Frankenskis

[Nando]

The recent thread on Tgas's ski made me wonder about some of the radical modifications I've heard of- widening and narrowing by cutting lengthwise, etc.- and how it's done. Making a ski from scratch like Eleeski does I can kind of understand and I generally know how skis are made, but the concept of really radically modifying the structure of a ski without having it self-destruct, how is it done?

[BraceMaker]

I've always assumed band saws, belt sanders, glue, fiberglass, resin, bondo body filler and sand paper...

 

Would be curious if there was a less primitive method - hopefully leaving the majority of the bevels and tunnels unmolested - though it is possible that some of these are actually just one off molds for trial purposes.

[TylerR]

As someone who once made some homage skis all I can say is that making a mold is an expensive process. Sometimes if you know what you are doing modifying a ski to fit what you want to test is a lot cheaper. @eleeski‌ should be able to help explain it better since his skis didn't critically fail by blowing up when someone rides them

[Horton]

@Nando‌

 

When you start with a manufactured ski you have almost all of the structure there for you.

Let’s say you want the tail narrower? Bandsaw up the middle to make a gap. Squeeze the gap and then glass it together.

 

Want a wider ski. Start with two skis – cut them in half – one cut slightly bigger one side and one slightly bigger on the other. Glue them together.

 

Want to change your rocker. All you need is a heat gun and something to really bend the ski when it is HOT.

Change your bevels or tunnel shape? Bondo and sandpaper

 

All sounds easy? If you do not have a stack of skis and a budget I would not try any of it.

[Nando]

Considering some manufacturers don't even recommend drilling binding holes, it sure seems like anything that severs the layup would be impossible to bond strongly enough to have integrity. Way back, I skied a bit with a guy who bonded an aluminum top sheet to a ski to change the flex and had another that he bonded extra layers to to alter the flex. Adding is one thing, but subtracting, is another thing altogether. Also years ago I used to date a skier (she was out of my league) who had a Maherajah graphite ski that Bob Lapoint had modified the rocker on out of the mold by weighting the tail as it cured. He also had modified bevels for a lighter skier. People have done some weird things with skis and my main question is how in the world do they do it (not B LaP) without having them self-destruct.