Ski Tuning - revisited

Some of you helped me when I 1st started coming here last year or the year
before on how to properly tune your skis so I thought I would follow up on
my progress . I spent a few bucks and went with 'the beast ' side & base
tools ,some diamond stones ( 4 piece set) , a file , gummy stone , hot wax,
iron and scrapers, brushes , scruff pads etc etc . I made up a good home
made bench that holds my skis stable while tuning . I practiced on my old
skis at 1st to get some practice and when I felt comfortable I did my good
skis . I did it by the book supplied by the race place/ tognar .
At 1st it was taking a very long time and I became discouraged but kept with
it . A few times I got lazy and brought it into the place I bought my skis
and went for the free tune-ups they offered . But when I questioned them I
realized they were making the bases flat to a 90 degree and not a 1 degree
base & edgethat I was keeping as they came from the factory . I also wasn't
impressed with the edge sharpening .
So I went to a local ski shop and was lucky enough to talk to the owner who
had time to talk as it wasn't busy . He was nice enough to take me in the
back and show me exactly how they do the 'free ' tune-ups and how they do
the expert tune-ups that they charge about $35 - $40 for . The other thing
that bothered me about the free tune-ups was it was smoothing out the
structure on the bases . But the 3 freebie ones I did didn't harm them too
bad but enough to notice .
So I decided to do them myself again and not be lazy . I did them yesterday
as they haven't been done in about 6 ski days . I found it went quicker and
from start to finish with clean up and all it took about an hour .
I brought them back to the store and asked the owner what he thought . He
told me I did an excellent job and he couldn't have done them better himself
.. And I'm pretty hard & rough on my skis even though I watch out for rocks
etc. He only added how to de-tune the tips and rears slightly , said they
were nice and flat , good bases , sharp edges , not too sharp , not too dull
.. He told me to not even waste my money on his expert tune-ups and continue
what I was doing . Just to bring them in at the end of the season for a
stone grind to bring the structure back and to tell them NOT to do the edges
or wax as I would be able to do them BETTER ! I was pumped !
So little does he know that he gained a new customer . Sometimes your better
off with a small shop with better help than a big warehouse store and a
school kid who really doesn't have your best interests at heart . The other
thing I was curious about is if I should just use the standard paraffin hot
wax or keep a few different ones in my box . I assume there is a difference
depending on what the conditions are but most of the time you don't really
know until you get there and it's too late as I'm not about to do it in my
hotel room . So should I leave well enough alone or try another kind of wax
? Also curious on opinions on what the difference makes when you go from a
90 degree or 1 - 3 degree base/edge angles. Anyway just wanted to thank the
group for helping me with that and maybe this will help someone else . I'm
open to suggestions but I feel pretty good that I'm actually doing it ok as
I didn't want to make them worse . It's actually not that hard once you do
it a few times and the beast tools seem to do a good job .
Ron

Ron - NY wrote:
Sometimes your better
off with a small shop with better help than a big warehouse store and a
school kid who really doesn't have your best interests at heart .

Non merde.

The other
thing I was curious about is if I should just use the standard paraffin hot
wax or keep a few different ones in my box . I assume there is a difference
depending on what the conditions are but most of the time you don't really
know until you get there and it's too late as I'm not about to do it in my
hotel room .

Why not? You paid for the room - if you're polite spread your waxing
tarp first to keep the wax off the rug, or use newspapers. "waxing tarp"
= section of plastic tarp or old sheet ski length plus a couple of feet,
a couple of feet wide - takes no significant space in your traveling
tune bag. Also, many hotels/motel/lodges/etc in ski towns have a
dedicated waxing room - ask at the desk.

So should I leave well enough alone or try another kind of wax
?

Only if you are racing/looking for that last edge in performance. Warm
weather waxes are nearly pure paraffin; cold waxes add "micro-waxes" to
the mix to harden the paraffin, but in cold weather you don't stick to
the snow anyway.

Also curious on opinions on what the difference makes when you go from a
90 degree or 1 - 3 degree base/edge angles.

IMO this whole thing is a gimmick due to the lack of effort to flatten
skis. We used to work our asses off with a big heavy base file getting
the bases and edges exactly flat. It's easier to be sloppy and slightly
turn the edges, particularly on a belt sander or stone grinder, so you
just tell the customer 1 deg base bevel is good for him; and it is, to a
point. It's slightly more forgiving of sloppy skiing if your edge
doesn't engage immediately when you angle a tad by mistake. So once they
made the base 1 deg, they make the side 1 deg plus to bring it to or
past 90 deg.

