Ski Builders Forum

Are you using standard or tempered hardboard. Who knew hardboard was so interesting )))

Richuk wrote:Are you using standard or tempered hardboard. Who knew hardboard was so interesting )))

I'm using tempered (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-1- ... /202046928

I bought a Rikon 14" bandsaw over black friday. turns out Woodcraft doesn't get all the fistfights that Best Buy does. I was in and out in five minutes. It'll be nice to use that for resawing, cutting flash, cutting templates, etc. I have been using a cordless Dewalt jigsaw that I dropped off the ladder while siding my house. It's seen better days...

anyway, ski building continues this weekend I hope.

So I just mounted my fourth pair and I'm going to get them ground soon. I used the parchment paper method this time and it worked slick. The layup was:

green ptex 4001
22 oz triaxial fiberglass
2" uni (5.2 oz)
core (2-10-2)
22 oz triax
5.7 oz 3K satin weave carbon with some paper graphics

the parchment on top crinkled at the tip/tails a bit and the carbon topsheet isn't great looking close up, but, they should be fun to ski. about 180 cm 147-110-129 with an asymmetrical look. the radii are the same on either side of the ski but the way that i rounded the tips and tails makes them look different. I used solidworks to draw them up.


out of the press (base)

topsheet

mounted

rocker

Parchment paper on the top is no bueno. I used to always get tiny wrinkles in my tops and someone on here told me to ditch the parchment on top. I still use it on my bases, but the tops I just have right up against the sheet metal. No wrinkles. (I realize you'd need something else since you have no topsheet).

If that's just raw epoxy on the top over the CF, you could wet sand it and polish it to a mirror finish pretty easily (unless you wanted the matte finish, which looks fine)

nice work!

No wrinkles in the parchment if you spray adhere it to the top aluminum and carefully spread it out. It gets pulled into tension and helps smooth it out as the casette bends in the press.

If I get a wrinkle if is easily sanded out. YMMV with plastic top sheets. But for veneer and carbon this should work well.

thanks for the help guys. I can't wait to see how these guys ski. Unfortunately, it's raining all over the east coast right now so it may be a little while till i can really give them a fair shake in some powder. Hopefully they won't be bad on hardpack. I based the rocker profile on a pair of Volkl Nunataqs I saw in a shop in Burlington VT. the wildsnow review on those was favorable for hardpack, obviously better in powder though.

My next pair will be aimed toward New England variability with New England tight tree skiing. Basically crud busting, tight turning skis that do well on hardpack. I'm going to mount NTN freeride bindings on them. hopefully I can get out in the backcountry soon.

A week or so ago I pulled my fifth pair out of the press. I made some full rocker skis (same mold as my previous "don't panic" skis) using a camoflage fabric as the topsheet. These were a long overdue present for my brother, and he seems to like them. They turn really well in the woods which tends to be pretty important for east coast tree skiing.



mounted:



I thought it'd be fun to have a camo pair of skis and call them "powder hunters". unfortunately, my printer broke so I couldn't put any lettering on there. This pair didn't use a topsheet, I just laid parchment paper on top of the layup and placed hardboard on top w/ adhesive. They didn't have any wrinkles which was great. For the bottom mold I went back to the mold release + small sections of adhesive because I was having trouble keeping the bases in place with the parchment paper. This seems to be the trick for me.

the core dimensions were 3-11-3 with a 30 cm flat spot at 11 mm underfoot. I'm having trouble dialing in thickness using my current router bridge / vacuum table so in the future I'm going to try and re-design it with ease of setup, and repeatability in mind.

Good looking skis. what is dimensions?
I am building two pairs skis one for the hunter, been thinking to use same or similar camo fabric

thanks! they're 143-112-127. I bought the material on ebay it's "poly taffeta" whatever that is. I found some references here to polyester that weren't too optimistic about it's ability to bond w/ other layers, but, so far my brother hasn't seen any delamination. Like I said, i didn't use any topsheet and I just coated the top with spar urethane.

here's the link for the fabric: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271278963079?ss ... 1497.l2649 it's pretty cheap.

so I've been skiing on my "don't panic" skis for a few days and I already have some delamination! the delam happened after slamming into a log in a thin section of tree skiing, so it wasn't comptletely random. the interesting thing is that the delamination was actually just the wood splitting. essentially, the 2 mm thick fir at the tip split like firewood and the bottom and top halves were both wood. below is a picture of the repair using some epoxy and clamp action:



unfortunately, I didn't stop to get a picture of the initial delamination, but, I ran into a snow making pipe this weekend and it happened again...



so, it appears fir isn't super durable. it's light, but, trying to profile a fir core does give the impression that the wood grains don't bond super well.

I think this is an indication that some kind of tip material that's a bit more rugged is in order. I'm resisting plastic because it seems like another source of problems when pressing, but, I do like to try one new thing every time I press so maybe one of the next pair I make will have tip spacers.

on the plus side, the skis are fun as hell. I've never skied a full rocker ski and I love how easy they are to turn. The subtle rocker makes them carve reasonably well too. tele skiing is a bit of a chore because I don't get as much edge pressure as I do when I alpine, but my next pair are going to have some camber underfoot so that should help.

Spring clamps arnt gonna put that back together. Get some steel top and bottom to spread the pressure and some screw c clamps or somthin with more pressure and use the right epoxy. Hardman makes good shit gflex from west is good also for these repairs.

Spring clamps arnt gonna put that back together. Get some steel and some screw c clamps or somthin with more pressure and use the right epoxy. Hardman makes good shit gflex from west is good.

MontuckyMadman wrote:Spring clamps arnt gonna put that back together. Get some steel and some screw c clamps or somthin with more pressure and use the right epoxy. Hardman makes good shit gflex from west is good.

Thanks for the tip!

The camo tops are awesome!

skimann20 wrote:The camo tops are awesome!

Thanks! I like them too. I haven't skied them yet, but, I hope my brother gives me a chance this weekend.

I'm a fan of blaze orange in general and would like to find a supplier of blaze orange base material as well. For these I went with green bases and the sidewall is oak. Honestly, the core with oak / poplar stringers and an oak sidewall was tough to cover up!