Help on Rockering Skis

panojibber

panojibber

Active member
Okay, so I've got old skis that I won't be using next year, and I want to rocker them. I saw the post where the guy shows how to build a jig, but I want to know:

1. how long I should leave it in the jig,

2. what I should heat the skis with,

3. how much I should heat them,

4. where I should heat them (ie just at the part where the rocker starts, all along the skis, topsheet, base, etc etc.)

5. how much the skis will return to their normal shape after rockering them,

6. will the skis be weaker.

I have searchbarred, so dont searchbar me.
 
1. get a job

2. buy some rockered skis

pretty sure fiberglass/wood will not rocker. the only skis you can rocker post-skipress are atomic powder pluses because they have a 1/4 cm strip of steel throughout. i tried doing it to mine and barely got any results after leaving them in for a week straight. if the skis are complete rock skis be gentle (w/ teh rocker angle) and leave them in for the entire summer.

 
^^^what if the type of ski you want to rocker doesn't come in a rocker ski?

I saw some guy using bibles and a wood stove...go to TGR and they may be able to help....
 
Skis are not made to be rockered, post pressing. The epoxy,wood and fiberglass composition is made to flex but not maintain a changed shape. If you want to try your best bet would be heat treating and high pressure for a prolonged period.
 
ooo a whole weak, tahts alot of time. and you can rocker any ski, you just need heat and they need to be held in a more rockered stance than wanted because the ski is going to flex back. i rockerd my invaders by just doing tip stands and nose presses.
 
I've found that really soft skis like my Nordica Supercharger's will automatically start rockering on their own due to a lot of butters, tip stands, and nosepresses. I think that most skis that are really soft will rocker simply by putting them in a vice with a book or piece of wood placed between them.

I've also rockered an old pair of K2 Enemies, which is a really stiff ski, and the key there is to use heat. I put a clamp on my skis at the points i wanted my ski to rocker and shoved a book in there to hold it in place and then applied heat to the area for 5-10minutes on each ski about 3 times at each rocker point. I used an embossing gun that mom had which outputs heat at about 650 degrees. I kept the gun about 3 inches away from each ski.

Here's a look at the setup:

Theres a clamp at the tails where i just heated it with a book holding the form of the rocker, and at the tip i have some books holding the form inbetween heat sessions.

1212437799103_1354_1_


 
even thought u are donig a pretty gnarly job...i dont think that the rocker is going to hold at all. i think it will become flat with maybe a TINY bit of rocker that wont last for long at all.

still fun though. POST PICS WHEN UR DONE!!!
 
im trying they same way as above right now with a pair of old fujas ... since they are noodles they should rocker nicely im hoping... ill post my results
 
aight dude i rockered a pair of my skis in november and i'll run you through the process.

what you'll need:

- heat gun that heats up to 1000 degrees (they are like 15 bucks at Ace Hardware)

- two beefy clamps

- a few blocks of wood or whatever you will separate the skis with

- table to rest the skis on

- and of course skis (preferably without any fiberglass in the core or whatever). i rockered my old scratch bc's which were all wood core



So get your skis set up.

- Clamp the skis together in front and behind the bindings. you can do it directly in front or a few centimeters forward or whever you want the rocker to start, but take into consideration, that the rocker will start like 10 centimeters in front of the clamp, and NOT directly at the clamp.

- Get your heat gun and heat up in front of and behind the clamps.

- Heat each section for 5 minutes at a time, so once you are done with both skis, it will be after 20 minutes. Dont put the heat gun too close to the ski because it can potentially heat through the core and melt the bases on the sections where you are heating. You will be able to figure out where is a good distance to hold the gun from the ski

- 5 minutes of heating isn't going to be enough, so after the first session, wait an hour before you do it again. All skis are different, so after the second session, mark where you had the clamps and take the whole deal apart so you can see if the skis have successfully rockered or not. My bc's took like 5 sessions to successfully complete the process.

- Because of the extreme heat that you are putting on the skis, the topsheets will most likely start to bubble up. They bubble because the ski is flexing in a non-normal position for a long period of time, and the bubbles signify that the ski has almost successfully rockered. On my skis, both noses and both tails have topsheet bubbles and they are fine so DONT BE ALARMED too much. You'll know when too much bubbling is taking place.

- After the skis are rockered to your liking, leave them in clamped for 24 hours to ensure that they have cooled safely before you take the clamps off. This will lead to the rocker holding its shape much better

thats my tutorial on it. feel free to leave me any comments or suggestions. let me know how it turned out.
 
oh yeah and the skis WILL be weaker.

and as to how much the skis will lose their rocker... after my skis were done, the rocker was about 25% of the amount i had them spread out. So if you have the block of wood jammed in between the skis to the point that there is 4 inches of space between the tips, you'll probably have about an inch between the skis when you take them out, presuming you did it right and didnt over heat. All skis are different though so that depends on what skis you are rockering.
 
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