Downsides of Whacking Off the Duck Bills?

[Alpinord]

The writing on the wall strongly suggests, my tele days are behind me and I'll have to remove the "i" from my alias.

Since I have a comfortable pair of T2X's (and old T4s) with little resale value as far as I know, I'm toying with the idea of cutting the duck bills as an experiment to use with my F10s and Charger BCs. They'd be better for hiking than my Hurricanes with their vibram soles and they'll still fit my Silvrettas. Edit: the T2x's are 8oz less than the Hurricanes, each.

The sole rocker looks like it might be fine with the F10s and AFD, but not sure. It also brings up the question at what angle to consider cutting due to the rocker. Perpendicular to the top of the duck bill or some other angle? It also looks like I'll need to shave down the thickness a couple millimeters.

What's the potential for a train wreck?

[PNWbrit]

What's the potential for a train wreck?

Somewhere between excellent and told you so?

[Alpinord]

Somewhere between excellent and told you so?

So you're telling me there's a chance?

[DoWork]

Heh. He said whacking off.

[Conundrum]

Not sure if the T2X has a 3 pin plate inside the duck bill but probably. I think by cutting it open (exposing where the metal, plastic and vibram are glued together), you'll have a delam machine on your hands. It might work though.

[Telemahn]

Use a belt sander and take your time. Chances are better that way.

[Dee Hubbs]

Router table is the way to go. Measure and mark with a sharpie, grind away until no more black sharpie is visible.
Here are the specs to grind to:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34764563/ski...IN%20specs.pdf
You many need to place a pad under the sole of the boot to prevent the boot fro folding at the bellows? Something to think about.

[Alpinord]

Thanks for the input.

I'm willing to bet that there is a metal plate in the toe. I was planning on rough cutting them with my band saw and then finishing with the disk sander and/or belt sander with the boot on a table to keep the front edges vertical relative to the soles at the ball and heel.

The router table sounds like a good idea except for the possibility of the 3-pin metal. I do have a couple beat up straight bits I could sacrifice.

After gathering deep insights thanks to an Alaskan Amber and some cyphering, here are some images for a little show and tell:

Matching boot sole profiles

The Hurricane on the binding:

T2X on the binding. The shape of the rocker seems to follow the profile of the binding base up through the angle of the AFD:

Transferring the Hurricane sole profile to the T2X with a profile tool. The line is to be left to keep the same BSL (I'll compare with specs). The profile tool can be used to double checking through the process. I tried cutting out a template (left), but it won't work because the T2X is wider:

I'm not sure what's the call on feathering/tapering the sides. Any ideas and what are the potential conflicts?

[MakersTeleMark]

I actually cutoff the duckbills on a pair of Asolo extremes to use as a general street/hiking boot. The 3 pin plate can be pried out, but be really careful with the grinder on the bill. If you get any heat and the vibram starts melting it puts out insanely noxious fumes and those shards stick to everything which would cause a really bad burn. I'd suggest a respirator and some gloves for sure.

Edit: There definitely is a metal plate for the pins. I've worn through those on every pair of teleboots I've owned.

[~mikey b]

yeah - I've cut/ground off duckbills a few times for folks back in my shop days - those do have a metal plate in them - cut away as much material as you can first, then grind on bench grinder

edit

oh, and you might die

[HHTELE]

Go for it.
What's the worst that could happen?

They are going to flex like crazy- not sure if the AFD will mitigate that.

[Alpinord]

Go for it.
What's the worst that could happen?

They are going to flex like crazy- not sure if the AFD will mitigate that.

Regardless, I'm expecting I'll survive bullet proof, breakable crust and mank better than when tele-whacking. Also, there are many hikes that could be attempted aided by the bellows, no duck bills and with the vibram soles.

[userA]

if you mounted pontoons you'd have a shot.
b

[SB]

Go for it.
What's the worst that could happen?

They are going to flex like crazy- not sure if the AFD will mitigate that.

This 1234

[userA]

flexing boots on a fully rockered set up would be a pow slayer.
b

[Alpinord]

Well....I'm officially no longer AC/DC since 1980.

The band saw quickened the process despite trashing the blade on the metal plate:

The disk sander with the boot on the table was excellent for micromanaging the fine tuning:

The most tedious part was getting the top of the sole toe flat and to the uniform 14mm thickness. I tried slicing with the band saw first but it'd be easy to cut into the toe of the boot. I tried rasping, barrel sander on a Dremel and settled on a metal grinding wheel on the Dremel and followed that with a soldering iron to smooth out fragments and undulations.

This was repeated, along with additional sole toe length reductions to match forward pressure and AFD settings of the Hurricanes.

Time will tell how this rig performs, but the the sex changed T2X's are now almost 10 oz lighter than the Hurricanes. Hopefully, they can be generally a dedicated AT boot and the Hurricanes as fill-ins if it seems like the better choice at the time.

Thanks for the tips and encouragement.

[that dude who did that thing]

For leveling and shoretening the toe piece a rabbiting bit in a router table might work

[Meadow Skipper]

Nice work!

[dschane]

And you lived to tell about it. Impressive work.

[~mikey b]

Just because he didn't cut off one of his fingers doesn't mean he's survived. He still has to ski them...

I think they'll be fine

[Alpinord]

For leveling and shoretening the toe piece a rabbiting bit in a router table might work

..or a plunge bit or mill on a drill press, among other possibilities. The metal is an issue relative to cutting choices. I chose to leave it in versus digging it out to see how it fairs.

Regarding flex, I was reminded of the 16" of fresh April run in the following image. The T2xs on BD Havocs and Silvrettas with only a bale over the toe was very noticeable the whole way down. It got more squirrelly as the pitch got flatter due to the mankier snow in the hot sun. I'm expecting a vast improvement over that and I'll be content. (FWIW, The skier in the image was on tele bindings.)

[tjb]

Great work! Interested to hear how they ski

[philth]

Don't know the details but my bud used to know a patroller at Breck back in the day who skied that kind of setup for years.

[Alpinord]

You many need to place a pad under the sole of the boot to prevent the boot fro folding at the bellows? Something to think about.

Another friend also suggested 'pads' to avoid flexing out of the bindings. Any ideas on materials and attachments?

TIA

[CascadeCement]

Holy shit! This is brilliant...I have a T2x's sitting in my garage, sold the tele skis months ago, no plans on riding tele again...

Schemeing a cheap ass spring/summer North Cascade rock tourer with nasty fritchis/old BD voodoo and modded T2x's...oh yea...