Day One: The Lignin Project

Today is the start of what I am tentatively calling “The Lignin Project.” I have been kind of working on this for nearly a year now but also not really. So now that it is out on the internet, I kind of have to follow through. At least for my own sake.

This will be a series of hand crafted wood skis spanning the history and diversity of skiing. Through traditional woodworking techniques such as steam bending and hand planing, I plan on making at least 12 pairs of skis start to finish by hand. Even modern shapes will be hand shaped using these woodworking techniques.

The idea first came to me on a chairlift several years ago when I was having a conversation about how even though the ski industry is in favor of doing everything possible to be kind to the planet, all skis are still made out of plastics and full of resin and other nasty things. There are a couple of companies starting to do something different, but at the end of the day they are still making skis made out of plastic because that is currently what works for our high performance needs.

It got me thinking about how wood skis could potentially be just as light and durable in the context of some of our skimo racing. The Grand Traverse is hard on skis, but it used to be a Nordic race and those skis are incredibly flimsy. So why not make my own skis that can take me light and fast through the mountains?

Thus the idea of modern shaped wood skis was born and here we are. Hopefully I’ll be able to stick to it in 2020 and put my ideas into action this year. Stay tuned.