Ski Builders Forum

Has anyone who has tried different bamboo products for cores had much sucess, or advice to give as far as core thickness goes? I finally found bamboo planks at 4windsbamboo and I'd hate to kill them before they see snow.

I've used both Plyboo and Teragen bamboo vertically laminated plywood. I found it holds up very well skiing (all wooden side-wall) and bamboo veneer top-sheet. For thickness I planed to approx 13mm centre and 2mm tips. It is on the stiffer side, but I prefer a stiff ski. They were softer than my rossi squads.

I liked the plywood since I could just rip-off the required width, and run it through the planer. The only pit-fall is it's REALLY hard "wood". It can take a lot to cut out after lay-up.

Thanks Chuck. What were your widths and lengths? A little stiff is good for me. Im about 220, so I need a little more than average. How was the weight factor?

I´m also going to use vertically laminated bamboo, my core is gona be 13mm but i won´t have the ski finished before oct. so I can´t help you until then. but if somebody else would share their experience i´d also be interested.

my brother and I used vertically laminated bamboo in our first skis we built. I think what has already been said is true about bamboo. As for core thickness, my view is that the three numbers you are used to hearing (tip, mid, and tail thickness) don't matter nearly as much as the profile of the core. If you say your core is going to be 2-13-2 mm thick that doesn't really mean it will be stiff or soft. I think you could make a core that is really soft that has the measurements of 2-13-2 mm if you plane a lot of wood off between the middle and ends. Alternatively, you can easily make a core too stiff that is even 1.5-11-1.5mm if you don't plane enough wood off. I am sorry for my piss pour explanation. I wish I had an excuss, but I don't.

On our first pair of skis the profile was way too thick. We have adjusted our crib to take off more wood and now the flex and weight seem to be much better. Hope this helps.

I agree Shopvac. I think it's more in the rate of taper, not just the over-all tip-mid-tail number. I had a similar problem, my first crib was too thick and stiff flexing (very long/slow taper) and my second the opposite (which became the core for my sisters ski). It really does depend on core shape/taper. Hence Endre's very nice ski flex number charts.

I think the bamboo in nice due to the hardness/durability, but with a good "spring" or "pop" when flexed in hand. As has been stated before about "pop", not so measurable, more sensed.