Ski Builders Forum

hi i am looking into making my first skis i need to know is it possibly for me to make a pair that i will actually be able to ski on?
and how important is the heat blanket and the fire hose compressor?
would i be able to just make a mold then tighten the skis inside it with straps or screw it down very tight to compress the ski together?

i think you d be good with reading the "how to" articles and search the forum to have an overall look on building skis. then you may answer that question to yourself:

i need to know is it possibly for me to make a pair that i will actually be able to ski on?

for the first pair(s) i suggest using the vacuum method, it s cheap and you don t have a battle of material for top/bottom moulds. you ll find dozens of articles on that.
Good luck!

Go with either a vacuum or firehose setup. Clamp presses do not work (I say this from experience). You may have people tell you that it is doable, but they are wrong. If you're going to put ANY effort into making skis, it is worth your time to do a proper pressing method (firehose is best as you can do 50+psi safely, vacuum bagging is ok, but only gets ~14psi). Vacuum bagging is by far the cheapest and safest option (virtually no safety concern at all with a vacuum. Firehose presses can be bombs)

Heat blanket depends on the epoxy you're using. If you're using room temp cure epoxy, then no heat is required. Heated epoxies are generally "better" in this application however.

As for overall difficulty, that's an impossible question to answer. It all depends on your prior experience and skills, and what tools you have. I am a self-taught welder, machinist, wood-worker, and composit-er, with 10+ years of lots of interesting projects, and what I would consider fairly top-notch skills (said with humility) in all these areas (plus an aeronautical engineering degree for the smarts), and making skis is still a very tricky (but fun!) process.

If you've got no experience with any of this - then I say there is no better way to learn these skills (just prepare yourself mentally and financially, cause you're going to get drained on both channels). Everything you need to know is on here though, lots of smart, successful, and generous folks on here.

You're awesome twizz...I couldn't have said that better. Although, I have to say hydraulic is looking pretty good to me.