Ski Builders Forum

Hi there, I'm in Oz and interested in making skis - they're super expen$ive here and I figure it's possible to make a few for the price of buying one pair. Should be fun too, and sooner or later they ought to work...

So, has anyone been able to get stuff locally, and if so where? I'm guesing that plastic sheet and wood will be okay, but that edges and base material will be unavailable, and not sure about triaxial glass fibre - but it's probably available - I know carbon and kevlar are.

Freight from overseas is usually pretty pricey so getting things here would be good.

BTW, if you order edges/base from snowboardmaterials.com, does it come rolled up or straight? (If the latter, size will be a problem with USPS and Oz Post.)

Thanks for the awesome site!!!

International shipping can be a pain. Sorry I can't help you there.

Whether your edges come rolled or straight, depends on how much you order. If your order is small (~8 edges) it will probably be rolled into a squarish box, more than that, it'll most likely be a long box. I just mailed some edges to Canada and their limit is 106"

Kelvin

oh, and if you think you are going to save money by making your own skis, I would think again. It can become a pretty involved (obsessive) undertaking, and I'm pretty sure that we all could have bought several pairs of skis with the amount that we have spent.

Thanks for that! More time to think about it now that there's no snow, and uni is over for the year. Everything except edges (and maybe base material) is available here, but I expected the base material to be rollable, so didn't expect it to be the problem. As long as it's possible to get edges sent rolled, all should be well. I guess it's a matter of talking to the suppliers (snowboardmaterials.com?) and ordering the appropriate amount.

It hadn't occurred to me that it might be possible to save money by making skis! I was thinking more that it'd be an interesting hobby, and shouldn't cost all that much more - apart from time!

snowboard materials sent all of our bases and edges in a small box, rolled.

We have some materials available in Australia if anyone is interested, dont have a whole lot of stuff just now but will be ordering some more in very soon, so if anyone wants any base/edges/topsheet let me know.
Ive got quite a few edges about, and a bit of topsheet, but not much base right now, could possibly get some more added to my order if anyone wants some.