Maker

Downhill Makers

Garage ski builders are outdoing the pros. By Jason Verlinde

SOME MODES OF TRANSPORTATION WERE destined for garage builders. Think of the thousands of wooden canoes, dune buggies, and steel-framed road bikes that hobbyists have created over the years. Modern, high-performance downhill skis, on the other hand, seem to be an entirely different beast, the kind of state-of-the-art product that only a big factory production process could churn out. Who else has the ability to fuse together all those exotic materials into a sturdy package that will safely get you down icy slopes, powder runs, and even the occasional cliff huck?

Well, it turns out that virtually anyone with basic woodworking skills can make a pair of skis. And the three friends behind the skibuilders.com site — Kelvin Wu and cousins Kam K. Leang (“Big Kam”)

30 Make: Volume 10

and Kam S. Leang (“Little Kam”) — are hoping to inspire other snow fanatics to build their own rides. “The vision of SkiBuilders.com is to demystify the design and engineering of skis,” Big Kam says. “It’s a web-based information clearinghouse for people who love to ski and build things.”

THE BUILD

In Wu’s Seattle garage, he and Big Kam walked me through the ski building steps. To start, you need some common power tools. A sander, a router, and a table saw are all essential. You’ll also need to fabricate two important items: a core profiler and a ski press. The core profiler allows you to trim and taper the laminated wood guts of the ski, something that would be impossible to do consistently by hand.

Photography by Jason Verlinde