Ski Builders Forum

Do you guys find it beneficial to make your own cores or to buy them from say snowboardmaterials.com? How long does it take for you to make cores? Does it cost a lot more to make your own cores? I don't have the money to buy a CNC machine at the moment so I would need to make my own core shaper like on the website. what would you guys recommend? Thanks for all your advice.

Also, how do you get base material on the edges of the base? do you just have to glue it on like another stip of wood? Any counter set tabs needed?

not sure if I understand your second question.

re your first question:

building your own cores from scratch is a very costly and time consuming process (if you want to do it right).

Cores from sbm will work fine. Especially for your first boards. After that I suggest getting blanks (from sbm or wednesday), and profiling them yourself.

Like doughboy stated its very time consuming and costly.

check out a company called Wednesday. iv order quite afew cores from them they have been great. Very convenient and ready to go core blanks


http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1954


I would suggest doing a good search through the forums, their is a wealth of information on this site!

cool. thanks for the info guys. I want to keep it customizable as possible. I would love to make boards and be able to use a limited amount of pre-made boards. Would you recommend tip and tail spacers? Sounds like i def. want to get cores pre-made due to costs and time.

nick wrote:Also, how do you get base material on the edges of the base? do you just have to glue it on like another stip of wood? Any counter set tabs needed?

Can you clarify this question? I am totally confused as to what you mean.

We've been making our own cores, it isn't too much work. Just rip a couple of boards, glue them together, let it set up a few days before planing. Easy peasy. If you don't have a table saw for ripping though, forget it.

I have all the equipment needed. I'm not worried about the layup or anything but more so the planing of the core, cutting the binding holes, and cutting out the shape. What I meant by that question is: How do you attach the sidewalls to the core? Do you just cut it like the other strips of wood and glue it to the side or do you have to do anything else special to make a stronger bond?

Ah, sidewalls... see I thought you were talking about edges (metal edges).

You want to bond the sidewalls to the core before profiling, otherwise they'll never match. Some people have the process down perfect, we still have some difficulty getting a good bond with p-tex sidewalls. You gotta sand, flame treat, etc. Most people use the same resin for the sidewalls as they do for the actual layup of the ski. There are LOTS of threads on here regarding sidewall bonding.

You can also try Snowboard parts on Vashon Island in Washington state.
He builds custom cores. He is one of the last core manufacturers around. If you are interested in building good quality cores, this guy can help you. Remember that this is not a garage operation so you get what you pay for. Good cores are not cheap but cheap cores are not good. sjellison@msn.com is the email if you are serious about good quality cores. You must be able to supply him with the exact specs that you need in dxf format so if you can supply a good CAD file, he can build you what you want.