[buckoW]

Board #4 is done but I had an issue with the temp controller in the mold and the base got too hot. Oh well, that’s part of the process.
It’ll be a super nice rock board and some things were learned, like plastic melts if you heat it up too much, haha. I think I might stick a bbq temperature probe in the mold. Also, I should have waited for the clear on the topsheet to be totally dry before base grinding. I need to be more patient for the next one....

I put a huge tail spacer in there so I can cut it into a swallow tail in case it gets deep and then the core is still protected.

The carbon/flax could probably go on a little more symmetrical and straight too! I cut it too short and had to change plans on the fly. The flax fibers supposedly balance out the carbon and give it some damp properties. I dunno... it was only 3 bucks.

 

[rideit]

Nice work!

 

[buckoW]

Nice work!

Thanks! You get out on the board yet this year?

I broke the tail on my latest board so I started a new one a few days ago. The swallow tail design probably needs more core thickness than a regular tail. Or more carbon and flax? I dunno.

Here are a few pics from yesterday and the day before.

 

[buckoW]

Boooooo snowboards!
I pulled this one out of the press last night. I tried using a new top sheet material (rather than use a breather cloth to absorb air bubbles and excess epoxy) and ended up trapping lots of air bubbles under it. Oh well.... If it rides nice then I’ll worry about aesthetics later. It is getting much easier every time.

Fresh out of the mold. It’s warm at the top of the stairs so I left it here for some curing? I should probably let them cure for longer than I have been....
My old landlord skied those skis and probably carried lots of raclette cheese in that pack. We bought the house from him 12 years ago. He is almost 90 and volunteers at all the events and is super active. He tells such cool stories about his life growing up in our house.

Edges looking good! Nice

MDF camber mold. You can see how it’s just strips of mdf. I used a copying bearing bit on a router to copy the first one 20 something times.

2 heating mats and 3mm alu skin. I’m learning that you can pull the camber either direction with a 10-15*c difference in temperature. This part seems half magic and half theory but it’s somehow working. The Magic part might be from the radical differences in ambient temps every time I try and press one in the winter.

I did a Paulownia core with abs sidewalls and uhmw tip and tail spacer. Still figuring this part out. 2mm to 6mm to 2mm. Super wide but pretty soft for caressing the deep snow.

I use 2 inserts as locating pins to make sure everything lines up inside the vacuum bag.

20 oz triax fiberglass seems to be my favorite stuff to use but flax fibers are intriguing me.

I’m about to go upstairs and cut it out on a bandsaw and then start the finishing process. Kind of like unwrapping a present actually. I hope it’s a rideable present.

 

[buckoW]

Starting another board for my machinist friend who makes me all my CNC links n tings.

That’s my last one on the left. Haha, the photo is dark on purpose to hide all the air bubbles under the top sheet!

 

[DaveW]

Going to hazard a wild guess here.
Your workshops not amazingly insulated yeah!
Those clothes look super awesome for trying to work in!

 

[dump]

What a great workshop.

 

[Nick]

@buckoW what does into the layup?
Years ago I worked in an industry that exposed me to a bunch of isocyanates and it impacted my health. I was semi poisoned. Just wondering if you should have a respirator when you're laying up these bad mama jamas.

 

[Mo(n)arch]

Nice taste in boards! I’ve always like what Taro Tamai was doing and his board are very interesting. Which one do you have?
Korea’s are sweet too! I have a Pencil currently and I loved the Tranny Finder I had last year. I‘m liking the Salomon x Wolle Nyvelt wider one too.

A Gentem is on the bucket list. Would love to ride a Flyfisk or a Mantaray.
The Stealth 63 is awesome n fresh pow. A friend of mine has the Pencil and comparing them it's obvious that the wide nose on mine gives you more float. I feel that it turns also more stable in pow. On groomer it rips but is a handful in bumpy conditions.
The Super 8 is awesome imo. Could be little stiffer, but is an awesome allmountain board for guys that like to carve, have big feet and do the occasional side hit. Wide waists and backseat camber ftw!

Btw, bloody awesome work buckoW!
I built myself a board at a ski- and snowboard manufacturer in Innsbruck which was a present from my girlfriend. Basically they do the cutting, core milling etc. for you and then you build the board together with them.
Bending edges by hand is the worst, haha!

