How far off the deepend have I gone ?

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C

CYRUS

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So we're wandering the local thrift store and we spy these, nice and narrow, got some nice flex to em, and for $2.00, yea not a whole lotta call for ski's in southern arizona, especially older out dated ones.
After seeing the great leaf spring suspensions my mind started to wander, by the way this is not a good thing in my case, so what do ya'll think, front leaf suspension outta them, front has some curve and rear is flatter and some what thicker just a lil ways back in case I find the thinner front to weak.

Skiends.jpg
 
If they are cross country skis then they are surely foam core. I doubt they could take the stress like you are thinking. Plus the mounting holes/technique could rip out.
 
They appear to be quite solid, from the side it appears to be a plastic core, I'll find out when I cut them in half, bottom seems to have a directional pattern molded into it.
 
The directional pattern indicates that those are nordic skis. The pattern allows the ski to slide forward, and grip when going backwards. The plastic you see is just the sidewall material, the core is not the same material, and is probably rigid foam. If you want to use skis for suspesion, be ready for some soft springs. Some old downhill skis are going to have hardwood, and a form of aluminum if they were race skis. Not discourage, but this probably won't work.
 
A higher quality x-country ski would likely have a wood core, probably just a thin layer and sandwiched with epoxy, foam and fiberglass. I can think of one way to find out what is in there....wear gloves and a long sleeve shirt, fiberglass shaving are irritating! A hacksaw will cut better than a woodsaw.

wood offers damping that other materials cannot match. It also has a more traditional image, so a manufacturer may put a thin layer of it in there just so they can say "wood core', to sell more skis.

I agree that an alpine/downhill ski would probably be a better call.

Good luck!
 
appreciate the feedback, for $2 it will give me some experimenting material to try before hacking up some better material.
 
appreciate the feedback, for $2 it will give me some experimenting material to try before hacking up some better material.
 

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