Ski Builders Forum

Hi there,

this is my first post and i want to congratulate for this awesome forum.
sorry for my bad english, i'm from germany ... but very interested in building skis/snowboards

Can anyone show me some pictures or explain how to profile a core with a handplaner? I can't really imagine how it should work. A step by step description would be perfect.

I, personnaly, haven't see and posts about using hand planers. Most have been about using a table planer (14" wide) with a template or a router with rails.
Having said that, you could probably use the router method but with a hand planer, provided you make a bridge for the hand planer.

I used one for my first pair... i used no rails. I basically drew the shape on the side of the ski and planed down until i reached the lines i drew. Did it work good? not really but it was good enough for what i had. It takes a TON of time. Since you are eye-balling it you have to go real slow and still don't end up with a perfect surface. If you plan on making this a serious hobby and making more than one pair (which im assuming you are) then it would be best to just bite the bullet and invest in another method/tool. A table planer is a lot of fun to use and works very fast. However, I do not have a router so I can only make vertical sideways. If you buy a router you can profile your core and give an angle to your sideways if you wish. Router has many uses, table planer does not.

It would be cool to make a pair only with hand tools. Probably it takes too look with a handplaner; I think a "ziehmesser" is more suited for this work.
Then you can use a cardboard profile template to check the thickness while working.
Have a look on www.dick.biz (in German) for hand tools.

I shaped my first cores with a handplaner two years ago - works well for soft woods. My latest core is made from ash which makes planing a bit tough - so i used an electric hand planer which works extremely well.