 

[buckoW]

Going to hazard a wild guess here.
Your workshops not amazingly insulated yeah!
Those clothes look super awesome for trying to work in!

Yeah.... I was wondering yesterday if I’m going to adapt to being in the cold from all these hours up there. I would like to insulate it but that would require more job and money which doesn’t seem like a priority currently.

Haha, down coats are the best when stained with epoxy. It’s like cowboys and waxed cotton maybe? The hay barn still has it’s functional air flow for drying hay and odeur extraction.

We considered carrying the mold down to the bike workshop 2 floors down but that seemed like a hassle and the stereo is better upstairs... so I put a heating mat down on the work surfaces to try and cheat the cold temps. It kinda worked but we’ll see today.

@buckoW what does into the layup?
Years ago I worked in an industry that exposed me to a bunch of isocyanates and it impacted my health. I was semi poisoned. Just wondering if you should have a respirator when you're laying up these bad mama jamas.

Epoxy, fiberglass, wood and ptex. You are totally right! I had been wearing a respirator but lately it seemed so cold and windy up there.... I started cheating and/or being lazy. Thanks!

 

[buckoW]

What a great workshop.

Thanks! I’m really enjoying it.

A Gentem is on the bucket list. Would love to ride a Flyfisk or a Mantaray.
The Stealth 63 is awesome n fresh pow. A friend of mine has the Pencil and comparing them it's obvious that the wide nose on mine gives you more float. I feel that it turns also more stable in pow. On groomer it rips but is a handful in bumpy conditions.
The Super 8 is awesome imo. Could be little stiffer, but is an awesome allmountain board for guys that like to carve, have big feet and do the occasional side hit. Wide waists and backseat camber ftw!

Btw, bloody awesome work buckoW!
I built myself a board at a ski- and snowboard manufacturer in Innsbruck which was a present from my girlfriend. Basically they do the cutting, core milling etc. for you and then you build the board together with them.
Bending edges by hand is the worst, haha!

One day, I would love to go to Japan and check out all those cool shapers´ shops and ride. Looks like a good time.
I wonder how many molds he has? Or how he’s so flexible with his shapes.

A friend works for Salomon and he is sending over a Dancehall. I tried to get a 163 Super 8 but he didn’t have any. He thinks the Dancehall will be soft for me but my moldy back doesn’t mind soft boards these days.

« Wide waists and backseat camber ftw! ». AGREED!

We did a pin tail on this last one. She’s curing next to the heater and might even get ridden today.... but only if I’m impatient and justify that curing and fully setting is an optional step, haha. The doobie shack has it’s own flex rules.

The left one is the second to last one with a lot of bubbles under the top sheet and the middle one is the latest one Sergio managed to build in a day. We were laughing that it took me so long to figure it out and then I shared the info with him and he made his first board in a day.

In case anybody is interested, I buy lots of the raw materials from these guys.

home | build your own ski | skibaumarkt.de

Onlineshop to build your own ski. With beginner sets. We ship to Europe.

www.skibaumarkt.de

There are some others but I usually buy stuff from them and https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/ for the vacuum bagging, peel ply, etc...

 

[Mo(n)arch]

Thanks! I’m really enjoying it.



One day, I would love to go to Japan and check out all those cool shapers´ shops and ride. Looks like a good time.
I wonder how many molds he has? Or how he’s so flexible with his shapes.

A friend works for Salomon and he is sending over a Dancehall. I tried to get a 163 Super 8 but he didn’t have any. He thinks the Dancehall will be soft for me but my moldy back doesn’t mind soft boards these days.

« Wide waists and backseat camber ftw! ». AGREED!

We did a pin tail on this last one. She’s curing next to the heater and might even get ridden today.... but only if I’m impatient and justify that curing and fully setting is an optional step, haha. The doobie shack has it’s own flex rules.

View attachment 154747

The left one is the second to last one with a lot of bubbles under the top sheet and the middle one is the latest one Sergio managed to build in a day. We were laughing that it took me so long to figure it out and then I shared the info with him and he made his first board in a day.
View attachment 154749

In case anybody is interested, I buy lots of the raw materials from these guys.

home | build your own ski | skibaumarkt.de

Onlineshop to build your own ski. With beginner sets. We ship to Europe.

www.skibaumarkt.de

There are some others but I usually buy stuff from them and https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/ for the vacuum bagging, peel ply, etc...

