Ski Builders Forum

SNP - Saturday Night Pressing

Took them out of the press this morning. Camera was dead so no pics at the moment. I'll post pics when the battery is charged. Overall ok. There's some delamination on the tails. I'm wondering if I wood have been better off using a poly-u glue on all the layers except for the base. I did use VDS. No edge fall that I can see at this point. Doesn't appear that any epoxy bled through the veneers like it does on very thin veneers.

I'll post pics later today.

They feel rock hard!

Here's a pic of the delam. The epoxy is crumbly in that section, sand like. Is that from not mixing it well? I'm going to cut the flashing off and then re-epoxy and re-press. Hopefully before the Super Bowl.

Exciting!

Well I got my wish.... Looks like I get a chance to use poly-u glue. The layers peeled with little effort. The first layer of poplar on the base seems to be holding ok. Every other layer just peeled off. It's the same epoxy I used for my last skis. The epoxy was crystallized. I thought I mixed it well.

I'll take out that extra layer of poplar too. Plans for this afternoon:

1. sand the veneers down
2. clean up mess
3. watch Super Bowl, eat food, drink beer
4. Monday night, re-do layup.

stay tuned

Exciting is the word....
A kind wonder: was the wood dry?

yeah, the wood is dry. I didn't spare the epoxy either. I wonder if it soaked it all in or if I mixed a bad batch. When I did the Formica layup the Formica peeled right off, this peeled the same way with a little more effort but not much. When I did the Formica I know I made a bad batch, it was 2 part resin to 1 hardener instead of 4-1. But this time it was 4 - 1. I pressed it for 12 hrs at 45psi.

I re-pressed the skis yesterday using Gorilla glue (polyurethane glue) and they came out quite nice. I dampened both sides of the veneers with water before the layup as recommended. I used less then 8 oz of glue for both skis. The glue is a little thick to spread, warming it up first would have been a good idea. The glue expands 4-5 times in size. Also I had to work rather quickly because it sets faster than the epoxy I've been using.

As for the Pine Tar... The pine tar I bought is suitable for wood skis. The can that I bought is in the video clip below with a horse on it. (not recommended as a condiment ). I was thinking of using tung oil to seal the base, it smells a lot less. But all internet searches on maintaining wood skis says to use Pine Tar so I guess I'll smell like Pine tree shit. Here's some tips for cleaning and maintaining a wood base ski:

http://www.woodenskis.com/youtubeclean.htm

Final Ski specs: (all veneers are 1/16inch, or 1.6mm)
Maple veneer base
Metal Edges
VDS
Poplar veneer
Core (cherry sidewall, douglas fir, maple under foot) 3-10-3
Poplar veneer
Ash veneer

Length: 174cm
Dimensions: 120-72-104
Tip Thickness: 9mm
Waist Thickness: 18mm
Tail Thickness: 9mm
Camber: 15mm
Weight (without poly): 7lbs.

No doubt these skis will be firm. They're stiff torsionally as you'd expect. I think they'll carve nicely. But since there's no dampening material I think they'll chattered on hard pack or icy conditions. Working on getting them done for the weekend.

Still wet with the first coat of poly.

Love those! Can't wait to hear how they ride, not that it really even matters, they are great

awesome

Those are gorgeous.

Wow!!

awesome!

(was it thin laminating resin the epoxy that didn't work?
if so, you could try with thick epoxy glue (30 or 60 min epoxy)
i use a cheap 3h thick epoxy to glue stuff. its 1:1 and it doesn't really mind if you re not very accurate with the hardener. works great for wood)

looking forward for the test report

btw, no edge fall on them

Great fit and finish, awesome looking skis!

really nice. I hope the gorilla glue holds up.