How tf do i do this shit without waisting 3 years sanding

I think I understood your question, apologies if I didn’t. When I was interning at a ski company, we used a planer that I would push the cores through. Anyway you can get access to one of those? Maybe you can rent one at Home Depot? Or maybe you can find someone with a CNC around you?

**This post was edited on Jan 21st 2022 at 1:20:45pm

Did the planer you used vary thickness gradually from the tip to waist? Really curious what sort of machine would do that, or would you use a tapered piece of metal as a guide?

I did try web search but I'm not getting useful results, have to take a class I guess.

When I want to be super precise with the core and sidewall dimensions, I use mu CNC that I built.

ive used a thickness planer with a profiled crib before, but unless you have conveyors or your crib is light, it’s a pita to move it back and forth.

Your next best bet for something precise is a router sled with the profile dims on the rails. Look up kings wood skis manufacturing for that.

on my more recent builds, I used an electric hand planer and then just sanded down the rough spots. Quick easy and you can find the tool for cheap on the second hand market. Hard to be precise tho. You can look up every third Thursday pine derby board. They made it out in the woods



for the press, vacuum alone is totally fine. With the extra pressure on top you can squeeze out more epoxy and get a lighter/stronger ski. But if it’s your first pair I wouldn’t bother putting in the extra money. 1atm is plenty

ajbskiWhen I want to be super precise with the core and sidewall dimensions, I use mu CNC that I built.

ive used a thickness planer with a profiled crib before, but unless you have conveyors or your crib is light, it’s a pita to move it back and forth.

Your next best bet for something precise is a router sled with the profile dims on the rails. Look up kings wood skis manufacturing for that.

on my more recent builds, I used an electric hand planer and then just sanded down the rough spots. Quick easy and you can find the tool for cheap on the second hand market. Hard to be precise tho. You can look up every third Thursday pine derby board. They made it out in the woods



for the press, vacuum alone is totally fine. With the extra pressure on top you can squeeze out more epoxy and get a lighter/stronger ski. But if it’s your first pair I wouldn’t bother putting in the extra money. 1atm is plenty

Ah, set it on it's side and use a router with a really long bit, I cn see that.

Was imagining a really long tilted bed, like 1mm per foot, just not practical for ordinary humans.

Sounds like you're building as sa hobby? Impressive.

In the absence of router sleds, or tapered guides through a planar or CNCs I guess you could go with a power planer and shape a stepped decrease, then smooth it out. I would be nervous about doing this without sketching it out on the computer first to determine step size. You're dropping like 8mm over like 80cm or so, depending on the length of the ski and where the core taper starts. That's gonna be a precise cut, especially if it's not a linear decrease which I assume it isn't.

If you were a super pro surfboard shaper you would have a cut depth modified planar and change the cut depth on the fly, which I imagine is substantially easier on foam than wood. Although maybe you don't need a cut depth mod to take off 8mm at most. Not something I'd try without a lot of practice. But in this manner you'd start with 0 cut depth at the center and smoothly change it to 8mm as you go out to the tips, making a smooth cut in one pass.