These skis are older than 1957. Probably 1955. I didn’t think much of them for most of my life. They were just a set of skis my dad used to teach people on. After I started taking care of his boat and skis I started to realize the different brand skis he had and how they were great technology for the day. Like most old skis that got a lot of use these had ripped bindings. But beyond that the tips had split and he bolted tin tips on them and screwed metal brackets across them too. I refinished them once before but the rotten wood got worse. I had also taught several people to ski on them since they are so light and easy to get up on, so I realized I needed to restore them better so they can be used by many more people. My mom tells me literally hundreds of people learned on these. I learned how to make a bow tie wedge and then got some mahogany so I could match the wood better. I knew it would not be perfect, but I knew I could make it last on the bottom. For the top I tried to bleach out the rust stains from the screws and straps. That sort of worked but I chose to cover those areas by putting mahogany strips and tips. I used Titebond 3 for the glue. I used West System epoxy and mixed in mahogany sawdust to tint. I learned a lot about epoxy but I haven’t mastered tinting yet. I’m not so concerned because my goal was to make these usable. Also those scars and flaws tell some stories. As I restored them I found on the internet that these have serial numbers. These skis are #216 which is really low. I’ll say these are the oldest Aqua-glide skis that exist. I’ll use them this summer and expect that they may last another 65 years, maybe twice that.
Matching Part Numbers 