Ski Builders Forum

Hello

First pair of skis made in Finland!

I've tried searching tips on how to make continuous edges in tip and tail of the ski. All the edges I've bought are only 80 inches long --> too short to make both sides.

So, how do you guys make them continuous or are you just so much more pedantic when bending them so they fit exactly?

In the Leaf ski topic it seems that the edge is bend over the whole tip and the joint is somewhere in the side of the ski.

I have been thinking of welding two 80 inch edges together and bending it then as one piece. It does not solve the tail problem but gives half a solution.

// Juha

A lot of us don't wrap the edges all the way around the tip. Bending the shape for the tip is hard so a lot of us avoid it by doing a three quarter edge wrap. Some commercial ski and snowboard makers do this three quarter wrap too eg. ON3P, Moment, Libtech
There is a school of thought that the three quarter wrap actually reduces delamination in the tip and tail.
You must be making some long skis if 80 inches for one side isn't long enough.
If you use 2 edges for a complete wrap usually the join is at the tip and tail so the edges are symmetrical.
If you use one piece the join usually gets put at the tail. K2 do this. Getting edges that long you would need to get them from the manufacturer.
I don't think welding is necessary.

thanks

My skis are around 190 centimeters. 3/4 wrap would be then possible. What I meant with 80 inch edges are not long enough was that one edge is not enough for the whole ski. Unless I would made blades

Google 'BMB skis' and they will sell you what you want.

I tried welding edges together on one end to only have a seam on the tails, but the bending was just too damn hard.

I do full wrap edges on my skis, but there is still a seam on the tip and tail. That's ok though, you have to look hard to see it, and it doesn't cause any problems. There is certainly no real benefit to doing full wrap edges vs 3/4 wrap, and its a LOT more work bending the edges, but I think it gives the ski a much more finished professional look, so I take the time to do it.

Here's what my edges look like...



You can see the seam in this picture...

Superb work twizz!

Hmmm...just jealous!

Beautiful bending, really sweet!

Thanks guys! It's not easy and it takes forever!

looks good, have to agree. With that kind of seam between edges I'd be very happy..

I was also thinking that working with four meters of metal edge might be kind of hard. Maybe I still try it with some pair in the future.

My first pair suffered a bit from me being a bit too enthusiastic, so the level of finishing wasn't that high. And the tools for bending were just a pair of pliers. In the next pair I will use a specific tool. Luckily my father in law works in a gearbox company and they can fabricate nice piece of metal for that purpose. And I also modified my template to have a nice round tip with constant radius to make things easier.

If you have a constant radius this should be EASY if you build an edge bender like I made.

My first pair I bent the edges with pliers too, that's not cool

Here is a thread with my edge bender (including drawings for the dies)

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2069

Since my tips don't have a constant radius I still have to do lots of bending/checking, but it keeps the bends nice and flat and clean. Something that's almost impossible with pliers. If you have a constant radius you'll just have to find the right setting of the bender and crank it through, should fit perfect.

well, that is THE edge bender.. I was planning to do only one "roller" with a crank but after seeing that it's obvious how it should be done

Anyhow, as said, I have the benefit of constant radius and all other modifications are so small they can be made by hand.

You live and you learn, you make skis and you became an expert of many areas

Last night when I was awake because of my baby girl (9 months) I started to think about the seam between the edges. Has anyone tried cutting the ends of the edges into 45 degree? In the final lay up they would overlap a bit making sure that:

1. no core, nor non metal thingys would show from the possible gap
2. sanding or grinding the seam into perfect might be easier while having "more metal" - see above.
3. the other end would "hold" the other one in place because ends would be cut into +45 degrees and -45 degrees.
4. if some kind of unwanted expansion would happen the push would only slide the end of the other edge out and it would be fairly easy to sand back in shape (actually, this might work against itself because small expansion will be absorbed anyhow)

Of course many of you seem to perform fine without this kind of extra caution. Just wondering.