Made my own skis…mounting advice?

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Maxwellian
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Re: Made my own skis…mounting advice?

Post by Maxwellian » Fri Nov 22, 2024 1:38 am

Jlars13 wrote:
Wed Nov 20, 2024 11:20 pm

Thanks! Would love to pick your brain on some woodworking issues I’ve had…. As you can see I went a little too thin with my hand plane on the first ski just before the shovel and had to try to match the second one to it. Any tips on keeping my planing smooth and even, and not getting carried away and removing too much material?
Yeah, I’m not the best with a hand plane, just okay. It definitely takes practice. Having a good plane that stays in adjustment and keeping the blade wicked sharp help. I really like diamond lapping film for final sharpening on planes and chisels. The grain orientation matters too, if the grains are falling into the material in the direction of cut, your blade will dig in more or have tearout. Sometimes the grain waves up and down though. Some planes have angle adjustment, and you can change your sharpening angle for different results or to adapt to different woods.

I like a card scraper for really fine material removal. They remove less material, and are more tolerant of changing grain direction.

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Jlars13
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Re: Made my own skis…mounting advice?

Post by Jlars13 » Mon Nov 25, 2024 1:28 pm

randoskier wrote:
Thu Nov 21, 2024 2:33 pm
What? You're not making the bindings too?

Do these take the Easyskin?

Nice job!
I know you’re kidding but I am planning to try my hand at both traditional bindings and a kicker skin for the next pair!



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Jlars13
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Re: Made my own skis…mounting advice?

Post by Jlars13 » Mon Nov 25, 2024 1:36 pm

Maxwellian wrote:
Fri Nov 22, 2024 1:38 am
Jlars13 wrote:
Wed Nov 20, 2024 11:20 pm

Thanks! Would love to pick your brain on some woodworking issues I’ve had…. As you can see I went a little too thin with my hand plane on the first ski just before the shovel and had to try to match the second one to it. Any tips on keeping my planing smooth and even, and not getting carried away and removing too much material?
Yeah, I’m not the best with a hand plane, just okay. It definitely takes practice. Having a good plane that stays in adjustment and keeping the blade wicked sharp help. I really like diamond lapping film for final sharpening on planes and chisels. The grain orientation matters too, if the grains are falling into the material in the direction of cut, your blade will dig in more or have tearout. Sometimes the grain waves up and down though. Some planes have angle adjustment, and you can change your sharpening angle for different results or to adapt to different woods.

I like a card scraper for really fine material removal. They remove less material, and are more tolerant of changing grain direction.

I had huge problems with tear out on this pair and the last attempt, I think I went too thin because I was trying to smooth over torn out sections. My next blanks are Quartersawn ash, which I think should be easier to manage re: grain. I’ve noticed that when roughing out the shape with a hatchet, there is absolutely a “correct” direction to carve, and the opposite side/future edge runs in the opposite direction. I’ve been finding the direction by trial and error, but when working the top of the board, it’s been much harder to determine if I’m going to right way, especially with a plane. Is there an easy way to use what I know about the direction of the grain on the sides of the board to determine which direction to plane/carve on the top of the board?



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randoskier
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Re: Made my own skis…mounting advice?

Post by randoskier » Tue Nov 26, 2024 7:01 am

Jlars13 wrote:
Mon Nov 25, 2024 1:28 pm
randoskier wrote:
Thu Nov 21, 2024 2:33 pm
What? You're not making the bindings too?

Do these take the Easyskin?

Nice job!
I know you’re kidding but I am planning to try my hand at both traditional bindings and a kicker skin for the next pair!
Nice skis! Beautiful work. After the bindings maybe fashion a club and whack a seal, then you can make some old-time climbing skins!

Climbing-skin in French is still "Peaux de phoques" ...literally seal-skins.

A book that you might enjoy is Eskimo Life by Fridtjof Nansen. It is about his time when he lived a long winter (1888-1889) with the Innuit people of Greenland. He goes into great detail about their methods for fabricating everything from harpoons, kayaks, houses, clothes, and about their social structure. He is a good writer, and a polymath- Medical Doctor, Explorer, anthropologist....



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Maxwellian
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Re: Made my own skis…mounting advice?

Post by Maxwellian » Wed Nov 27, 2024 12:20 am

Jlars13 wrote:
Mon Nov 25, 2024 1:36 pm
Is there an easy way to use what I know about the direction of the grain on the sides of the board to determine which direction to plane/carve on the top of the board?
With-against-grain-en.svg.png
If you can see the grain on the side of the wood. If it wiggles back and forth a lot, then sometimes you're better off with an auto body sander. You can hog away material with 60 grit and finish with a card scraper.



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