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
