Ski Builders Forum

The ski was pressed last night. This morning I took the skis out and they looked ok at first inspection. Then the tips started to delam. It appeared that some of the glue still had not fully cured. Not sure why. Perhaps I used to much glue. I did put extra in the tip area. Anyway, I abraded the tip area that did not bond, moistened the area with a bit of water, added some glue and re-clamped. I left it that way for a few hours.

I just checked and it appears to be holding so far. The rest of the ski looks ok. No edge fall. Bases are flat. Also I put wax (carnauba wax) on the base so the glue won't stick. I left the center of the ski unwaxed, put blue masking tape down and used spray glue to fasten the base to the cassette.

One thing I didn't during the layup was to dampen the material as called for by the glue. I'm wondering if that had an adverse effect of the curing process. The glue does expand a lot more if you wet the material vs not wetting. I did not moisten the sample layup either and that came out fine...hhhmmmm. Next time I will moisten the materials.

I was hoping to get the skis done for wednesday night racing but it's not going to happen. I'm going to leave the tips clamped for the rest of the day to be on the safe side.

Perhaps tonight if all goes well I'll cut the flashing off and post some pics.

As a side note, the wood cores were the most accurate I've made to date.
I noticed my planer will leave the oustide of the wood cores a bit high by 1mm or more. Not sure if its the planer or the planer crib. Most likely the planer crib. I noticed some wood particles collect under the cores which can effect the accuracy as well. Half way through the planing process I switched the cores to the opposite sides, cleaned and debris off the crib and finished planing. The cores were within .2mm. Close enough!

Progress! I cut the flashing off and put on 7 coats of linear poly. Then buffed it out last night. Bindings go on tonight. Here's some pics:

Representation of items used for the build:
(VDS, glue, FG, edges, blue ptex, douglas fir/ash/maple wood)




Out of the press:




Close up of the topsheet:


Finished product: (not buffed out)




The FG wets out very nice. I warmed the glue up in a hot water bath so it would flow easier. And if any water droplets get on the materials it's not a problem.

I weighed the skis on my new scale. They are not light, which is fine, they are in line with skis I've made using epoxy. 3lbs 3.3oz (1455g) and 3lbs 3.6oz (1463g). I'm very happy with only a .3oz variance!

I did have one problem with the tip on 1 ski where it didn't bond. The glue did not seem to cure in the 1 spot even though it was under pressure over night. I did add an extra layer of glass in the tip to fill the gap because of the 3/4 wrap. To fix I abraded the base, added a bit of water using a wet paper towel to moisten the area, a very thin coat of glue and clamps over night. Holding fine so far. Puzzled by this since this never occurred in all previous tests. "It's always something" right Jan?

Ski flex is very good. Can't wait to try it out.

So I skied/raced on the ski last night and I like everything about them. They have a great edge hold, responsive, a little bit softer in flex than the 180's I used last year which is a good thing. Torsionally firm which is why I think the ski runs as well as it does. Conditions were frozen granular and hard pack.

After the race I took on a few runs and really leaned over on them. The skis never washed out and carved really nice.

Inspected the skis this morning. No delams, tiny cracks or places where the edge might pull away. Checked the base where it may bubble up or loosen away from the core, nothing so far!

So time will tell now how they hold up. I'll be racing on them for the remainder of the season and will post any degradation issues along the way.

Probably the last ski I'll make for the season, they're starting to pile up
:-) (unless I get a request).

Now it's time to start working on the website, fine tune a few things!

Great report SD - I'm glad you have something you like so much. There's no way back now!

Btw - have you considered using clear base material, help you keep an eye on things?

Full steam ahead. I'm not crazy about the clear base. I prefer black or blue. Some day I may have a die cut base. I have everything dialed in fairly decent now as far as keeping the core, base, etc from moving.

That is awesome to hear Steve!