The systematic technological advancement from the layered ski to the multi-glued component ski, as Josef Fischer junior introduces the idea to the company, initially meets with vehement resistance from his father. "My father said it was nonsense to cut up the wood first only to glue it back together again in a different way. He even went so far as to forbid me from developing my skis in-house," remembers Josef Fischer junior. "But I was just as stubborn and made the first glued skis at Weibold carpenters' in Ried outside normal working hours or at the weekend and also skied with them in regional Upper Austrian races. This is how Herr Springer, who, like me, was at the wood science college in Hallein, and I introduced the first glued ski in Upper Austria. We were absolutely fascinated by it."
Josef Fischer junior plans to go to North America. In the end, however, he declines the offer of running a Canadian ski factory. The conflict between the two generations is like a helter skelter. In 1949 Josef Fischer junior goes to the higher commercial college in Vienna for one year. "I just wanted to get away from Ried. My father and I simply had different mindsets."
However there is no stopping the growing popularity of the layered ski and Josef senior eventually has to yield to the new development. Once again he takes advantage of his vast technical skills and designs the first ski press which is required for manufacturing the layered ski. He bases the press on a model he saw in Switzerland. Following some modifications here and there he manages to produce a perfectly glued ski.
His father's declining health sees him take more and more of a back seat in his final years. Josef Fischer junior's influence grows more and more during these years. The relationship between father and son returns to normal. "My father died in February 1959. Our relationship was very good and quite normal in the last years; everything fell into place again. Both of us were as stubborn as mules wanting to get their own way. But if you want to work together, you have to be different – that is what the two of us then discovered."
