1/8" or 1/4" ply for my wakeskate

[steve-o]

i'm currently in the process of making a wakeskate. I've already shaped a wooden form the set the ply's in. Now all i need to know is the type and size of plywood i should use. and how many layers do i need to use? someone please help

[David Legler]

if you can get 1/8 that would be best but it is pretty hard to find. as for the wood and stuff i don't remember cause i haven't thought about making a wakeskate in a while. but here is an article that talks about makeing your own:

http://www.wakeskating.com/showarticle.php?id=6

hope it helps, let us know how it turns out and all.

[Todd Armstrong]

I couldn't find 1/8 anywere so I used 3 layers of 1/4 birch

[derrick lenz]

what about getting a 3/4 piece? could you also use that instead?

[Todd Armstrong]

no, you could set the rocker.

[derrick lenz]

well if you soak it and then bend the hell out of it that wouldn't work? how do you set it with separate pieces.

[Todd Armstrong]

I use Marine epoxy and I made a rocker jig and I put 200lbs of weight on top to press it down.

[Dave W]

Derrick, no, soaking 3/4 inch and bending it won't work. Especially with a piece of 3/4 inch plywood. Even if you could manage to get it to bend, the curve wouldn't stay in it for long. The idea is to laminate the curve into the board. I used 3 layers of 1/4 inch mahogany (marine grade) plywood for the one I built. I only laminated two layers together at a time because it took a lot of weight to get just two sheets to bend to fit my form. I also built more rocker into my form because I assumed the wood would bounce back a little. Sure enough, it sprung up quite a bit after I laminated the first two layers together. Then, it sprung back even less when I got the third layer on. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I think I had about 3 inches of rocker in my form and ended up with about two inches in my wakeskate. I think it would be easier to get 1/8 inch plywood to hold a curve. Plus, I would guess that you could get away with 4 layers of 1/8 inch plywood and save a lot of weight. A 3/4 inch mahogany wakeskate gets pretty heavy. Another factor to consider is what kind of resin you use to glue it together. I used polyester resin because I had read that it was stiffer than other epoxies. It was also a lot cheaper. I was always under the impression that marine epoxy was a little more flexible than airplane epoxy. It would take a little experimentation to figure out what would be ideal. One more thing to consider is the size and direction of the laminates that make up your plywood. A 1/4 inch piece of plywood is usually made up of 3 plys. The top and bottom plys (the visible ones) run in the same direction. For my wakeskate, the top and bottom plys were really thin compared to the center one. So I ran all 3 pieces with the visible grain running in the same direction. If you are using a plywood with more equally sized plys, you may want to consider placing the middle piece (on a 3/4 inch skate made up of 3 1/4 inch sheets of plywood) with the visible grain running perpendicular to the top and bottom pieces. It seems like that should make it a little easier to create the rocker.

Hot tip: Line your form with waxed paper before you attempt to do any laminating. After you weight down your pieces to fit the form, you are sure to have some runoff epoxy. The waxed paper will help to make sure you don't glue your board to your form. It also peels right off the cured epoxy.

Todd--did you find 1/4 inch solid birch or was it just veneer? Was it light?

[Todd Armstrong]

veneer, and I made my skate 45 1/2" long with a 16" waist and it is just under 8 lbs

[Todd Armstrong]

Even with the skates I made for me and my brother I still love my Grubb 112 so much more. After everthing is done, time and effort, just go buy one.