bamboo flooring for cores

nzjibber · Post by **nzjibber** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:54 pm

Hey skibuilders!

I am starting out on a ski building project and live in New Zealand.

I have a ski press 90% done and am going to build a core profiler this weekend have covered most materials from the skibuilders.com shop but I want to try some bamboo cores like kinsgwood use.

I have just emailed them about where they get theirs but in case they get theirs from overseas I was thinking about using bamboo flooring that I can get locally.

My question is, will this flooring work as it is? I may be able to get some unfinished stuff but if I cant I could always plane the planks down into the bamboo to get rid of the finish on them.

What do you guys recommend I do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Chubz · Post by **Chubz** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:00 am

I currently use bamboo wood flooring for some of the downhill racing skate decks I build. I can say that you better intend on planing it down a good bit. over a 42" length it does not flex one bit under my weight of 215 lbs.. Planing it down to core thickness would be huge waste of material and resawing it to make thinner profiles would be toguh. The next challenge if getting a solid bond at the connection points. To make a ski, you would need to bond at least two floor boards together.

Lastly, bamboo flooring is fairly dense becuase it is comprised of a bunch of thinner laminates and a bunch of bonding agent. With that your tools are going to take a beating and the respirable by-products of cutting the bamboo may cause health effects. I think there would be simply too many variables that coudl go wrong. I ran into cvhallenges in building skateboards (about 10 steps), I cant even imagine the challenges with putting them in a ski or snowboard.

Good luck if you do try it.

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:20 pm

uhhhh, vertically laminate it. Don't want to plane it down and use a single piece of flooring. At least I wouldn't think so. Planing off the finish is a good idea.

hansonc · Post by **hansonc** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:39 am

doughboyshredder wrote:uhhhh, vertically laminate it. Don't want to plane it down and use a single piece of flooring. At least I wouldn't think so. Planing off the finish is a good idea.

Are you saying that it might be a good idea to cut the flooring into strips turn the strips 90 deg and re-assemble? Bamboo flooring is already a laminated product so I'm not sure what the advantage would be to vertically laminating it.

nzjibber · Post by **nzjibber** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:46 pm

doughboyshredder wrote:uhhhh, vertically laminate it. Don't want to plane it down and use a single piece of flooring. At least I wouldn't think so. Planing off the finish is a good idea.

I am going to vertically laminate it obviously but i was asking if it had a finish that might stop the strips sticking together properly.

French-E · Post by **French-E** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:31 pm

Yeah I am interested in making a Bamboo Core.

Is there anyone who has the mecanical properties of Bamboo and if there is different kinds of Bamboo.

Thanks

French E

Three31 · Post by **Three31** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:12 pm

I know this is a very late response, but Ive been using vertically laminated bamboo flooring. Works great. Dont use orizontally laminated though, if it is laminated in the horizontal dirrection the glue will be in the shear plane of the wood and, although it will work, it will increase possibilities of failure.

threeninethree · Post by **threeninethree** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:27 pm

Teragren makes a solid vertical bamboo panel with dimensions of 1' x 6' x 5/8" with no finish applied (one panel could be used for one set of cores). One plank is about $50.00 ive found.

http://www.teragren.com/products_panels.html (supplier)

http://www.longleaflumber.com/bamboo_expanded.cfm (retailer)

threeninethree · Post by **threeninethree** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:37 pm

Three31,
What is the name of the flooring you have been using and price per box if you dont mind?
I've seen some 6" wide bamboo flooring out there but I wasnt sure if it was solid vertical.

Three31 · Post by **Three31** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:15 am

Im not sure of the brand, I actually got a grip of it for free from a friend who had it left over when they were doing their floor ((10 cores total). The measurements on it were 6"x72"x3/8" (maybe it was 1/2" thick).

I know they got it at Costco though, and they got a good price on it too (not sure how much but it was comparable to wholesale cost I think). Thats about all I know though.

I had to run it through a planer to get the finish off one side before profiling the other side (tried sanding but the finish was very resiliant to the orbital sander/paper I was using).

pentagram · Post by **pentagram** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:23 am

Hey NZ jibber,
where are you located in NZ (I'm in queenstown)
would be cool to meet up if your around this area?

jlutz05 · Post by **jlutz05** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:59 pm

4windsbamboo has some nice verticle laminated planks you should check there website out. I just ordered two, should get here this week.

hugocacola · Post by **hugocacola** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:01 am

wich price you had bought????

instfxr · Post by **instfxr** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 3:14 pm

I checked out the 4windsbamboo site that jlutz05 mentioned and ended up buying a couple planks. They have unfinished vertical laminate boards that are unfinished and measure 5 1/2"x5/8"x89". The planks plus shipping ended up being around $95.00 for the two. Not a bad deal. Thanks for the tip about 4winds.

daveski · Post by **daveski** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:22 pm

Hey mate

How are you getting on sourcing bamboo for cores. Im also making skis in NZ and would be keen on finding out where I can get vertically laminated cores if you have any info you could pass on.

Cheers

Dave

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