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Lou Dawson's Backcountry Skiing Weblog
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[current backcountry skiing weblog blog] April 13 - 2005 PM update
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The ultimate core
shot. Cutting a Black Diamond Crossbow ski in half
for testing. |
Had a nice walk today up one of our closed ski areas, and a velvet corn snow ride back down. Nice! Back at the office, a Black Diamond ski box was parked on the porch, full of skis that would have otherwise ended up in the dumpster at BD.
What am I doing getting BD's dregs? Read on.
For years, we've used epoxy for the screws when mounting ski bindings -- telemark and AT randonnee. Doing so yields a trouble free mount that never loosens, has better pull-out strength, and is totally sealed against moisture.
And, for years people have told us we could not or should not use epoxy for mounting bindings.
"You can't get the screws out," they said, "and epoxy will eat away the core foam of some skis, especially Black Diamond models."
Well, we got tired of all the nagging.
Our experience is that hardware store 5-minute and 1-hour epoxy worked fine with ANY ski we've ever mounted, and if you count the ones I worked on back during the 1970s days of Company 3 and their distribution of the Ramer binding, and dozens since than, that means HUNDREDS of skis -- everything from wood x-c skis to metal sandwich construction, to honeycomb core, to modern AT skis, and on and on.
But how do we know for sure about this? After all, it's tough to see inside a ski and check what the epoxy did in there.
Solution: Black Diamond was kind enough to send us a few pair of late model skis they had destined for the dumpster -- for what I described as "experiments," with a mad scientist slant.
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Filling the screw hole with epoxy. |
1. We sectioned a ski to look at the core, and test our cutting method (abrasive wheel with water spray). The cut was clean, and exposed un-damaged core material.
2. We drilled a mounting hole, filled it with epoxy, then inserted a screw. After giving the 5-minute epoxy an hour to cure, we heated the screw with a soldering iron and removed it, then carefully sectioned the ski exactly at the edge of the screw hole, so we could see the hole from the side. Result: a nice threaded hole with hardened epoxy, no core damage or dissolving foam whatsoever.
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| Cutaway at exact edge of epoxied screw hole. Epoxy cured nice and hard, with no damage to foam. What you're actually looking at here is a thin layer of epoxy on the near edge of the screw hole, somehow our cut was accurate enough to leave that intact. Didn't know we could use an el-cheapo cutoff saw as a micrometer -- but it happened! |
3. We cut out a chunk of core foam, placed it in a puddle of epoxy, and let it cure. Result: no damage, no dissolving foam.
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| We placed this chunk of Black Diamond core foam in puddle of epoxy, then let it cure. It remained rock solid. We'll keep these and observe over the next few weeks to make sure there is not long-term problem with the foam/epoxy combo. We'll also do this same test with different brands and types of epoxy, and report back here. |
4. Lastly, we repeated the "puddle" routine with foam from the other skis BD sent us, in case there was a difference.
Conclusion: We will continue to mount skis using 5-minute epoxy for the screws. To remove, we simply heat each screw for about 30 seconds with an electric soldering iron (experiment, you may need more or less heating time depending on your soldering iron, size of screw, etc.)
Caveat: Our test does nothing to prove there is not SOME ski out there that doesn't like epoxy, but judging from this and past experience, I'd say that unless a ski maker specifically says to NOT use epoxy for mounting , it's a safe way to make those binding screws bombproof! (We'll see what BD says after they see this, as it's said they recommend against using epoxy for mounting.) Also, bear in mind there are numerous flavors of epoxy. We'll try our "puddle" test with a few more brands, and report back if we find any that do damage the foam.
Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past 35 years has been alpinism and back country skiing -- and all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and snowboarding, and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the famous Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, as well as tons of Randonnee rando telemark backcountry skiing info. All material on this website is copyrighted. Permission is required for reproduction, electronic or otherwise. That includes publication and display on other websites by whatever means. For more about this, PLEASE SEE OUR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION. Backcountry skiing is a dangerous sport. You may be killed or severely injured if you choose to do all forms of randonnée and randonnée skiing. The information on this website is intended only as general information for a variety of aspects of backcountry skiing and outdoor recreation. While the authors and editors of the information on this website make every effort to present useful information, due to human error the information contained within this website may be inaccurate, false, or out-of-date. By using the information provided on this website, you agree to absolve the owners of WildSnow.com of any liability for injuries or losses incured while using such information.
Always go backcountry skiing with a partner, and learn about avalanche safety before you ski outside of ski and snowboard resorts. The best season for this sport is late winter and spring, when the snowpack compacts and avalanche danger is more predictable. The Colorado wilderness backcountry skiing season reaches its prime in May and June. Maritime snow such as that of the Pacific Northwest may be less avalanche prone than continental snow of that such as Colorado and Wyoming. The California Sierra also provides a relatively reliable snowpack for backcountry skiing, snowboarders, snowmobilers, telemarkers and the like. Backcountry skiing is a wonderful sport, but it can transition in moments from wonder to tragedy. You agree to use any of this website's information, maps, photos, or binding mounting instuctions or templatates at your own risk, and waive Wildsnow.com its owners and contributors of any liability for use of said items. Keywords: Ski Information, Info, Outdoors, Wilderness Skiing, Randonnée and randonnée, Ski Mountaineering, also Ski Alpinismo and Backcountry Skiing. |
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