Ski Builders Forum

Hello guys, for my first post on these forums I would like some help with figuring out various aspects of ski building. I would first off like to apologize on my odd grammar and sentence structure, I am a freestyle skier and seem to suffer from the disease of not being able to talk properly.

Now onto some more serious topics, I have been reeding a lot through these forums and the site on how to build ski and decided to sign up to the forums and ask some questions for all the experts to answer. First off many of my questions revolve around the ski press. Being a 16 year old all my money seems to be disappearing (the new Obsethed's I just bought probably won't help my financial position either.) In non sarcastic terms I am on a fairly tight budget, ideally below $500 but I could push it and say $1000 although I am not sure I am that patient.

Through reading through these forums I believe my best bet for a press would be a fabric press, seeing as the metal for the frame of a regular pneumatic press could be hard for me to find and expensive. I could wander over to the local fire station and ask them if they had some left over hoses they don't need (someone on these forums mentioned that and most guys here love to give free stuff away. Is a fabric press a good idea for me or should I wait a year to get the dough for a pneumatic press? Or should I look into vacuum presses?

Also If I do make a fabric press what type of fabric should I get to hold the press together and what should the maximum psi of the hose be set to to minimize leaks or big bangs?

I have been talking to my parents about the idea of me making my own skis, my dad does not really care but my mom is a bit more cautious. She thinks I need to take some woodworking classes before I go and make some ski's. Is this necessary and how much would it help if at all?

Now onto some questions about the ski design. I use a mac and have tried finding a decent cad program, very hard to do. Currently I am using snoCad-X and am very happy with my one grunt being limited to not using a rocker design. Any ideas on cad programs?

Also another dilemma I have is what type of ski should I make, I prefer having skis for a certain job (park, powder, backcountry freestyle, crud days) instead of "all rounders." This is primarily shown through my collect, I have some Salomon suspects for park, some old slalom skis mainly for water ramp but sometimes used for riding groomer (incredibly rare) and just got some obsetheds for powder/cliff hucking. I am not sure what type of ski to make seeing as my collection covers quite a bit of terrain and condition variation. Seeing as I have not used my Obsetheds yet (still summer/fall here) I am looking at maybe making some backcountry jump specific skis, keeping switch landing in mind. Any other suggestions would be great.

Seeing as I am focusing on a second backcountry ski I have some questions on the ski design. How would a centre mounted fat ski work? I have heard of people doing this before but sounds kind of weird to me (especially since I have only skied on a centre mounted ski before and found it really weird but spinning was a breeze.) Also what would be a good wood? Lightweight and flexible are what I would be looking for but I am completely clueless when it comes to wood selection.

Also some speculation on creating a good ski for landing in pow and not letting the ski sink in too much. I was thinking instead of a rocker design if I would use a very long, decently shallow tip and tail to maximize the surface area of the ski on the snow.

Utilizing this design I think it wold be optimal to have close to 0 camber. I am not to familiar with what reverse camber does besides it helps to prevent hooking in powder. I am thinking of zero camber since the idea is to maximize ski area on the snow for more flotation.

Also the plan is to allow for a small turning radius, I say 35-45m. The reason is more for slight corrections on a ride up to a backcountry jump while keeping the waist wide. I would also consider a ski with no radius although a ski where the centre is wider than the tips and tails seems odd and unnecessary.

I plan on having the tips and tails close to symmetrical with the tail being maybe 5mm smaller just to let the tail sink in a small (very small) amount.

I will throw together some plans later tonight when I get back from trampoline training.

Comments, answers and (almost) anything else welcome.

Thanks for reading some much and for any feed back.

First off have a good look at vacuum pressing, it's a good cheap way to start out. A bit of messing about and not the greatest for large production numbers but can be done for almost nothing.

A fabric press is a halfway house of sorts. you avoid the need for the press frame but still need the bladder, compressor and probably a cat track, I'd think about this after building a few pairs of skis

Whatever you decide to build first keep it simple, then change/improve depending on what you have learned with these .

Simple full length cores, without tip or tail spacers

I think you mean large turning radius 35-45 m is huge, works as huge mountain charger or pow only but otherwise you might want to shorten that if you want any firm snow performance.

0 camber and a rockered (early rise) tip is a good compromise, works well in the pow, doesn't try and kill you on the hard stuff.

Having some woodworking knowledge is helpful. You don't need to be a master craftsman but you should be familiar with hand power tools (router, jig saw) and how to use a table saw and planer, if you're going to make cores using a planer crib. Practice on wood scraps if you have any so you get the feel of the power tools. They can be dangerous, obviously.

Ski building tends to take over what ever part of the house you're building in. So you'll want to section off the garage/basement/shed for building.

Vacuum press maybe the cheapest way for you to get started. If you go w/ a fabric press, Montucky can make what you need for fabric.

Only you can decide what type of ski to make. There's a lot of building to do before you make a ski (the press, molds, ski designing.....)

Oh, and you'll want to get a job to pay for this addiction.

Thanks guys for the reply, I'll go try and find some time for a woodworking course and start off with the vacuum press. Will do plenty of odd jobs around the neighbourhood to get some money together, hell I might be able to get some friends to make ski's with me. I got half a garage to work in (the other half is my room) so I got plenty of room along with the driveway if I want some fresh air while cutting.

Also I plan on making some big mountain chargers/pow only skis aimed towards cliffs and jumps.

Also what are tip spacers for? Never understood the use.

Thanks again guys for the reply's.