That being said, I like my bases/edges as flat as possible recognizing
the realities of sloppy base machines; and my sides at 2 deg so they are
really probably around 90 to 89 deg edges. It's probably more an
artificial goal than to make any real difference in how they ski.

Anyway just wanted to thank the
group for helping me with that and maybe this will help someone else . I'm
open to suggestions but I feel pretty good that I'm actually doing it ok as
I didn't want to make them worse . It's actually not that hard once you do
it a few times and the beast tools seem to do a good job .

Check out a good ski vise if you haven't added one to your collection.

"lal_truckee" wrote in message

That being said, I like my bases/edges as flat as possible recognizing
the realities of sloppy base machines; and my sides at 2 deg so they are
really probably around 90 to 89 deg edges. It's probably more an
artificial goal than to make any real difference in how they ski



Waxing the skis at the mountain is where I draw the lazy line . Good bad or
otherwise I just can't see myself doing this after skiing all day . The most
I ski is 3-4 days at a shot so in between will have to surfice . I don't
want to over complicate things too much so I'll stick with the good ol
parafin and call it a day .

Maybe your right about the edge angles because when the shop flattened my
bases and took away the 1 degree bevel I honestly can't say I noticed a
difference . The guy who helped at the store , for whatever it's worth ,
said he keeps his flat at the bottom and makes an acute edge angle of 2-3
degrees on the edges because he wants better edging . I always thought the
bevel on the base would make the ski slightly easier to turn and less hooky
but being I'm not having any problems I'll just leave well enough alone .
Ron

Ron - NY wrote:
Some of you helped me when I 1st started coming here last year or the year
before on how to properly tune your skis so I thought I would follow up on
my progress . I spent a few bucks and went with 'the beast ' side & base
tools ,some diamond stones ( 4 piece set) , a file , gummy stone , hot wax,
iron and scrapers, brushes , scruff pads etc etc . I made up a good home
made bench that holds my skis stable while tuning . I practiced on my old
skis at 1st to get some practice and when I felt comfortable I did my good
skis . I did it by the book supplied by the race place/ tognar .
At 1st it was taking a very long time and I became discouraged but kept with
it . A few times I got lazy and brought it into the place I bought my skis
and went for the free tune-ups they offered . But when I questioned them I
realized they were making the bases flat to a 90 degree and not a 1 degree
base & edgethat I was keeping as they came from the factory . I also wasn't
impressed with the edge sharpening .
So I went to a local ski shop and was lucky enough to talk to the owner who
had time to talk as it wasn't busy . He was nice enough to take me in the
back and show me exactly how they do the 'free ' tune-ups and how they do
the expert tune-ups that they charge about $35 - $40 for . The other thing
that bothered me about the free tune-ups was it was smoothing out the
structure on the bases . But the 3 freebie ones I did didn't harm them too
bad but enough to notice .
So I decided to do them myself again and not be lazy . I did them yesterday
as they haven't been done in about 6 ski days . I found it went quicker and
from start to finish with clean up and all it took about an hour .
I brought them back to the store and asked the owner what he thought . He
told me I did an excellent job and he couldn't have done them better himself
. And I'm pretty hard & rough on my skis even though I watch out for rocks
etc. He only added how to de-tune the tips and rears slightly , said they
were nice and flat , good bases , sharp edges , not too sharp , not too dull
. He told me to not even waste my money on his expert tune-ups and continue
what I was doing . Just to bring them in at the end of the season for a
stone grind to bring the structure back and to tell them NOT to do the edges
or wax as I would be able to do them BETTER ! I was pumped !
So little does he know that he gained a new customer . Sometimes your better
off with a small shop with better help than a big warehouse store and a
school kid who really doesn't have your best interests at heart . The other
thing I was curious about is if I should just use the standard paraffin hot
wax or keep a few different ones in my box . I assume there is a difference
depending on what the conditions are but most of the time you don't really
know until you get there and it's too late as I'm not about to do it in my
hotel room . So should I leave well enough alone or try another kind of wax
? Also curious on opinions on what the difference makes when you go from a
90 degree or 1 - 3 degree base/edge angles. Anyway just wanted to thank the
group for helping me with that and maybe this will help someone else . I'm
open to suggestions but I feel pretty good that I'm actually doing it ok as
I didn't want to make them worse . It's actually not that hard once you do
it a few times and the beast tools seem to do a good job .
Ron


wax types:
for saturating the base try Swix base prep.
For the glide wax, guess as good as you can to match the temp range
(this is very forgiving)
Each day I wipe Notwax on the base before going out, which works very
well since this works in all temp ranges, and adds resistance to any icing.
gr