homemade skis

[trashcat]

Hey all,

Just posting some pictures of my homemade hok-style skis that several of you seemed interested in. I can go into the build details if you're interested too.

[Woodserson]

Totally interested, especially if your technique doesn't include a hydraulic press. Personally I'm a little less interested in the inserts, but don't mind the details on that either.

Supply chain info too!

[Bri7]

This is interesting! I have a pair of profoil that I used on my rigid setup during the winter. They work great both for the glide and on steep hills. Its probably very interesting on that kind of skis...

I’m curious, theses skis look like they are made out of wood with no fiberglass layers? I am wrong? Are you using fiberglass and a top sheet of wood veneer?

[Johnny]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing... Do you take orders? I would LOVE to have a pair...!

I have been looking for a cheap pair of Profoils for years to do *exactly* what you did. I ended up using permanent skins instead... Would you sell the remaining bits of those profoils? Pleeease..?

I’m curious, theses skis look like they are made out of wood with no fiberglass layers? I am wrong? Are you using fiberglass and a top sheet of wood veneer?

Steam bent wood planks make the best skis... Fiberglass, epoxy and carbon skis are so 1990...

Planks + ptex sounds really cool... Did you fully glue the VB skins or just the front part? (Full inset or just the front part of the skin?)

[trashcat]

I glued the vacuum base and the profoil completely to the base with gorilla glue.

The skis are just steam bent wood with no fiberglass or top sheet. Probably a little less stiff and a little less damp than fancier skis, but in a format like the Hok that is so short I don't think it matters all that much. That's just a layman's guess though, it would be interesting to ask someone who actually knew.

My suppliers were skilab.com and blankslateskis.com.

My form for bending those was just a bunch of books clamped to a board - I didn't bother cutting a good form out of MDF as is usually done, and it worked fine. Wouldn't work so well for more complicated shapes, though. My steam chamber was just a wood frame covered in plastic sheeting and hooked up to a tea kettle with a garden hose taped to it on an electric hot plate. I used a hook blade utility knife for cutting the plastic and skins, with a mortise marking gauge to mark the inset from the edges.

I used a 6" table top planer (my fanciest piece of equipment) to taper the ski blanks from about 1/2" thick to about 1/8" thick at the tips and tails.

wood is quarter sawn maple or oak. Actually the first pair wasn't quarter sawn, and they came out with a cup in the ski, so I'd recommend quartersawn or a lot of care in the bending process.

[Woodserson]

I find this inspiring.

[trashcat]

Thanks wooderson!

[Johnny]

Yep, very inspiring indeed!

There is too much tech in regular long skis for me to get involved into something like this, it would turn out a mess. But for straight skishoes, I might give it a try in the next months... I am already thinking about a pair of straight hunters made of maple, with live edges...

[trashcat]

...and yet people somehow still managed to ski before the advent of all this "tech"...

Give it a shot!
you know you want to!

[lowangle al]

Nice looking skis, they look like they were professionally done. I noticed that it looks like you mounted the three pin binding closer to the inside edge. Is this the case and if so why did you do that. I would think it will make it harder to use the outside edges.