Ski Builders Forum

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything and I'm getting ready for my 3rd snowboard build. I'm pretty hung up on the core for this one. I was curious if anyone has used strand bamboo flooring for cores. My local retailers only carry this stuff and to have any vertically laminated stuff shipped to my door is outrageously priced. The cheapest I could find was about $140 for enough to get me 4 cores while I could make the same amount of cores for $60 using strand stuff. Also curious if 3ft vertically laminated boards could be reliably joined some how? I can find this stuff pretty easily as well...

I've looked into it. I have a "TON" of SF bamboo left from when I floored my house. There a few issues with using it. 1.) its VERY heavy, your board is going to be anything but light. 2.) The fibers are running the wrong way to apply any structure to he board and because of this I don't think you'll be happy with the performance of the board. If your heart is set on BB then keep looking for vertical BB. You may have to drive a little ways but you should be able to get some. good luck.

if you have to go through so much cost and trouble to use/get bamboo.... Why using it at all? I'm sure in Pennsylvania you can find plenty of local wood choices for skis

I've used tons of bamboo. Expensive, heavy, too soft.
Does create a nice springy poppy core, in my opinion probably better looked at if mixing with another wood species.

Anyway , Groff and Groff lumber in Pennsylvania has some of best selection of hardwoods anywhere. Right in your neck of the woods!

Thanks for the great information! Looks like the 2 hour drive to the lumber yard would actually be worth it cost wise! I think I'll go with a poplar core with 2 red oak stringers

I use bamboo flooring boards for all of my skis (other than the first 3 pairs I made). I've never found it heavy or soft, I always thought it was the opposite, light and stiff. Your mileage may vary I suppose.

I can't remember how much I paid (been a long time since I bought any) but they were ~3.5" wide unfinished boards with a tongue/groove that I ripped off, then glued a few boards together to make two ski cores.

This is the stuff I've used, vertical grain unfinished (you don't want the horizontal grain, it usually has a core layer with the grain running sideways and its crappy porous scraps... I had a pair of skis blow part when I used that):

http://www.bamboohardwoods.com/construkt_vgbl.html

(I'm also not familiar with the term "stand bamboo" so maybe you're talking about something completely different)

twizzstyle wrote:(I'm also not familiar with the term "stand bamboo" so maybe you're talking about something completely different)

Strand fiber is when they take bamboo and crush it horizontally in a press/mold and inject it with epoxy. they are hands down the hardest floors out there. i predrilled mine on the ends and I was still not able to drive a nail through them, nail would just bend. (also put a piece in a bucket of water for 7 days and there zero sign of damage, 85# dog running on them for 5 years and o scratches, love my Strand fiber bamboo floors)

The strand stuff sounds like some of the carmelized i used, hard and heavy, not what i would recomend. Call twizz guy get the vertlam from china, light, stiff and strong. Not all boo created equal. The floor boards i have used no bueno. Ymmv.