BOULDER - Instead of pursuing an engineering degree, Jordan Grano, a self-proclaimed "lifelong tinkerer" decided to invest that roughly $70,000 in quality ski-making equipment.

He called the next two years a trial-and-error period and founded Core Manufacturing LLC, doing business as Boulder-based Folsom Custom Skis.

The custom downhill skiing company, founded in 2007, is still small, but Grano's comfortable with that - for now.

Designing and producing between 200 and 250 skis per year is what he and master builder Mike McCabe can handle. But within the next couple years, Grano hopes to double that output.

From designing it to handing it to the customer, Grano and McCabe put a combined 12 hours into each custom-made ski.

The process starts with a back-and-forth with the customer to find out what type of skiing he plans to do, how physically fit he is, how long he's been skiing, his height and weight and other crucial details that will help determine design.

Each customer chooses one of about 60 predesigned "top sheets" ranging from solid black with a white Folsom logo to "psycho green." And for an extra $80 to $150 skiers can create their own logos and have fully customized planks.

"You get exactly what you want," Grano said.

Each handmade ski is eventually smeared over and over with a low volatile organic compound, or VOC, resin that's used to adhere layers of fiberglass, carbon fiber and various other products that go into the ski.

It's then heated to nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit in a ski press for 20 minutes, cooled and the dry resin is trimmed. The edges and base are grinded, and the ski is more-or-less ready to be plunged through powder, hucked off cliffs, shot through crud and carved through corduroy.

All of that, complete with a name tag that tells when the ski was made, who it was made for and its dimensions, for between $1,000 and $1,800.

Unlike well-known manufacturers like Rossignol, Nordica, K2 and Elan, Folsom Custom Skis is a self-funded company that makes less than 50 percent profit per pair. That means at about $1,300 per pair, Folsom reports a revenue of about $300,000 annually and less than $150,000 annual profit.

In part because he's given skis to various athletes and ski industry professionals to test and spread the word about his company, Grano said he'll be lucky if the company covers its costs this year.

Yet he doesn't want to increase the price of his skis.

"I'm an old ski bum at heart, and it's hard for me to charge a lot," Grano said.

He's competing against, primarily, small ski manufacturers like Reno, Nev.-based Moment, Placerville, Colo.-based Wagner Custom and Jackson, Wyo.-based Igneous. And while he competes with those companies for revenue, he said he has great relationships with them - especially Wagner Custom.

He and Pete Wagner, the founder of Wagner Custom, agree that if people understand the quality and benefits of a made-to-order ski, the custom ski sector will grow. But part of getting people to buy custom skis is educating them on the benefits.

"It's a bigger risk to go pull something off the shelf," Grano said.

Each ski, made with sustainable materials, such as bamboo cores, that are as locally-sourced as possible, is tailored to each skier. It's not a one-ski-fits-all approach.

Plus Grano said his skis are more durable than mass-produced ones, and McCabe knows that. He was hired as a ski maker after spending years as a pro skier and Folsom tester.

McCabe said his job was to break the skis. He failed.

So far, Folsom customer Scott Stekr has failed, too.

Until last year when he bought a $1,200 pair of Folsom skis tailored to his style of riding, he typically bought two pair of Volkl skis per year. When he broke the first pair he would use the other pair.

"They stand behind the indestructibility of them," he said, speaking of Folsom. The company has a two-year warranty on the skis.

While most people won't buy two new pairs per year, the freestyle skier said the Folsom's performed much better.

"I could tell they were custom-built for me," Stekr said. "I was extremely impressed with how the response was (on snow)."

With a mainstream brand of skis, most people don't know whether or not what they buy will be good for them on snow. With custom skis, the probability of buying the right ski drastically increases.

"You can't go ski a pair of skis before you try them, so you just take a shot in the dark and hope it works out."