Ski Builders Forum

After reading the Fiberless skis thread I decided I would give it a shot. I ordered some veneer, did a few test with QCM epoxy and some scraps. Come to find out it doesn't hold at all with veneer/veneer or veneer/base material. So I tried another test this time with fiberglass (so much for fiberless) and of course it worked.

So now I have four 1/16th 6''x75'' piece of veneer and I been thinking what to do with them, I'm giving up on no fiberglass.

From top to bottom

1/16 veneer
19oz fiberglass
core
19oz fiberglass
1/16veneer.

Thoughts on this lay up?

Now that you mention that I think the same thing happened too me. I'm pretty sure it's in one of my threads. It's not a loss cause. You can scrape/sand off the epoxy and glue up the veneer using exterior glue or gorilla glue. Use epoxy for the base. Make sure the veneer is wiped clean from dust. If you use gorilla glue, it expands. You also want to be sure it's fully cured when it comes out of the press or it will expand under the base and then you'll have problems.

hegan wrote:After reading the Fiberless skis thread I decided I would give it a shot. I ordered some veneer, did a few test with QCM epoxy and some scraps. Come to find out it doesn't hold at all with veneer/veneer or veneer/base material. So I tried another test this time with fiberglass (so much for fiberless) and of course it worked.

So now I have four 1/16th 6''x75'' piece of veneer and I been thinking what to do with them, I'm giving up on no fiberglass.

From top to bottom

1/16 veneer
19oz fiberglass
core
19oz fiberglass
1/16veneer.

Thoughts on this lay up?

Ok, I've did some runs with a bamboo veneer and was all good. Used West epoxy, very strong bond.
Which veneer did u use? Is moisture playing part with the QCM? Thx.

dbabicwa wrote: Ok, I've did some runs with a bamboo veneer and was all good. Used West epoxy, very strong bond.
Which veneer did u use? Is moisture playing part with the QCM? Thx.

The poplar veneer was dry, clean and I sanded it to rough it up a bit. The epoxy just didn't take. Next purchase of epoxy will be west system. In the mean time just going to do the lay up as posted above. The more I think about it the more excited I get about this build.

hegan wrote:After reading the Fiberless skis thread I decided I would give it a shot. I ordered some veneer, did a few test with QCM epoxy and some scraps. Come to find out it doesn't hold at all with veneer/veneer or veneer/base material. So I tried another test this time with fiberglass (so much for fiberless) and of course it worked.

So now I have four 1/16th 6''x75'' piece of veneer and I been thinking what to do with them, I'm giving up on no fiberglass.

From top to bottom

1/16 veneer
19oz fiberglass
core
19oz fiberglass
1/16veneer.

Thoughts on this lay up?

What do you mean? why didn't it hold or what happend?

PTTR wrote:
What do you mean? why didn't it hold or what happend?

The epoxy just didnt hold, after it was cured I was able to peel the veneer apart like it was a sticky on a note pad. The epoxy was cured but in little round piece almost like sand. One of the test was one side of the veneer with fiber glass and one side just veneer/veneer. Ending up having the same result with the veneer/veneer and the fiber glass results were solid.

The same thing happened in my all wood skis using QCM. Thought maybe I messed up the mix ratio or something.

Um sandy epoxy? That's too much hardner. I made a horozontal lam ski with 1/16 venneers and glass worked fine. Had glass but still. I've lammed decks with just wood no glass and it works fine.
Mix was off or moisture or epoxy went bad some hiw contaminants or somthin.

I glued alot off woods together yesterday with epoxy, forgot to do a test with veneers, but some of the pieces of wood were almost veneer thin. No issue. they all stick together. It was for a project but I tried to pull all the rest peices apart. The wood broke before the resin. I used entropy.

I used epoxy because I laminated pieces of plastic with the wood but alot of it was wood against wood and it sticks.

MontuckyMadman wrote:Um sandy epoxy? That's too much hardner. I made a horozontal lam ski with 1/16 venneers and glass worked fine. Had glass but still. I've lammed decks with just wood no glass and it works fine.
Mix was off or moisture or epoxy went bad some hiw contaminants or somthin.

Nope not to much hardner, I did another test today. This time sanded the veneer with some rough paper for the veneer/veneer and left the veneer/fiberglass/veneer one smooth. The results the veneer/veneer solid , the veneer/fg/veneer pealed apart easy. The veneer needs to be really roughed up in order for the epoxy to hold correctly. I have enough materials now to make two skis. I'm thinking one pair the safe way, plastic base, glass, wood core/veneer tip and tail spacers, glass, and veneer top and of course edges. The other one a bit whacky 1/16 veneer, wood core/veneer tip and tail spacers, 1/16 veneer no edges. Going to be the same the same ski just different builds.

That makes no sense at all. I'm not doubting your test. Is your glass contaminated, dirty, old, something?

the veneer can be super smooth and its sticks very well.
Too much dust?
What are you cleaning with or cleaning at all?
Sandy epoxy is a hightemp cure with no heat or the mix is off or the resin/hardener went bad with moisture
epoxy sticks to everything pores.

My $0.02...
Your epoxy did not cure enough.
I've done a few room temp tests where I thought it was cured, was hard, but didn't bond very well. \
Same sample a day or two later is bullet proof.

Try again with heat either during or post cure.
I've never seen a (properly mixed) epoxy that won't stick to wood.

sam