SKI BUILDER THREAD

losh

losh

Active member
I wanted to make a thread dedicated to just ski building because I think everyone should know how their twigs are built, and be able to build their own if they want to. So let's talk about building skis, if you're curious then just ask questions, nobody seems to know how they're made, so you won't sound stupid trust me. Where's the ski builders of NS at! Do you build skis at home? For a company? Trying to for the first time? Let's get into it.

Also, I build skis all day so I can provide my own sliver of knowledge.
 
14170891:brentkimball said:
do they sell ski presses or do you gotta make your own
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Oh you can definitely buy presses, they're not cheap so craigslist, facebook market place, or forums are kinda the move. But alot of guys now adays use vacuum bags, I don't have any experience with them. But basically just vacuum bag, alot of suction and some time and you'll have pressed skis. I'm sure somebody else around here knows more about it but it's definitely the affordable way to make skis.
 
Do you have an insta or anything for the skis you make?

I love boutique builders and try to buy hand made when I can. I interned in a small company factory that hand built skis a few years ago. I’ve looked into it and slowly been nerding out more and more. I’d like to try my hand at ski building for fun when I’m more settled.

what kind of sidewalls and cores do you use?

I’ve been really interested in sidewalls lately and how they affect the ski. I’m really liking how the uhmw sidewall is making my current skis feel less “chattery” but still softish/lively the bamboo core.
 
topic:losh said:
I wanted to make a thread dedicated to just ski building because I think everyone should know how their twigs are built, and be able to build their own if they want to. So let's talk about building skis, if you're curious then just ask questions, nobody seems to know how they're made, so you won't sound stupid trust me. Where's the ski builders of NS at! Do you build skis at home? For a company? Trying to for the first time? Let's get into it.

Also, I build skis all day so I can provide my own sliver of knowledge.
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Dude there's already a couple huge threads about this topic. Search them.
 
14170924:CabbyArrant said:
Dude there's already a couple huge threads about this topic. Search them.
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Dude. Can't find a single thread used in the last year that has any conversation about building skis other than maybe one about presses. Feel free to be productive though and link them.
 
I've been looking into building skis for this coming season so I have been browsing the skibuilders.net forums. Tons of good information available there. There are a lot of people who built their own presses, the basic idea is pretty simple, but the costs really add up in the steel and welding. I was surprised to learn that the presses are pneumatic, not hydraulic, so they inflate a tube or tubes to like 70psi in between a steel frame and wooden mold and it just presses the shit out of the ski materials. The harder you press the lighter the ski? I'm not sure because I just started looking into it, but I think it's because you squeeze more epoxy out.

There are also cloth presses which seem interesting to me, because you don't have to buy tons of steel and have welding experience, but you can still press a pair of skis with a good amount of psi. The guys on the forum said that vacuum bagging produces an equivalent force of like 4 psi or something, I'm not sure though so don't quote me. You can get these cloth presses up to like 40 psi which is pretty solid.

Vacuum bagging is definitely the most accessible for most people, and it can definitely make a satisfactory pair of skis. Plus if you get into vacuum bagging you can make skateboards and stuff pretty easily with the same equipment. I am not sure it is so easy with the big frame-style presses.

Idk why it matters a lot that there are previous threads, just kinda seems like a cool thing for the NS community to talk about. I stumbled onto iggyskier's thread, which I am pretty sure is Scott, the founder of ON3P, on TGR forums from like 2004 where he was designing and building his press and pitching his idea for ON3P skis. Kind of a cool bit of ski history especially since NS enshrines ON3P.
 
14170907:BradAusNzCoCa said:
Do you have an insta or anything for the skis you make?

I love boutique builders and try to buy hand made when I can. I interned in a small company factory that hand built skis a few years ago. I’ve looked into it and slowly been nerding out more and more. I’d like to try my hand at ski building for fun when I’m more settled.

what kind of sidewalls and cores do you use?

I’ve been really interested in sidewalls lately and how they affect the ski. I’m really liking how the uhmw sidewall is making my current skis feel less “chattery” but still softish/lively the bamboo core.
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I build for Meier skis we're on instagram @meierskis. Our sidewalls are the same as yours, do you bevel the sidewall??
 
Ah I didn’t build these, just riding them haha I was more making an observation on my current skis. But yes, the sidewalls are beveled.

I used to know a guy who worked for Meier a couple of years ago.

The factory I was at was a big proponent of bamboo core/sidewall (one piece).

14171023:losh said:
I build for Meier skis we're on instagram @meierskis. Our sidewalls are the same as yours, do you bevel the sidewall??
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14171203:GilsonSkis said:
No hate. But search bar...there’s a lot of threads about it already
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I'm admittedly brutal with the search bar. But worst case ontario a new conversation happens.
 
Tbh the in site search bar is kinda rough. I find just googling it with “Newschoolers” tacked on the end brings up better/faster results

14171206:losh said:
I'm admittedly brutal with the search bar. But worst case ontario a new conversation happens.
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