Ski Builders Forum

Hi everyone.
I live in Adelaide, Australia and i'm currently 'designing' my skis. looking at material (base, top-sheet, binding inserts, edges) costs i cant find any sites within Australia that distribute these parts sites such as 'the ski lab' and snowboard materials are fine except shipping costs is around $100 USD, which I'm willing to pay but I'm wondering if there are any sites within Australia? Where do the rest of you Aussies get your stuff?
Cheers

forgot to mention... best deal i found was on skilab- $242aud ($182aud)(inc shipping) for 4m clear topsheet, 4m fluro orange base, 320inch edges, inserts.

-and $267aud ($202usd)(inc shipping) on snowboard materials for inserts, 2m x 330mm base (ill cut it in half lengthways), 2m x 330mm clear topsheet (same as above) 336inches edge and enough sidewalls for a pair.
Thanks.

Ur g9nna wnt to buy for 10 pair or so.

Dude you get hit with it no matter where you buy from. Skilab and snowboardmaterials.com both work out about the same once it adds up. I prefer the inserts at snowboardmaterials.com as the skilab ones arent threaded right to the bottom as neatly.
Blank slate skis are pretty good for freight, their range is smaller than others though.
If you try to bulk order to save freight cost you really need to order big before it makes much difference, so pretty much you are just stuck with it. Its not a cheap option for skis or boards here in Aus mate.

hit me up on junksupply with the list of material and I can provide you a quote from Sweden as well. I am not sure if it is cheaper or more expensive, but than you have a comparison. I get some buyers from Australia, as I understand, there is no option in Australia. I think its mainly as most of the big suppliers are in Europe or USA.

Hi again
I just got a timber quote for 330$ for poplar and ash for one pair of skis, does anyone know of any Australian timbers that could possibly be a substitute for these.
Thanks!

Hi,

I'm also buying timber to build my first pair of skis. I'm in Melbourne. Your quote seems expensive. This is what I've found so far:

Poplar: I've been quoted $11.45 per linear metre for American poplar in dressed 190x19mm profile. That's from Matthews timber which is in Victoria but might courier to you.

Paulownia: Empress Trees in Coffs Harbour. Four lengths of 2000x100x50 is $80 plus $40 shipping to Melbourne. I think that might be rough sawn.

Bamboo: Seems very difficult to find vertical laminated now. Found one product on floorboards online website which is $122 per pack of 7 boards (152x1900) and $65 delivery to Melbourne.


Looking through past posts on the forum, several people have used pine, sometimes with hardwood stringers. I think I read that some commercial manufacturers use pine as well.

Yeah why are you going for such expensive timbers?
The impact of different timbers is marginal.
Look at what is cheap locally and pick the best suited ones. Pine works fine, especially considering you will get it so cheap that you can hand pick each single stringer in your core so the grain is exactly what you want it to be.
Pine varies in weight a huge amount though and you will learn how to work this as you use it.
As for poplar and paulownia etc i find they are over priced for the benifits they can bring. Australia is full of hardwood, hardest in the world actually, but we dont have a lot of light timber.
Consistent even grain and light weight is all you need, the rest is more wank factor than much else. Chuck in some balsa as you progress if you want super light.
The vertical laminate bamboo floorboards are no longer produced much at all so even that easy option has gone sadly.
Western red cedar is super light and even grain, but I've seen guys on here have some bonding issues with it, even though it is supposed to be great for bonding if you read up on it.
Shape, flex, camber and quality of build are gonna effect the ride of your finished product a lot more than timber in the core. Just make sure to either use some solid stringers for the inserts or add a little extra glass or carbon in those areas if you use softwood.

Oh and to give you an idea of cost, ive built snowboard cores for $10 worth of timber more than a few times.
They are still going hard after 3 or 4 years now and ride like a dream.
Don't get caught up in hype of certain products. Care and attention to detail is more important.

Right thanks, might try some local timber

There is one component I'm still searching for though. Has anybody found a local source for clear or satin finish topsheet material?
I've mainly used timber veneer but I'm looking for a thin clear film that can be used. The proper stuff online all ends up fairly expensive after freight is added.

I haven't gotton any but you could try a local plastics supplier...

you could try dbabicwa on here, he bought a job lot of materials a few years ago