Ski Builders Forum

I just got a couple quotes from bamboo suppliers. NW Bamboo has 7 1/2 X 3/4 X 72, vertical and natural, for $25.50 plus shipping. These are stair risers so no t and g.

4windsbamboo has 7 1/2 X 5/8 X 72 vertical and natural for $57 each More than twice the $ for a thinner piece.

Anybody buy from NWBamboo?

i've been able to source untreated bamboo flooring here in the states (near Seattle, WA) for $4 U.S. a board (surplus). they're 182cm long and once the tongue and groove are sawed off they're 85mm wide by 15mm thick

This was a post from KevyWevy. Boards arent as wide and would require some joining or thick wood/plastic sidewalls, but are considerably cheaper.

I paid about $10US per board for 190cm by 150mm wide by 15mm thick in Australia, but was quoted up to 20 or 25 per board. These are unfortunately with varnish which is a real pain. Even if its cheap for varnished pay the extra to have raw bamboo materials.

Also I think 3/4 inch thick is pretty thick. That's a lot of "wood" to remove. I am currently learning that bamboo is a very tough "wood".

I've been using bamboo flooring in my skis lately. you have to join two pieces together, but I paid just under 200$ for enough flooring for 6 pairs of skis, so ~33$ per pair. Not bad really. As the above poster mentions though, it is some pretty tough stuff. It will definitely dull your planer knives and jig/band saw blades about twice as quick as maple/poplar, etc.

AK
I'd be interested to know how you are shaping your bamboo cores. If by planer/thicknesser with a crib how much you take off per pass and how good a quality planer you are using.
My 500 dollar planer seems capable of about 0.3mm per pass without starting to try and fall apart. I think it might be a friday afternoon factory special, but would be interested if this is what others have experienced too.

You can get wider bamboo floorboards (160mm), but I think the 90mm boards are much more popular (thinner boards more aesthetically pleasing?). I like the bamboo boards because the woodwork in gluing the laminate together is done for you. I'm a very reluctant woodworker, or maybe just not a greatly skilled one!

Simple Floors in Oakland is where I’ve purchased vertically laminated bamboo flooring. Six footers, natural color, 12 pieces per box = 23 square feet. Two different times now they only charged me $2.50 per sq. ft.

One box yields enough material to make eight ski cores. Including tax, the per core cost is only $7.81.

Of course you have to factor in the consumable planar knives since this material is very difficult to plane. This adds about $6.25 per core.

These flooring boards are 16mm thick and clean-up nicely to make a 13mm thick ski core blank.

This photo shows four cores with black UHMW sidewall blocks attached, ready for profiling:



My latest skis have Brazillian Redwood sidewalls which bonds much better than UHMW and is just as tough. It does not reduce the weight but it adds to the core stiffness so the profile can be made slightly thinner.


Cheers,
-S

has anyone tried routing bamboo cores? it seems like the fibers in the bamboo might screw up that option.

hey falls, where did you get your bamboo? im in melbourne and have tried sourcing bamboo from flooring people but am ab out to get some from 4windsbamboo because it is vertically laminated. but if i can get it cheap from aus, all the better.

I got it from a supplier called Crikey Bamboo out in Mt Waverley area.
The stuff I have is floorboards that are vertically laminated. They are however varnished which is a bit of a pain. The boards are 15mm thick, 1.9m long and 150mm wide.
The same bloke said with a 2 month lead time it would be possible to specify a type of bamboo style you wanted and he could get it made in china and shipped out. You can get 2.4m by 1.2m plywood that is 12mm thick, or any other dimensions you want. Not sure how much you would need to order though.
crikeybamboo.com.au

I have a heap of it at home. About 30 boards if you want some to try. Am in melbourne once a month or so. The varnish makes it a bit harder to work with than raw boards, but I imagine getting stuff shipped from the US will be $$$?

has anyone tried routing bamboo cores? it seems like the fibers in the bamboo might screw up that option.

You can rout it.
Kingswood skis shape their cores with a router and bridge. Their finished cores look pretty nice.

Hi
One of my Furniture making mates uses this company for all his bamboo.
http://www.letobamboo.com/products.html
Maybe 2 layers of the 5mm or the 150mm flooring.
Chris

thanks Chris
that vertical laminate unfinished flooring at the top of the page looks great.

I have a similar forum going in the Design/Layout section, but was glad to see this one. Although this isn't my forum, I would like to thank all who have contributed so far.

Hello

What about use bamboo as sidewalls, anyone know something about this or already have some conclusions??

i have access to bambbo, but the problem is that the guys asking me for a big batch like 5 plates AHAHAH i want stop using Ptex sidewalls or ABS, they are expensive and expensive...

Or the other solution that i see is like a new freestye skis brand (dont remenber the name) are doing (plywood cores without platic sidewall...)

someone have a opinion about this???