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Joal

Out on the slopes
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Did this a few years ago and it turned into an all consuming summer project. I was not sure if all aluminum could be polished to a high sheen but a little test on the Alu skis was encouraging. I started with ordinary, for wood,80 grit on my random orbital sander and worked through the grits to 220 then started hand sanding wet with automotive paper 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000 and 1500. This is very much like sanding harder tropical wood but even more critical. If you are not thorough on every grit, especially the first grit, it is very unlikely you will get imperfections out with subsequent grits. I was going to clear coat them when done but can't remember why I did not.

No, did not do the bases ( :

alu ski 001.jpg


alu ski 009.jpg


alu ski polish decals 001.jpg




Another pair of these showed up on ebay with their decals in much better shape and I was able to print off an image to take to printer and he made a new set of vinyl decals.
alu ski polish decals 005.jpg


I drilled one end of all the rivets out so the bindings could be disassembled. Every piece got plated individually so all the parts still move. Maybe a little too much bling but what the heck.
alu ski polish decals 002.jpg

alu ski polish decals 008.jpg

alu ski polish decals 004.jpg
 

Mothertucker

Sweep Dodger
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Those are awesome! They could be dangerous on a sunny day. Beautiful work!
 

Bill Talbot

Vintage Gear Curator
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Nov 9, 2015
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3,166
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Joal, what a beautiful job you have done there. A pure labor of love. I'm sure you smile every time you walk by them where you have them displayed. I know how much work this took!

Great stuff!!! :beercheer:

(Some really nice leather straps for the boot toe slots will make it pop even more)
 
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Joal

Joal

Out on the slopes
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Those are awesome! They could be dangerous on a sunny day. Beautiful work!

Thanks, was thinking that too. They couldn't have been sold that shiny.




Joal, what a beautiful job you have done there. A pure labor of love. I'm sure you smile every time you walk by them where you have them displayed. I know how much work this took!

Great stuff!!! :beercheer:

(Some really nice leather straps for the boot toe slots with make it pop even more)



Some people think it is a mental illness.

Even though there are slots for a strap I wonder if the copper lugs that are there were enough to hold the toe down with the right kind of boot. They are height adjustable. I should keep an eye out for some straps though.
 

Uncle-A

In the words of Paul Simon "You can call me Al"
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Joined
Dec 22, 2015
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10,893
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NJ
Did this a few years ago and it turned into an all consuming summer project. I was not sure if all aluminum could be polished to a high sheen but a little test on the Alu skis was encouraging. I started with ordinary, for wood,80 grit on my random orbital sander and worked through the grits to 220 then started hand sanding wet with automotive paper 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000 and 1500. This is very much like sanding harder tropical wood but even more critical. If you are not thorough on every grit, especially the first grit, it is very unlikely you will get imperfections out with subsequent grits. I was going to clear coat them when done but can't remember why I did not.

No, did not do the bases ( :

View attachment 49845

View attachment 49846

View attachment 49849



Another pair of these showed up on ebay with their decals in much better shape and I was able to print off an image to take to printer and he made a new set of vinyl decals.
View attachment 49850

I drilled one end of all the rivets out so the bindings could be disassembled. Every piece got plated individually so all the parts still move. Maybe a little too much bling but what the heck. View attachment 49854
View attachment 49851
View attachment 49853
That is a wonderful job, it just makes me think you have too much time on your hands.:golfclap:
 

Dave Petersen

Graphic Designer/Social Media Manager
Admin
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Too bad we don't live closer -- I think we could be good friends. ogwink
 

Dave Petersen

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Eh, think of it as geographic diversity in your buddy quotient portfolio :D

I polished up a pair of Head Standard skis in a similar fashion to get them as shiny as I could.
 

Mack

Getting off the lift
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Oct 27, 2016
Posts
107
Joel, Those are awesome. Well done. I think I will take on a project like that this winter. Here are my two skis that I had in The Black Hole that I would like to finish. One is the same as yours and the other has wood with it.
MACK
IMG_7257.jpg
IMG_7258.jpg
 
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Joal

Joal

Out on the slopes
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Jul 10, 2016
Posts
632
Joel, Those are awesome. Well done. I think I will take on a project like that this winter. Here are my two skis that I had in The Black Hole that I would like to finish. One is the same as yours and the other has wood with it.
MACK

View attachment 52549 View attachment 52551

Nice, I should still have a few spare decals. They are yours if I can find them.
 
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Joal

Joal

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Awesome Thank You!!!!!!!! MACK

Found them, only two left. I had 12 but I seem to remember they could not consistently get the graphics centered in the die cut itself and I must have tossed 6 of them. Someone over at epicski asked for 2. The printer still has the work order on file so I still could get more printed.

Here are the decals as they appeared on another pair on ebay. Not very consistent in their placement. I chose to place my decals square to the ski and masked off the exact spot I wanted them. I had enough original decal on my skis to get accurate measurement but did not have all the lettering so these were a piece of good luck.

alu ski.jpg


IMG_0289.JPG


The first proof was pretty good but some spacing needed to be tightened up and the letters and number were not parallel so they fixed that but I just was not very sharp here. They matched the ALU angle with the 60 angle instead of the other way around and I did not notice. It does not look quite as fast as it could have. It was a fun process. These decals are vinyl. They had a mylar option that might have looked more like the original but were a fair bit more expensive.
IMG_0290.JPG
 

Ross Biff

The older I get, the faster I was....
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Jul 11, 2018
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223
A ski buddy of mine in the 80' s took an old pair of Atomic compact skis back down to the alu. layer. They looked good but he had a lot of trouble with snow sticking to the metal which consequently made them VERY heavy!
 
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Joal

Joal

Out on the slopes
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Joined
Jul 10, 2016
Posts
632
I mentioned going through the grits of sandpaper but did not mention the last stages of actual polishing. I tried lots of different buffing wheels and don't really recall what worked best but judging from the wear on some of the wheels a medium sized sewn wheel on a bench top grinder worked the best although a small wheel that I chucked into my drill seems to have gotten a lot of use also. I used 3 polishing bars, rouge, brown and white. I watched a few youtube videos and looked at lots of ads for polishing bars. I am a little surprised I still have this stuff because I think I swore I would never do it again.....but you never know.

https://highwayshine.com/product/menzerna-113-gz-rouge-bar-approx-25-lb-brown-bar-3-pack/

IMG_0291.JPG
 
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Joal

Joal

Out on the slopes
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Jul 10, 2016
Posts
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A ski buddy of mine in the 80' s took an old pair of Atomic compact skis back down to the alu. layer. They looked good but he had a lot of trouble with snow sticking to the metal which consequently made them VERY heavy!

A good car wax should stop anything from sticking. Now that you mention shining up other skis I had been looking at the Fischer ALU line up thinking they could be shined up also. Just the clear coat and the ink graphics and you're there on bare aluminum.
 

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