Ski Builders Forum

Where does bamboo stand with strength, but at the same time flexibility. I wood (pun intended. JK) expect it to be strong, medium weight, and relatively stiff. But I could be all wrong. Also, how would buying a lot of these work:
http://www.catalfamogallery.com/item.as ... 2&i=246541
Thanks in advance

you can also get vertically laminated bamboo plywood, and its real hard to tell but that flooring might also be v-lam.
But rather than mess with a bunch of floor pieces that you gotta cut off the interlocking sections from you can probably get a 4' x 8' sheet for 100 or less. Maybe a little more if you're making skis and want thicker material.

Try cali-bamboo, there's other places too

I went on Cali-Bamboo. I was wondering if I need construction grade, or if furniture grade will do, and how thick it should be. Thanks

I went there too... constuction grade is a horizontal laminate and I would not try to use it, esp for exposed siewall constuction. You need the more expensive Vert laminate furniture grade on the site....

1/2 inch if your cores will be less than about 12mm at max, good for most skis including short and fat and soft.... for a long skinny stiff ski you may need the 3/4, but lots more material to remove.

Where can I find this materila for 100$ though.... Cali Bamboo is asking close to 200$.... best I found elsewhere was 160...

Well I am NOT spending that much... what you say makes perfect sense. Guess I'll have to look for some cheaper wood, or cheaper bamboo. Suggestions. Again, a light, big, pow ski, probably around a 105 under foot.... relatively flexible i guess.... thanks

is it the first ski you're going to build?

Save the exotic materials for when you get pro at building. Not joking.
Start with any old wood, if you're going to plane/profile the core yourself.

Once you can successfully build a few pair really well, then start shellin out the $$$ on a good v-lam core, or whatever your heart desires. It would suck if you bought a sheet of bamboo for 100 bucks, got 4 or 6 cores out of it, and messed them all up anyway because of some other construction problems. Just sayin.

regarding price, I forgot for skis you need thicker than 1/4 or 3/8" huh? my bad. Maybe flooring is the way to go

thanks for the advice... What is "cheap material"? Sorry for so many questions.
Thanks.
P.S. Whats the deal on wood at The Home Depot?

Cheap wood could be anything. I used 2x4's for my first couple pair.
Ripped them into skinny strips and glued them together with white glue.
No additional sidewall, no tipspacer , just wood core, edge to edge, tip to tail.

Until you get YOUR process down think cheap!!
No point in working overtime to make the dough just so you can hang your first pair on the wall when they don't turn out.


sam

cheap wood could be pallet wood you piece together. When I started looking for pallets they were everywhere and free. I know Kam built a pair like this and the skis I am on everyday have pallet wood cores. I probably have 30-40 days on them now. They have some cherry, oak, and poplar in them. I think and they are working great and have held up fine. I was careful not to have any joints next to each other when I pieced it together.

the pallet:


the core:


the end product:

I agree. Use cheap stuff until you get things tuned and processes worked out. I used 2x4 to test my planer crib to make sure it was doing what I thought it would.

Pallets are a great source of material to practice with, basically free. Only costing time and that pays off in knowledge.

I tested my pneumatic press about 50 times to make sure the hoses inflated and fit the forms/mold properly, and even then I still had to tweak after I made my first pair of skis.

Quality is getting better.... Growing pains can get expensive.

btw - If Home Depot is your only source of wood, it's ok. But look for the best and straightest. They charge by the linear foot and not the board foot.

If only.... A few years ago we did a home renovation and replaced the interior doors w/ 6 panel pine doors. The old doors were plain 2 panel doors but the framing of them was Douglas Fir and the grain was perfectly straight and tight. If I was building skis back then I would have used that wood!! Instead I made a sofa table out of the doors. It's nice too. But I look at the sofa table and say "man you would of made some nice skis".

Thanks. I can most likely find a wood pallet. Now a random question. For a vacuum press, how many clamps am I going to want?

metsrule008 wrote:Thanks. I can most likely find a wood pallet. Now a random question. For a vacuum press, how many clamps am I going to want?

???

Zero....

metsrule008 wrote:Thanks. I can most likely find a wood pallet. Now a random question. For a vacuum press, how many clamps am I going to want?

4 (assuming you want to put some camber in the ski)

2 for tip, 2 for the tail, to clamp a slat across each, with a slat under the center of your camber

yea, i'm with the "huh?" here as well.

If your vacuum is correct, no clamps are required. I suppose you can use them as helpers.

knightsofnii wrote:yea, i'm with the "huh?" here as well.

If your vacuum is correct, no clamps are required. I suppose you can use them as helpers.

I vacuum my skis using a flat board with a prebent tip (prebent tips on my cores also) the flat board is in the vacuum bag. I clamp the whole thing to a table like structure to force camber, very much like 333 is doing with his camber rig.