Ski's--A different kind of project.

[Alan Mikkelsen]

I haven't posted here for a while, but I've still been busy in the shop. Here's one of the more 'different' projects:

My son has been bugging me for a couple of years to help him build a set of wooden skis. He does back country skiing and wanted a pair of wooden skis to test in the deep powder on his telemark bindings. I resisted, because I thought it was a dumb idea. There's no way you can build as good a ski as you can buy, after all! However, I finally succumbed and here's the results.

The skis actually came out with the right flex and stiffness in the tail and shovel. I hate it when something actually looks pretty good looks like its going to work--although only the snow will tell. There are 9 laminations of ash and hickory underfoot, tapering to 4 laminations at the tip and tail. Each lamination is 1/16" inch. I resawed the ash and hickory on my Grizzly bandsaw, cleaned it up on the drum sander and laminated it with System 3 epoxy. I wiped on a coat of epoxy on the top skin and sides, and he's going to apply pine tar to the bases and then wax them up and go to it!

He's already talking about the next pair. <groan> ;)

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Now that is just plain cool! If these work for you, I'd bet there would be a pretty good niche market for these!! A lot of poeple do very well selling wooden canoes...

[Jamie Buxton]

You've got 9 laminates in the middle and 4 at the ends. What did you do with the ends of the 5 laminates which don't go the full length? Do they just end with a square cut? Or did you taper them down somehow? If so, how?

And why did you choose ash and hickory? They're both known for flexibility and strength, but it seems that in using both, you're going beyond those considerations.

[Jason Tuinstra]

I'm with Jeff - very cool!

[Alan Mikkelsen]

The ends of each lamination were tapered using a sled on the drum sander. The ash and hickory were selected by my son, I just went with the flow. He went with an ash core and hickory top and bottom sheets. I'd have done it the other way around, since the ash had more figure.

The tapering sled was quite simple, just a piece of hardboard elevated on one end, and the strips were double stick taped to the sled. Went pretty quickly.

[Jim W. White]

more pictures! ..awesome project. They look great. ...you should consider making an "Article" for SMC . I for one would be very interested in ome more of the process step details.

Thanks for the post.

...Jim W

[Joe Mioux]

Alan

What a great project!

I love X-country skiing, but haven't done it in awhile.

Keep us posted on how these skis perform and if there will be any future modifications or improvements.....when snow permits:)

JOe

[Dev Emch]

Now that is way way cool and being a homegrown colorado high country boy, I should know a good set of "boards" when I see them. You guys would get lots of positive comments up here in vail!

When my bones were made of flexible plastic and not glass, (i.e. many moons ago), the rage was a gaudy bright orange ski from Austria alled the "ATOMIC BIONIC". Boy was that a ski!!!! In a world of fiberglass clad hex cell paper (HEXCELL) and laminated glass and foam, this ski was the rage for the hot doggers. I used mine until I finally broke one. These were actually wooden skis! MADE FROM WOOD! We called it monkey wood because it came from a tree in the rain forrest. Atomic used this wood until about the early 90s when eco concerns finally put it on the endangered list and they went to another wood.

My current skis are also Atomic. They were the last model made by atomic that used laminated tops and discrete sides. Today, the skis are made with a formed top section that includes both the top and the sides. Not really very fond of this new method. And some skis are made from steel. Yuccckkkkk.....

Even with gaudy fiberglass top layers and petex like bottoms, wooden skis still behave like wooden skies. And those who can remember the joy of using the Atomic Bionic will know where we are comming from!;)

So your skis look just wonderful! Keep up the great work!

[Corey Hallagan]

That is just plain cool. Nice job!

Corey

[Alan Turner]

Nice work. AsI recall, there are articles by both Jere Osgood and by David Charlesworth on making tapered, bent laminations, and your method is along those lines. I think Charlesworth's article also used a curved sled, so that the thickness could curve any which way. I have researched this with a commission several years ago and thought it looked pretty doable, but the commission did not come through, and I never built the spider leged table I had designed. Maybe someday (it is in my sketchbook). Kudos for you for your wonderful project.

[Alan Mikkelsen]

Thanks all for the kind comments. If we do another pair, I'll take pictures from start to finish and maybe even try to get my son to write something up about how they ski and the exact flex points and patterns in his design.

[Keith Foster]

As an old Texas ski bum let me say that is one mighty fine look'n pair of boards!

It's been a coons age since I last went skiing. Back then I worked in a ski shop in Arlington TX and had my pick of all the hot items. Still have my set of Hansen Spider Racing Boots. My favorite skis were Knisel's at the time.

[Michael Em]

I'm a ski bum too and that is so cool! That looks so difficult to make I wouldn't even know where to begin! WOW!! They look more fun that newest pair of All-Mountain Volkl's!

I'll be hitting you up for your mad skills when I get my wooden surfboard project going!

Michael