This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web. We have fun here, come on in and be a part of it.
Yep, time and nature magically turning traditional camber into NR... Isn't that beautiful? (Camber is still going very strong on the laminated Miner woodies... While all my 70's and 80's skis are dead flat. And that's the beauty of wood skis, camber can be shaped every year with blocks according to taste... Something I learned from Skimeister Woodserson...)
All the so called human inventions are always plagiarized directly from nature herself, nothing new here... Isn't it, Fischer designers?
I like the other possibility that the Japanese ski makers already knew about NR in the 40's and used it on their own skis. Ancient wisdom and knowledge that has been known for millenniums in the far East are only starting to be known very sparsely elsewhere in the world. Perhaps the Nippons were very advanced Ski Samurais a century ago and the world never knew? And the Western world simply foolishly rejected the idea of Nordic Rocker back then, like they also foolishly dismiss NNN Downhill, moving plate bindings and tech leather boots today. Crazy makes the future...
I think I need 2-part adjustable Katanas...
/...\ Peace, Love, Telemark and Tofu /...\ "And if you like to risk your neck, we'll boom down Sutton in old Quebec..."
Cortina used a blue color with a center stripe, this ski reminds me of it but it took me some searching to find some examples. Italian. It's not a perfect match, but things change from year to year.
This is where the internet fails and old books would have the answer, but you need the books.
The local history connection is nice, but maybe another pair would be better for restoration? Delaminating...it looks more like the tails are.....composting?
Gotta love the style of the Victorian-era Miner clan....that guy in the top row is rocking some killer mutton chops!!!
"All wisdom is to be gained through suffering"
-Will Lange (quoting Inuit chieftan)
Woah Woods, that is pretty close...! They might not be from Japan... Perhaps the letters APA meant something else...
Composting was not as bad as I thought... I was able to fix pretty much everything with just epoxy... After shaving 1mm of the top, it seems like the cracks that were worrying me totally disappeared... So they should be good to me without the cloth treatment... But I'll see how it works after a few days of Ice Coast abuse...
Half of the skis were exposed directly to the wood, the other half protected with paint. So the bare wood color is sadly not very uniform... Ideally, I would have shaved more to reach the original wood color, but the nice red sidewall inlays would have cracked... I chose to keep them...
It seems like there was a logo on the tips too... Does that ring a bell? Anyone?
/...\ Peace, Love, Telemark and Tofu /...\ "And if you like to risk your neck, we'll boom down Sutton in old Quebec..."
While breathing lacquer sanding dust, I thought I would also sand my old pair of Splitkein woodies. I have two pairs of the same model, one in 190cm and this one in 200cm. They are FREAKING AMAZING skis. Believe it or not, they are over 60 years old and at an amazing 940 gram per ski at 200cm, they are still lighter than the Gamme, the Mountain Race, the Fischer Superlites and the E99 XTRAlite.
No technology, no computer modeling, no hi-tech materials, just wood, glue and pure Norwegian craftsmanship. And still lighter than the best, most expensive modern skis despite being over 60 years old... How cool is that?
The finished products turned out pretty good. Teak oil for the Miner skis and Tung oil for the Splitkeins. One layer of pine tar and they are ready to hit the slopes and party like it's 1955...
/...\ Peace, Love, Telemark and Tofu /...\ "And if you like to risk your neck, we'll boom down Sutton in old Quebec..."
That ski and binding look like what I grew up skiing as a child in the late 50's, early 60's. First skis I remember were Northlands; blue painted top, same binding style but wit a slightly different toepiece. Can't quite remember if mine had a wood base. Full edges, segmented and screwed in, as has been noted.
