Ski Builders Forum

Has anyone done any experimenting with something other than vertical lamination? I know skateboards all use horizontal almination and have great pop, so for a park ski, would it make sense to horizontally laminate the core to provide better pop?

I could be wrong, but I think it would also provide for a better all around feel to the ski. anyone know anything from experience though?

A horicontally laminated core is used for skateboards but not for skis for many reasons, some of them are:
- horizontally laminated contruction is quicker, cheaper and weaker than a vertical laminated woodcore. in general that is because you get shorter fibres when you use thin veneer. (short fibres=weak)
-But on the other hand you can give more shape with horizontal lamination. you can actually give the core the final shape of the ski, with camber, tip and tail. (that is why skateboardmanufct. use that constr.)
-a horizontal core also contains more glue and gets slightly more heavy.

I have tested both methods, vertical lamination came out better. to compensate for the shorter fibres i made a ski with double core ( a core inside the core and pre-tension lamination). but that takes to much time for normal production and was to brittle.

My girlfriend makes longboards and use horizontal construction. It definately looks better. (that is probably why they used horizontally laminated sidewalls in last year's gotamas)

endre, do you know how volkl treated their wooden sidewalls? i want to use wood sidewalls from now on simply because their quicker to make but i'm having trouble protecting them from collisions and moisture even when using sealant.

I don't know what Volkl uses, but I wonder if a penetrating epoxy would work. It is oftern used to fix rotten wood. Probably won't withstand deep gouges, but should be better than a surface coating.

maybe something like this:
http://www.rotdoctor.com/products/cpes.html

kelvin

völkl's sidewalls was made with 0,6mm. veneer. With that thin wood any glue will penetrate. pu-glue penetrates wood very well, (and has better uv-resistance) but i guess epoxy will do it.

Völkl made their sidewalls with wood in only length direction. What do you think about doing opposite in the sidewalls? after all most beating comes from the sides. (end grain sidewalls)

that's an interesting suggestion about the endgrain sidewalls. i'm tending to lean more towards the wooden sidewalls just because they're so much faster to make. i was thinking about making a horizontally laminated wooden sidewalls with alternating layers of wood veneer and thin UHMWPE (basically just left over base material). Hopefully the UHMWPE will help the wood resist damage. i think your idea of using endgrain veneer would help too.