My first build, suggestions?

[FREESKIER_FIVE-0]

Hi all, I have been lurking around here for a little while, and am working on my first pair of skis. I have a few questions.

First, some of the skis in the ski gallery that have little or no graphics, and show the wood core, afe said to have 22oz fiberglass on top of the core as well as below. Is it transparent once pressed? I find this very confusing.

I decided to make my first pair as relatively simple as possible. ANY suggestions would make my world so much easier. I thought (due to the statistics and chart in the how to guide) that a gray birch/green ash core would provide a stiff flex without a lot of extra wood in thickness, and that the ash would also provide some durability. Another option I was contemplating was an aspen/poplar-or-maple combination. Any suggestions would be of great use.

Again, any other suggestions would be excellent.

Thanks,
cass

[LordGlassbot]

fiberglass turns transparent when adding epoxy

[G-man]

If you want to go simple on the first pair and still end up with a quite usable ski, I'd suggest that you don't really worry too much about what wood to use for the core. Most long term forum readers know (and may well disagree) that I don't personally place a lot of emphasis on core wood species. I feel that the core material functions primarily as a spacer for the composite layers and as a damping element (also as a screw retention medium if you're not using binding inserts). After profiling, there just isn't enough wood left to really function as a major physical strength element... except at the very center of the ski (where the core is the thickest) which is a 'relative dead zone' as far as actual ski performance is concerned... IMO.

Many different builders are reporting surprisingly long term good results with wooden sidewalls, even non-treated ones. So, if you want to save a good deal of time, energy, frustration, and expense, I'd also suggest not going with a plastic sidewall. The main reason for using a plastic sidewall is to prevent moisture intrusion into the core. So far, I haven't seen a single report of problems related to wood sidewall usage. I'd estimate that a ski with plastic sidewalls is about 4 times as difficult to build as a ski with wood sidewalls.

22 oz. triax is a real good glass to use on your first pair. It'll give you good performance and a good baseline for future variations and experiments.

Good luck,

G-man

[rockaukum]

I'll stand with G-Man on this one. I use poplar wood and had used a UHMW sidewall on the first sticks. This time i'm using poplar and maple for the sidewall. (Main reason I use poplar is my neighbor is a cabinet maker and he always seem to have some "lying around"). Nice, easy and quicker. I have wood exposed on my skis (core shift) and have had or seen no problems yet. Read about Kams latest where he uses good ole pine (Gman also?). That wood is cheap and readily available and they have no compaints with it (?).
rockaukum

[G-man]

Yep, until you've ridden a pine core ski, you don't know what you're missin'. Very smooth, sweet flex, and damp as well (now you just watch... next year, the big ski manufacturers are all going to be tauting their 'new' pine core skis ). . I'm sure that soft woods will absorb more moisture than hardwoods, so I'd definitely suggest using a sealer on soft wood sidewalls.

G-man

[bigKam]

G-man has a point. pine is nice -- sweet flex and it's relatively light, too. as for what type of wood to use, my opinion is this: there are subtle differences. pine is fine, even with knots:



but if you think pine is way below your standards, wait until you see what i'm currently cooking up....

[FREESKIER_FIVE-0]

Thanks everyone! That helps greatly. I guess I am worrying a little too much about flex. I am a big guy, and I like to have a stiffer ski, but I shouldn't worry about it. Thanks Again!

And that pine does look (and sound) pretty sweet.

[powdercow]

I wouldn't say you are "worrying a little too much about flex" at all. Flex will make or break a ski and I think we all spend a lot of time trying to perfect, predict, and quantify flex.

What (I think) G-man and others are saying is that the species of wood used in a core is much less important than the profile (thickness) of the core. A change of 1 mm in the thickness of your core will make more difference than switching from pine to maple.

That said there is no doubt that the wood used will have some influence on the final ski and I plan on trying out some different materials (paulownia anyone?) just to get a better feel for this.

[FREESKIER_FIVE-0]

I wouldn't say you are "worrying a little too much about flex" at all. Flex will make or break a ski and I think we all spend a lot of time trying to perfect, predict, and quantify flex.

What (I think) G-man and others are saying is that the species of wood used in a core is much less important than the profile (thickness) of the core. A change of 1 mm in the thickness of your core will make more difference than switching from pine to maple.

That said there is no doubt that the wood used will have some influence on the final ski and I plan on trying out some different materials (paulownia anyone?) just to get a better feel for this.

Right, that's kind of what I mean. I was trying to specify and manipulate my flex by worrying about the wood species instead of thickness of the core which can do the same thing. My thinking was that I could have a stiff flex with still having a thin core and thus save weight. But I shouldn't complicate things that much, and should just use thickness for flex, not wood type.