Oh yeah Japan is on the bucket list! Apart from the powder I find their culture, food and land so fascinating. Pretty much the only asian land that interests me really.

I can only repeat myself, amazing work!
How do you work out your measurements? Sidecut seems to be the easiest to get right. What about core thickness and how do you mill it?
Camber, tip and tail rise?
It would be awesome if you could work us completely through your process.
Cheers!

No lifts running in Italy, so splitboarding it is.

 

[dump]

Oh yeah Japan is on the bucket list! Apart from the powder I find their culture, food and land so fascinating. Pretty much the only asian land that interests me really.

I can only repeat myself, amazing work!
How do you work out your measurements? Sidecut seems to be the easiest to get right. What about core thickness and how do you mill it?
Camber, tip and tail rise?
It would be awesome if you could work us completely through your process.
Cheers!

No lifts running in Italy, so splitboarding it is.
View attachment 154820

there is a forum for that skibuilders

 

[dump]

there is a forum for that skibuilders

which appears to be down atm. Has this been going on for some time? Haven’t been there in several months.

 

[buckoW]

@Mo(n)arch

Oh yeah Japan is on the bucket list! Apart from the powder I find their culture, food and land so fascinating. Pretty much the only asian land that interests me really.

I can only repeat myself, amazing work!

Thank you! I’m really enjoying it!

How do you work out your measurements?

I’ve ridden a lot of boards in the past. Mostly, chin scratching and trying to create the best tool for having the best time back behind our house. I like to design things and I work with engineers at Scott as well as I rode for Unity Snowboards for a few years and tested a lot of prototypes. Living in ski resorts and working part time for the last 21 years gave me lots of time to ride and think about how it could be better. Toys are serious business around here (inside my head).

Sidecut seems to be the easiest to get right.

Maybe, however your camber mold needs to work with your sidecut or else you have no grip or a catchy board on ice (Effective edge vs camber mold) 7.5 to 8m seems pretty standard and torsion and flex seem to make a bigger difference, in my experience. Softer turns tighter.

What about core thickness and how do you mill it?
I made an adjustable profiling bed with height adjustment every 10cm.

Here you can see the router sled. People use these for flattening slabs of wood for tables too.

I made an adjustable bed and router sled. I use a friend’s wood shop sometimes if I want to do a bunch of cores at once but I stopped doing it that way because it becomes work if I produce in quantity. I make the cores soft so I can go extremely wide. I’m interested in extreme width, normal camber, long nose shapes and taper currently so I’m playing with those ideas. 2.2mm x 6.2mm x 2.2mm is pretty soft in Paulownia so I use a heavier triad glass. I change the shape and core thickness on each board. I’m just playing around with the feel so there’s no pressure like if it were a work project. That makes it fun to make mistakes and learn from it.

I don’t put a topsheet on them until I like the flex. Sometimes, I‘ll add some carbon or flax to make the board stiffer after a sweet pow day with higher speeds. Sometimes, I do it overnight and ride it the next day however, that’s not the best for curing the epoxy

Camber, tip and tail rise?

Tail rise depends effective edge for carving or if I want max float in powder or a nice predictable olie. Low tide early season stuff with lots of rocks and stuff I tend to like shorter tails for slipping through some mixed terrain but later when the speeds are up and the couloirs are going off then I need a longer tail for shock absorption.
That depends on the feel I’m looking for, the speeds and the snow.
A lot of rise on the nose is cool going slower for float but when the couloirs are going off with higher speeds as a norm and you really lean into a turn.... The high tip rise kind of guides the board into a tighter turn (too tight for the speeds) so I‘m liking the lower rise on a wide nose shape or more rise on a pointy shape. Stuff like that creates my theories. No idea if it’s correct but it makes sense to me. I enjoy designing stuff and playing with details.

It would be awesome if you could work us completely through your process.

I don’t really know what I’m doing but I figure that I will sometime in the future. Until then I’m having fun and they ride so much better than I could have ever imagined.

I put a few small videos in my last Instagram post which show most of it.
https://www.google.ch/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjHk4SFipPuAhVFXhoKHYSeDsoQFjAAegQIAhAC&url=https://www.instagram.com/buckowalker/&usg=AOvVaw0QCpyCTLwCSfM7120CYCto

Cheers!

