I have now managed to successfully build skis and ride them, a fine experience and well worth the ton of time and money it took. Now that I have skis for all kinds of conditions I am curious about what to do next and was interested in carbon fiber. I am looking for a ski that has a soft flex but can...

In many modern twin tip skis (non-rocker) the point where the ski touches the snow when it sits flat is also the widest part of the ski. I have an Icelantic Pilgrim in my hand and it is this way. In skis designed for carving the widest point of the tip is further forward (away from the center of the...

I think this issue really matters if you want to design & build skis or boards for groomed snow. I have a pair of Fischer Cold Heat skis in front of me. These are really solid carving skis and they initiate and carve better than any ski I own. The widest part of the tip is a full 3" in fron...

I assume this discussion ended already and I may have missed the point but since the original question hung somewhat unanswered I thought I would explain my understanding just in case it helps a new builder. Effective Edge is the length of the sidecut between the widest part of the tip and tail. Run...

One more question (today), my pump starts to struggle at 21Hg so I set the cut off just above that (used Joe Woodworker design). Should the pump struggle on to get to 24 - 25Hg or should it get there quite easily and I am not being patient? My guess is that it would be 10 secs to 21Hg and another 20...

Head Monkey, thanks for the pic's they helped a lot. Two questions, 1. The top sheet of glass looks almost dry in the picture, is that true or you added a lot more after the pic? 2. The alignment inserts on the base, are they superglued to the base and then you have holes in the core to match? In th...

I will give it try with ski number 2, I think your method will improve the result. Any suggestions on how to soak and squeegee the glass with mixing buckets of epoxy (it goes off fast when there is any volume of it around). Thank you for the help. Wife suggested I make 3 skis for every pair I want t...

Thanks, I understand the presssure is outside the bag, so the pressure is the same around the ski as it is on the top surface so there is no pressure difference to squeeze epoxy out as far as I can tell. In a hose type surface press the pressure on the ski is much higher than the pressure at the edg...

Hi, I just layed up and vacuum pressed my first ski. Apart from being like juggling cats it went OKish. The result was a very fat ski with a lumpy surface, really bad in the binding area. I did not have a lot of room around the ski before the vacuum seal and I may have used too much epoxy. I also us...

I just tried a test with 4 pieces of sidewall each about 3" long. I flamed them just like sammer says above but varied the number of passes from 4 - 5 and them all the way up to 8-10. They all fully bonded to the poplar and tore the wood apart before releasing. The only eareas that were badly b...

First time post and new to ski building. I have been reading as much as I can before I assemble my first pair. The delam issues sounded bad news and i did not have any confidence I could pull it off so I tried a few tests. I epoxy'd 4 pieces of ptex sidewall to a peice of scrap poplar. 1) the factor...