Build Your Own Skis: Tools & Tips
Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+ Sign up for Outside+ today.
Tools: Router, jigsaw, sander, blowtorch, clamps, epoxy, scale, table saw, plane, air compressor, superglue, drill (w/range of drill bits), utility knife, tape measure, screwdrivers, razor blades, safety glasses, respirator, latex gloves
For more details on how to build your own skis, click here.
Top and base molds
For more details on how to build your own skis, click here.
Firmly clamp the template to a sheet of base material, then carefully cut along the template’s edge.
For more details on how to build your own skis, click here.
Using the blowtorch, heat the metal edges at the tips and tails until they’re bright red. Allow them to slowly cool; the steel will then be malleable and easier to shape. Carefully bend the edges with pliers to match the bases, and attach with Superglue (above).
For more details on how to build your own skis, click here.
Apply a generous amount of high-quality epoxy between the strips, enough so that it seeps out at the seams. Clamp the strips together (above), letting the epoxy dry for at least 24 hours, to create the unfinished core “blank.”
For more details on how to build your own skis, click here.
After the epoxy dries, plane one side of the blank – just a few passes, enough to make that side level. Turn it over and use the router and core profiler to shave away the excess wood to make the finished core (above).
For more details on how to build your own skis, click here.
Lay a sheet of composite fabric – carbon fiber, fiberglass or Kevlar – on top of the base, covering it with enough epoxy to make it semitransparent.
For more details on how to build your own skis, click here.
