Replying to Tutorial: Rockering Skis

Ok so this is my tutorial on rocking skis.  I didnt really check to see if there is any other thread on this so hopefully there isn't.  If so, then i will have this removed if it is wanted.

I have rockered a pair of mine by this method and it worked fine. 

Disclaimer: All skis are different, and attempting to rocker skis CAN damage them permanently.

Here we go...

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.

Process
- 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.
-  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.
- I found that with my skis, the finished rocker was about 25% of what i was bending the ski.  This will obviously change for every ski but for mine, i had the skis spread apart about 4 inches while i heated them, and i ended up with around an inch of rocker on the finished product.  Experiment with this, because there is no concrete percentage of how much the ski will lose.  Its up to you to figure out what you skis need.

Be careful
- 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.
- Rockering skis always weakens the ski.  I dont know how long said ski will last.  Mine are still fine after about 5 days riding on them.  I havent noticed neither any change in the rocker, nor any problems in the ski.


thats my tutorial on it.  feel free to leave me any comments or suggestions.  Sorry that i dont have any pictures but im in europe right now and cant get any.  I have pictures of the finished product and if it is wanted i'll post, but other that i dont have anything picture wise. sorry


and anybody that has any other methods, please post here so we can have one specific thread for this type of deal.