:: View topic - skis

built a couple pairs of skis this week:

the leftmost pair is project pallet. the other two were recently pressed; core made of old wood i found tucked away in the rafters of my garage (lots of knots, by the way). all three pairs sport uhmw sidewalls, and they have some combination of rubber and aluminum. for example, in the most recent pair (shown on the left and below by themselves), an aluminum and rubber sandwich rides beneath the top layer of glass. the sandwich is roughly 12" in length, and positioned about 10" from the tip. just above the base material rides the VDS layer, and a few other patches of thin rubber and aluminum. in my opinion, these materials help dampen the ride, subsequently increasing edge contact because of how they effect on the mode shapes of the ski -- both modal frequency and modal damping.

these new skis have roughly 5mm of camber -- just perfect, i think. they all carry the same dimensions as the Kaweah ([125-90-110]mm), a shape that i fell in love with the first time i skied it. of the three, i think the following pair will be my favorite. i don't have a name yet, but it'll come to me. other features include edges that wrap around the tip and tail, uhmw tip/tail spacer, and green base material.

i'll take at least one pair out this coming weekend to see how they run.

wow, those umpa lumpas are really cranking out those skis. nice work.

jason

hey, bigKam, there is a name for your skis....

Looks like you're getting your technique down very nicely. The top sheet coloration looks especially good.

G-man

read trip report:

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=878

Skis are looking great. And great trip report!

At what temperature and pressure did you press these skis and for what time?

Thanks,

Buuk

75 psi. 100F for 30 minutes. 190 for 45 minutes. cooled to room temp under pressure.

I am just wondering if the flex of these skis would be equivalent to the flex (and strength) of a good freestyle park ski. I don't see any on this website.

huh? Do more looking. There are LOTS of homemade park skis on here, certainly more recently than these skis from 4.5 years ago!

Sorry i didn't see that there were newer skis out there...

These skis look awesome. Are they for sale? and if so, how much do they go for? Thanks.

I figured this would be the best place to post this:

Recently I met with a local group of Alpine snowboarders and we had a great time. One of the guys just placed an order for his first new alpine board he would own. I suspect he has been riding for years, possibly decades. Every other board he has owned have been hand-downs or used purchases.

I am not bragging, and most of you will understand this. I have never owned a used snowboard (I have been riding since 1979), I have ridden only my boards for decades and I have snowboards that noone else has ever touched but me! No distributor, no shipper, no pro shop.

Take pride in what you do and call it your own-BECAUSE IT IS!

The only bitch of this whole story is I have no idea why he did not contact me so I could build his custom board. He and I ride together until we can't possibly make another run and have a great time. Never has he ever had to wait for me to catch up or make repairs to my board or whatever. My boards perform most admirably. This is the part of this business I don't understand.

The majority of Alpine boards are made in small mom and pop shops and are custom made. Try going down to your local ski shop to buy a new alpine board. Its a small percentage in ski/snowboard industry, and the riders take much pride in their ride.

long ago here didn't write = (

here that I made some things in the winter

(sponsor's skis)

(skis for mine prorider from http://lifesteezemedia.com/)

(skis for my friend)

photo from phone. forgive for quality)))

it is a little photo from life))))

Nice job. Looks like you are mostly building park skis, how did they hold up to that type of abuse?

they it is still very good to keep)))

the varnish bursts but it no problem)))