tip spacers or full wood core

[o2bjedi]

It seems as though most of the skis the Kams make have tip spacers. Are they stronger for pressing? Would wood tips/tails crack when pressed?

[littleKam]

we use tipspacers to prevent damage to the skis' tips and tails during collisions not because they're stronger for pressing. i don't think wood tips/tails would crack when pressed. i think big Kam may have used wood tips/tails in the Doinks and they turned out fine.

[bigKam]

the Doinks have wood tip-spacers, and because the tip and tail of the core is around 2mm thick, they bend easily during the pressing process. Kelvin and i didn't notice any cracking. leaving out the fancy tip-spacer (such as ABS) makes the construction process a lot easier. elsewhere on this forum there's talk about wood sidewalls. like wood tip-spacers, wood sidewalls makes things easier too. if you're not too concerned about the details, then i highly recommend building your first few pairs of skis this way so that you can get the process figured out. afterwards, get fancy and add tip-spacers, then go to sidewalls, etc. having said all of this, keep in mind that wood tip-spacers and sidewalls are not as durable. the Doinks are showing signs of abuse, but then again, i ski over/through rocks... it's my way to testing things.

[hose-man]

I was looking at new skis the other day at my local ski shop with a new purpose. I paid special attention to how the skis seemed to be assembled. I notice that the tip spacer appeared to be rubber. At least the perimeter of the tip spacer which I could see was easily gouged by my fingernail then rebounded reletively quickly. The ABS sidwall ended at the end of the running length. I noticed this most readily in Rossignols which also have the 1/2 cap 1/2 vertical sidwall thing going on. That made it difficult to tell what the body of the tip was filled with. I looked at the Hippy Stix & they had a thicker tip, not rubber, but not hard like ABS. It was definitely a softer synthetic. Anyone have any inside knowedge with regard to tip spacers & possible dampening advantages to having a less rigid material than ABS as the core?
-J