If you want to pre bend tip or tails - try using a bit of steel pipe 6 inches or so diameter and put a blowtorch inside it to heat up the pipe. Spray tip/tail with water then put oven paper over the wood - bend over the hot pipe. Have a practice with some scrap to get the right amount of heat - wate...

I have a power feed drum sander that i bought for making thin veneers for guitar building ( another hobby ), cost around $700 Australian This is great for thicknessing wood for ski cores. By opening up the dustcatcher on top you can then sand stuff on top of the drum. It grinds ski bases just fine a...

You guys are right about the hose ratings but I am still trying to avoid using hoses and high pressure air. The case of beer that I would have to buy the fireman, in exchange for the length of hose, would cost more than the bolts my press uses!

You win on the lightness factor - I dont think my sewing would handle the pressure! I am still trying to avoid the pneumatic hose thing as I have seen many failures in the discharge hoses that many seem to be using. We use lots of it where I work.

Have built a press that weighs less than 100lb (just) but it does not use air. It uses 20 bolts along each side with wooden bars doing the pressing. Have to shape the wooden cross bars near the tip and tail which is the only tedious bit, but it works and was cheap! It was welded up from 2 short bits...

Have done thousands of binding mounts in skis that have much weaker cores than Fir! Some have had chipboard cores but the worst were kids foam core skis - you always had to be very careful and pre-tap the holes. I would suggest that you try and pre-tap the holes using the same screw you are mounting...