Snowboard Prototyping

I made these snowboards by gluing up in a vacuum bag. As a beginner snowboarder, the initial problem I was looking to solve was the side edges catching on whatever was making me fall. I worked on cut patterns for two overlapping layers of 1/8" plywood to foam mold that flared up along the side edges. Not only was it too hard to keep the wooden cut patterns in the right compressed positions while vacuum bagging, but the flared up edges made it impossible to steer.

t seemed the camber in the middle still helped me to keep balanced when edges caught, so I edited the form to a traditional camber. I used some old 2x4s for a three-ply board of 1/8" pine \ 1/8" ply \ 1/8" pine. I made it extra wide with a high nose. It was hard to keep the bottom smooth and waxed, and unfortunately Pittsburgh mountains didn't get much powder.

Rigorous and methodical testing.

By now I really wanted a usable board. I made narrow three-ply board of 1/8" poplar \ 1/8" ply \ 1/8" poplar with a lifted front half and foot positioning towards the rear. It's extremely lightweight and is a lot of fun.

I’ve taken this board down blacks on Mount Killington in Vermont and Snowbird in Utah. Its a bit asymmetrical.