Ski Builders Forum

I'm a new builder havent made my first pair yet, but im wondering if anyone has tried a new aproach to doing there edges because me and all my friends have problems with them breaking, peaking, and coming out from sliding rails on our big manufacturers skis. solutions for when I'm building?

welcome steezy,

There are two ways to make your edges stronger:

1. Make them thicker. Depending on the skis you are riding the 1.3 mm* edges you buy from this site are likely to be thicker than those on production skis.

2. Make them stronger. Ski edges get measured in Rockwell units (higher number equals harder edges). If you get your edges directly from a manufacturer you can choose between different materials.

My recommendation would be to try the edges sold here and if you are still destroying them then work from there to try different things. Oh and how you setup your sidewall/cap can also change edge "strength".

* Edges are commonly identified by their step size, in other words what thickness of base they will work with. 1.3mm isn't a dimension you could measure on an already built pair of skis although the "height" of the edge would get you closest.

The biggest edge I have seen so far is a SWD_SKI05 Edge that
has a height up the sidewall portion of 2.5mm, 2.0mm wide where it
meets the base, .7mm flange thickness and 7.8mm overall width.
The only problem is that it leaves a 1.8 depth which means that you
have to use thicker base material or something to fill the gap.

I don't know of anyone who is stocking these edges except for the
manufacturer.

http://www.metalldeutsch.com/english/start.html

Remember that if you use these thicker edges, you will have to adjust
your thickness profile to compensate for the stiffer edge.

I compared the edges that I got from the ski builders shop to those on my 06 line invaders and the base side width is the same but the side wall edge is about twice as big on the invaders. The edges are the same as my 07 ks public enemy's and when i compared them to a pair of 06 Salomon cr lab 1080's that I have the side wall edge is the same but the base edge on the 1080's are smaller. This is just some food for thought for you. Line plugs the whole fatty edge thing and true to the name they hold up well in the park and on rails especially.

hey,

I've got some brainfood for you guys, the trend seems to be, harder/ bigger is better, but in my opinion it's the opposite.
you have to recon that when you hit a rail with your edge it will be metal to metal, and as we all know that doesn't slide very comfortable. Scientificly: the resistance is to high. That way there is an enourmous build up of force, Resistance vs. directional Forces.
This is the reason that edges tend to break, the metal wants to deform, to lose the force but since the rail has a far greater mass, It all comes down to your edge. When this thing doesn't give in, or gives in to much it will break. (this is my hypothesis, of how it might work, could be something completely different but to me this sounds logical, according to my experimental results)
My own experiences with snowboards are that softer edges tend to break less easy, I believe rome or capita or something even experiments with some copper alloy for their jib-boards. Their idea is that a softer metal will slide better, will tend to break less easy and will also be easier to repair.

Like I said, maybe something to think about

On that last thought I had the kid at the ski shop where I rent gear for my daughter ask me if I could make snow board without edges. He was looking for a board that is 140-150 cm and soft without edges. I don't remember if he gave me a manufacturer that makes a board like that but he was thinking it would slide easier on the rails.

Didn't I hear about a company that uses Bronze edges? Isn't it possible to add lubricants to bronze like they do in some motor bushings.

Hafte

Hey Hafte,

sorry i now read that I had typed copper, but i meant bronze actually. I guess that was rome on their artifact i believe. Could just be some marketing strategy but who knows.. it might work.. what i do know is that that thing was too expensive for my wallet, and I couldn't find any bronze edges anywhere..
No edges might do fine, but It will definatly lose on control, I know some powder boards are edgeless and work fine, but then again, powder riding is more like surfing. and parks tend to get kinda icy >.<

Whats everyones thoughts on just switching to a bronze edge just for like a foot and a half under the foot and then still using normal edges for the rest thoughts???

Whats everyones thoughts on just switching to a bronze edge just for like a foot and a half under the foot and then still using normal edges for the rest thoughts???

my guess is that you will miss the even distribution of force all along the edge, since you now will have 2 extra connections on each side of the edge. you will have to secure this with epoxy i guess, but the bronze will probably bend differntly from steel, so you will get extra friction or torsion between the two..

but then again.. .it might work

the "burton dominant slick" had/has some kind of edges that some kind of do a kink inside the base under the "sliding area". but i have no idea if that works since i never do rails and never do snowboard.