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reshaped the core and cut new sidewalls. Now I have the sidewalls clamped on to the profiled core and will let them cure for 24 hours before trimming the sidewalls. I have a couple ideas of how to do this without spending a shit ton of time or making another huge mess sanding.

This may sound like a dumb question but I'll ask anyway...

Did you get you planer blades sharpened before you began this endeavor.
I'm thinking that your blades are dull and that is causing them to hook and pull your sidewalls instead of cutting cleanly.

I've said before I'm not sure plastic sidewalls are worth the effort.
Maple or Ash seem to stand up to the abuse of skis smashing together.
A sand from time to time keeps them looking new and a little linseed oil keeps the water out .
Snowboards don't have the problem of smashing together.
There may be a bit more pressure on the edge when carving on the hardpack (on a snowboard) but I don't think enough to deform or break the maple.

Besides everyone wants to jump on the "green" bandwagon so why use the extra plastic.
Bamboo sidewalls?

Just puttin' it out there.

sam

sammer wrote:This may sound like a dumb question but I'll ask anyway...

Did you get you planer blades sharpened before you began this endeavor.
I'm thinking that your blades are dull and that is causing them to hook and pull your sidewalls instead of cutting cleanly.

I've said before I'm not sure plastic sidewalls are worth the effort.
Maple or Ash seem to stand up to the abuse of skis smashing together.
A sand from time to time keeps them looking new and a little linseed oil keeps the water out .
Snowboards don't have the problem of smashing together.
There may be a bit more pressure on the edge when carving on the hardpack (on a snowboard) but I don't think enough to deform or break the maple.

Besides everyone wants to jump on the "green" bandwagon so why use the extra plastic.
Bamboo sidewalls?

Just puttin' it out there.

sam

I actually do think the blades need to be sharpened. Looking at the sidewall material, it looks like they did exactly what you described. Regardless, I am going to try hardwood sidewalls on the next couple boards.

Do you suggest Maple, or is that just what's readily available for you?

If you are having trouble with your planner, I would recommend Ash over Maple, easier on the machine.

the only big company using wooden sidewalls i can think of right now is völkl. the sidewalls on my squad prime are several layers of ash veneer. they've been holding up to my rail and park abuse really well.

for this season they will be using dark nutwood and light ash as seen here on page six:
http://www.voelkl-snowboards.de/uploads ... og_ENG.pdf

I've been using maple as it readily available.
Ash is one that I cant seem to find here. Although I'd like to try it. I like the look of the grain.
Our lumber stores here are pretty lame! (and limited)
There's 1 here in Fernie (home building center) and one ( 2 if you count home depot) 100km away in Cranbrook.
Getting wood for cores can be pricey.

sam

I think wood sidewalls on production models are much more legit on a snowboard than skis especially if the board is a powder board.
The bamboo sidewalls on my first pair of skis are holding up well (only 2 days so far ). The bamboo seems pretty tough and the skis are in better shape than my public enemies were after 2 days. I did see a pair of Obsidian skis (local aussie company now stopped production) the other day that was a demo rental pair and they had pretty trashed bamboo sidewalls after goodness knows how many days.
I just came by a pretty cheap pair of volkl gotamas with marker dukes on them. they are the model after they stopped doing wood sidewalls. There was a thread on tgr about the wood sidewalls and a fair few people blew them out. A friend has that model and he crushed one in gulmarg hitting a rock, but just put epoxy in the hole and they are still goign strong 3 years later.

All the skis I've made are wood sidewalls. I've used maple and ash. Both are hard and durable. I don't hit the snow parks and rails/boxes so they don't get that kind of use. But I have raced on them. They may need a little more attention during the season. I generally will scrape the snow off when I stick them in the ski racks or store them.

When you sharpen the edges just be aware you may take off some of the finish/wood. No big deal, touch up with linseed oil, tung oil, wipe on poly or even a floor paste wax. In a pinch use ski wax.

Maple may have a slight edge because it has tighter closed grain where as ash has a more open grain like oak.

The planer the blades may be dull. Also check that the blades are seated properly. My Delta planer has a little jig tool I use to seat the blades.

chrismp wrote:the only big company using wooden sidewalls i can think of right now is völkl. the sidewalls on my squad prime are several layers of ash veneer. they've been holding up to my rail and park abuse really well.

for this season they will be using dark nutwood and light ash as seen here on page six:
http://www.voelkl-snowboards.de/uploads ... og_ENG.pdf

That's a great catalog!

Maple!... because I'm Canadian!!!



I'm still thinking about the green angle.
Extra plastic getting ground off when cutting, machining cores, etc.
All my shavings go into my compost!
There may be a little epoxy in there but not enough to worry about.
Yup, I'm saving the planet one ski at a time!

sam

sammer wrote: I'm still thinking about the green angle.
Extra plastic getting ground off when cutting, machining cores, etc.

I had the door to the garage open while I was working yesterday (wasn't thinking), and my whole house smelled like plastic for a few hours. Nasty. Definitely going to try wood sidewalls on the next few boards.

Arbor use diamondwood (compressed poplar) for their sidewalls for some boards, and there's another smaller Canadian company I've seen using wood sidewalls too but the name escapes me right now.

When you get in to the really hard woods they can be difficult to machine though.

So I changed the blades to a supposedly sharpened set.

They looked sharp to me. How sharp should they be? Razor blade? I just don't know.

Fed one half of a convertible mono ski core through to plane the maple sidewalls down and had some issues. No major damage, but it's just not right. It seems to want to dig in to the wood. I am thinking that in feed and out feed rollers aren't set up properly.

I found this site http://www.majorpanic.com/thicknesser.htm and am going to try and follow his recommendations. Getting frustrated for sure.

wish I could find a manual for this unit.

Yeah, about 'razor sharp' is my experience.

Does it look pitted? If so, I've experienced the same thing.

The router will give a good finish once pressed.

yeah, a few pits here and there. After doing some research I have pretty much determined that the rollers aren't set properly. Knives may be a little dull also. No nicks or anything, but definitely not razor sharp. They will cut paper, but not my skin (at least not easily).

in feed roller is leaving impressions even after cutting so I know that's not set right.

On the way to buy a dial gage indicator.