacer to prevent the wood reverting to its original form. All ski boots in the early days were used for both cross country and downhill and the constant flexing of cross country created a bend in the boot which would become permanent if left to dry out so these boot straighteners were designed to solve the probelm. These Austrian, Pedor boot straighteners appeared in the 1960’s Jackson and Wall catalogue – see opposite. – when they would have cost you 12s 6d.(65p) per pair. We suspect they had limited sales except for the fact that they also doubled for carrying boots of any description so the downhillers could use them too.