Ski Builders Forum

got into skiing a few years back, been loving it ever since. decided i should try my luck at building some.

i was wondering when making longer, thicker skis for powder, does the thickness of the tip and tail make too much of a difference. for example instead of 2 or 3 mm thick, going for a little more, like 4 or 5mm.

also if anyone has any suggestions for types of woods. i was looking at poplar and fir.

when using rivets on tips, is the only purpose of them to replace the tip spacers??

anything would help
thanks bros

There is even a huge difference between 2 and 3 mm. (a 3mm tip makes it around twice as stiff as a 2..) a 5mm tip core would give you the stiffest tips in a ski ever (maby 8 times as stiff as a normal tip). For what reason? You will get very heavy tips with no absorbing abilities, and it will not be stronger either.

Doubling the thickness of a homogeneous material means making it 8 times stiffer. It works differently with laminates, but you get the idea.

I tried to make a powder ski (181 cm long and 135-95-125), pretty stiff (I am a bit heavy) but I also wanted a rockered tip.

I used ash and pine and the core was 2 - 12 - 2 thick. I think 2mm is the maximum I'll used. Tip and tail are very stiff and I'm very happy with this skis, but in deep snow I fell like I should put bindings a bit backward 'cause they're actually a bit too stiff and don't get out of the snow as easily as I wanted them too.

I have built several skis. The most recent have a 2mm tip and a 2.2-2.3mm tail. I also added a layer of unidirectional carbon fiber which really added pop to the ski. I think giving the ski a thicker tail than tip makes it feel more balanced.

As for rivets, I don’t know why anyone would use them unless you have delam problems. The tip spacers are just thin flexible plastic that meant to be more resilient to shock than wood. You can use wood all the way to the tip of the ski (and no tip spacer) but you will probably need to shave it down even more to get a nice round tip. Otherwise you may end up with flat plank rather than a ski. I have used extra base material as tip spacers and with a little tweaking they worked great. Just remember to abrade both sides if one side is smooth.

Also remember that when designing your skis rounded tails will release more easily from your turns than flat square tails. This will make the ski feel more forgiving. Twin tips will also release more easily form your turns but the turned up tail will add some drag in deep snow.