Ski Building 101
Ever wanted to build your own skis? Well, John Hadley, a shop teacher at a local high school here in the Columbia Gorge, is building skis (and snowboards) with high school students in a class he teaches called Materials Science.
It is the second year he has offered the ski building class, and it is impressive. With support from local company Innovative Composite Engineering, John is able to source base and edge materials for students to build skis and snowboards from scratch in the high school shop.
Omar, our assistant editor and English teacher at the school, was able to join the materials science class and is building a pair of skis. We hope to hear more from Omar on the process, but for now here a few images from an afternoon that I stopped by to check out their progress.
Comments
1. greg said...
wow, wish i was in high school there. what kind of wood is being used?
3. Matt said...
This reminds me of when I made a snowboard in my middle school shop class in the 80's. I fiberglassed it, but I didn't have metal edges or a real base material. It was stiff as hell, but it worked Ok until I could afford a used board.
is the ski in the top right photo one made in the class?
Keep us updated!
4. dave said...
yeah, the ski in the photo is one made by the shop teacher last year. It is fairly stiff but the flex is pretty round. I hope to get more pictures soon.
5. John Hadley (Shop Teacher) said...
This was the second pair of skis I made last year along with three completed snowboards. My first pair of skis were posted on www.skibuilders.com, but it was difficult to use the skis to teach so I made a second pair where I made them clear so I would show students what I meant.
Thanks for the interest John
2. dave said...
Yeah, it is a pretty sweet opportunity to have in high school. The wood is ash and poplar if i recall correctly.
11/6/2008