No lifts running in Italy, so splitboarding it is.
View attachment 154820
[/QUOTE]

which appears to be down atm. Has this been going on for some time? Haven’t been there in several months.

It’s been dead for a few years. There’s lots of info there but nobody posts much there anymore. They say there’s a FB group but I never looked because I don’t have FB. I learned a lot over there!


If anyone wants to try, I would help and walk you through the process.

 

[buckoW]

Me wife spotting her line yesterday afternoon.
She’s on the border or Switzerland and France in this pic. French ski resorts are closed so we now have a huge backcountry zone on the left of the ridge and a lift accessed ski resort on the right. Wild times.

Dede the proud new father of his home made snowboard. I showed him how and he made his own. Many beers were enjoyed during the build and we completely blew it on core thickness and nose rocker but it somehow works better than if we did what we planned. Pretty funny.

 

[buckoW]

We had some rain up high for 2 days so I had a few days to make another one. This one will be narrower and with less taper than the ones before. 164x27x10mm of taper and normal camber. I want to make it hook up better on hard snow as well as sketchy wind blown snow but I have big feet so looking for that balance.

 

[jdcamb]

I am a much better Skier then I am a Snowboarder.

 

[buckoW]

This one turned out pretty good. It’s a 163cm x 27.2cm waist with 8mm of taper and normal camber. It should get much more grip on hard snow than the other ones.

 

[buckoW]

This one turned out pretty good. There’s lots of flax and carbon fiber in there.... because I made the core too thin In the tail.

The flax fiber is nice stuff to work with and feels kinda like you are putting some burlap sack of potatoes into the layup. It’s a lot less itchy than fiberglass. I also used some 40% bio epoxy from Sicomin so maybe this time I don’t huff as much glue.

Last time I got overconfident , after making a good board I made two complete shitters.... must remember that! I do want to get confident enough to chop a carbon Gambler frame and stick it back together as a 170mm enduro bike. I would only need to reposition the seat tube a bit steeper. I made the frame jig so now I need some overconfidence.

 

[buckoW]

Day 2

The world’s top riders kick off in the Natural Selection Tour's 2021 debut at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

www.redbull.com

That was so good!

 

[buckoW]

I´m just going to keep monologging the snowboards, ebikes and DH bikes.....ok?

Dede’s board was a little lacking in camber, too soft and the tail had almost no kick so we sanded it down and threw a shitload of carbon on her. Somehow, it worked!

Here you can see the carbon triax layer lazily applied off center by a strunken Dede, in keeping with the theme of his board. We didn’t want to completely hide his precision crapsmanship so we laughingly left it off center with bit of his old board showing through. We said if it rode good then we would make it look good. Funny shit.

 

[buckoW]

@rideit Did you get any days on the snowboard this season?

My newest board build turned out great. I found some wood veneer and gave that a go.

 

[buckoW]

I made another board (middle one with a Walnut top sheet) and it is a little soft but carves so hard. These 3 have the same shape but totally different cores and camber profiles. The last few days have been very nice Pow conditions and the 2 boards on the right are working so good.

one from a couple days ago.

a few weeks ago

My wife getting herself some last Friday

This terrace deserved a second beer. Lounge chairs and beer with a view like this.

 

[Changleen]

Do one with GT stripes!

 

[StiHacka]

Meh.





FML.

 

[buckoW]

Do one with GT stripes!

I was riding with a furniture making friend yesterday and I asked him where I could find veneers for topsheets. He has plenty of wood veneer scraps I can use. I might have to get creative with the scraps and GT stripes would be a solution!

 

[buckoW]

Meh.

I know, right!

 

[StiHacka]

I was riding with a furniture making friend yesterday and I asked him where I could find veneers for topsheets. He has plenty of wood veneer scraps I can use. I might have to get creative with the scraps and GT stripes would be a solution!

Dickbutt on the topsheet or GTFO!

 

[Westy]

I´m just going to keep monologging the snowboards, ebikes and DH bikes.....ok?

Dede’s board was a little lacking in camber, too soft and the tail had almost no kick so we sanded it down and threw a shitload of carbon on her. Somehow, it worked!

Here you can see the carbon triax layer lazily applied off center by a strunken Dede, in keeping with the theme of his board. We didn’t want to completely hide his precision crapsmanship so we laughingly left it off center with bit of his old board showing through. We said if it rode good then we would make it look good. Funny shit.

