We are using a 6tpi blade on a small woodtek table-top sized band saw to flash the skis. I should also clarify that this last pair of skis we made the core was already cut out to the right shape (with the band saw) before we laid up the ski. This makes flashing much easier if you don't have to cut through the wood core and you only have to cut through the two layers of fiberglass and the wood veneer topsheet. The very first pair of skis we had to cut through two layers of fg, the wood core, and the topsheet with a jigsaw. We burned through at least 5 blades doing both skis. I would bet that using a jigsaw to flash a ski with only 2 layers of fg and a topsheet wouldn't be too big of a deal either but I think you would still use more blades than if you had a band saw. I know they are expensive and can be very large so that is the down side.
The second pair of skis have been cleaned up and I took them down to Monarch and Crested Butte for a little mid-week ski vacation. They worked awesome.
The skis:
191.5cm long (straight tape from turned up tip to turned up tail)
134-113-122
38.6m turn radius
flat camber (the camber mold we built is flat over the running length it turns out)
Aspen veneer topsheets
26cm of tip rocker 1.5cm high each ski on the tips
15cm long tails with a height of 2.5cm
6cm height tips total
pallet wood core skis
wood sidewalls (mostly oak and some cherry)
mounting line is 110cm from tip to boot center
running length = 152cm
sidecut = 7.5mm
core profilied to 1.7-12.5-2.5 mm
weight = 2490grams per ski without bindings
1.2mm thick bases
22oz triaxial fiberglass on top and bottom
vds rubber along edges and around the tips and tails (not too much extra)
white tip spacers straight across 13cm in front and 10cm in back
3/4 edge wrap
The skis still need to get a base grind, edges sharpened, waxed, and three coats of Minmax Helmsman Spar Urethane varnish to be finished
We mounted them with an old pair of G3's I had laying around at 112cm to boot center (this may be too long by 2cm)
Tip Rocker:
Tail Rocker if you can call it that (more like a small slow rise twin tip:
They really worked great over the three days I got to ski them. I like the flat camber and early tip rise. I also really like the flex, weight, length, and overall feel. If I had to change anything it would be to move the bindings towards the tips another 1.5-2cm. I think that would help.
Here is a photo my brother took of me skiing my new homemade skis at Monarch on the best 3" day of the year!
Can't complain about nothing.
We have adopted the dowel super glued to the core method for aligning our cores and this has been fantastic. We drill two holes in the core around 20-30cm apart in the middle of the thickest part of the core and then we cut two dowels to be just shorter than the cores thickness. Once we have the edges super glued onto the bases we place the already cut out core that is the right shape of the ski on top of the base material. We take a pencil and mark on the base the location of the where the two dowels need to be glued down. Then we move the core out of the way and glue the two small dowels onto the base material with small dabs of superglue.
Here is a closeup of the blue bases with the dowels glued down and the core sitting next to it with the two matching holes.
My brother was so excited that my skis worked he had to have his own pair so we have already pressed one and the other is in the press as I type. It should be out tomorrow night and we will post some photos of them soon. They have the blue bases and padauk veneer topsheets. They should be pretty!
Montuckymadman, the cloth bags are still working great at 42psi for the forth ski in 2 weeks.