View attachment 156448

The homeless snowboard over there?

 

[dump]

As someone who hasn’t really been on a board since they were clip-in bindings… what’s a good place to start for a board and boots/bindings, east coast north american mountains… mostly for cruising… and something with a bit of style. Don’t suggest specialized and Giant

Got excited about Gentem Stick about 10 years ago, but they seem a bit out of reach now and difficult to navigate their product line. Would totally be down for one though.

Much appreciated.

 

[jstuhlman]

As someone who hasn’t really been on a board since they were clip-in bindings… what’s a good place to start for a board and boots/bindings, east coast north american mountains… mostly for cruising… and something with a bit of style. Don’t suggest specialized and Giant

Got excited about Gentem Stick about 10 years ago, but they seem a bit out of reach now and difficult to navigate their product line. Would totally be down for one though.

Much appreciated.

this total noob, following advice from a buddy who's snowboarded since the mid-80s, just got this for east coast riding. lib tech terrain wrecker. i was also looking at the arbor boards.

 

[Changleen]

Inspired by your background…

 

[jstuhlman]

@Changleen
lol-it's a woodburn i made as a trail sign for a spot on a local trail where some dumbass blindly sent a 90* hip but went straight and wrecked and broke his jaw and bitched about it on a local forum for weeks. put the first woodburn up; stolen in a day. v2 lives with me.

 

[dump]

this total noob, following advice from a buddy who's snowboarded since the mid-80s, just got this for east coast riding. lib tech terrain wrecker. i was also looking at the arbor boards.
View attachment 170152

Ah yes, lib-tech and arbor. Also looked into those briefly about 10 yrs ago when I literally was last on a board, once.

 

[Changleen]

@Changleen
lol-it's a woodburn i made as a trail sign for a spot on a local trail where some dumbass blindly sent a 90* hip but went straight and wrecked and broke his jaw and bitched about it on a local forum for weeks. put the first woodburn up; stolen in a day. v2 lives with me.

ThisIsWhyWeCan’tHaveNiceThings.gif

 

[buckoW]

The homeless snowboard over there?

Yes. Haha, it’s Switzerland. Everybody, skis or snowboards over here.

He owns a restaurant/hotel on the ski slopes and a huge typical Swiss chalet. His wife is the face of their business though.

As someone who hasn’t really been on a board since they were clip-in bindings… what’s a good place to start for a board and boots/bindings, east coast north american mountains… mostly for cruising… and something with a bit of style. Don’t suggest specialized and Giant

Got excited about Gentem Stick about 10 years ago, but they seem a bit out of reach now and difficult to navigate their product line. Would totally be down for one though.

Much appreciated.

I like Burton Cartel X reflex bindings and Burton Swath boots.

I think a normal camber board would be better for the east coast. If you have big feet then that narrows down a lot of possibilities. There are a lot of sweet boards out there. I think a Burton Custom would probably hook up nice on east coast conditions.

 

[jstuhlman]

oh - forgot. @dump - am supposed to get some burton mission bindings delivered tomorrow. they seemed the best price/performance ratio for the few times pee year i'd use them. same with the deck i chose-burton custom was $200+ more. the arbors were around $50 - $75 less but based on reviews got more chattery at speed. sticking with the old burton boots i got for the kid, as they fit me just fine.

 

[buckoW]

A few more pics about my last board.

I want to make the boards light as possible and not have too much epoxy or air trapped under the top sheet so I press the boards first without a top sheet. This way I can put some breather cloth on top of the fiberglass layer to soak up extra epoxy and air bubbles. I don’t have enough pressure to squeeze out all the air so this method seems to work. Maybe I’ll build a pneumatic press but not anytime soon.

Heated on the top and bottom to 80* and it’s done in a half hour.

Then I open up the bag and throw on some epoxy and wood veneer without any breather cloth but with perforated tubes around the perimeter of the board to help air flow.

Paulownia core with 19oz trial glass, Beech sidewalls and a Walnut top sheet drenched in boiled Lin seed oil. 163W with a 27cm waist

It came out a bit too soft but compliments the other two boards nicely. I’ll make the next core .2mm thicker.

 

[jonKranked]

this total noob, following advice from a buddy who's snowboarded since the mid-80s, just got this for east coast riding. lib tech terrain wrecker. i was also looking at the arbor boards.
View attachment 170152

your bike storage sucks