white or grey areas on ski bases. Solved.

Hi,

following Kuzmin thesis and assumptions about "hairs" on ski bases, I
decided to give it a late season try.
I ordered a "Kuzmin sickel", picked up that old pair of race ski of
mine known for showing grey spots quickly.

I thoroughly scraped them (rendering the base flat, BTW).

After ~80kms *WITHOUT ANY* base wax, bases are still plain black...

First glide tests against my "fast" skis showed very good results. The
major factor influencing glide being grind, nothing else. Tests to be
continued.

Thanks Dr Kuzmin.

Now we need to know more :

- Can we scrap tail to tip as well as tip to tail ? ( I did it lightly
to presumably bring hairs up)
- Is it relevant to polish with some sort of "SctochBright" and brush
to get the shine ?
- Is a Final layer of pure fluoro product still usefull ?

Laurent.

On Apr 14, 3:44*am, wrote:
Hi,

following Kuzmin thesis and assumptions about "hairs" on ski bases, I
decided to give it a late season try.
I ordered a "Kuzmin sickel", picked up that old pair of race ski of
mine known for showing grey spots quickly.

I thoroughly scraped them (rendering the base flat, BTW).

After ~80kms *WITHOUT ANY* base wax, bases are still plain black...

First glide tests against my "fast" skis showed very good results. The
major factor influencing glide being grind, nothing else. Tests to be
continued.

Thanks Dr Kuzmin.

Now we need to know more :

- Can we scrap tail to tip as well as tip to tail ? ( I did it lightly
to presumably bring hairs up)
- Is it relevant to polish with some sort of "SctochBright" and brush
to get the shine ?
- Is a Final layer of pure fluoro product still usefull ?

Laurent.

Where do you get a Kuzmin sickle? Ive attempted to hone a perfectly
square edge on on a meatal scraper and than put a hook on it. It never
comes out right and it cuts strings of P-tex instead of a peel from
the base. I can see if it peeled it would make the base flat.
Otherwise it destroys the base.

I ordered it by email (shipping to France) and managed a Bank Transfer
with a Swedish colleague.
(International Bank transfer was possible but still subject to extra
charge)

A replacement for that sickle could be a cut tool used in wood
machines.

On Apr 14, 8:02*am, wrote:
I ordered it by email (shipping to France) and managed a Bank Transfer
with a Swedish colleague.
(International Bank transfer was possible but still subject to extra
charge)

A replacement for that sickle could be a cut tool used in wood
machines.

Could you give a little info than that. Is it a metal scraper or
different kind of tool. Also what the source in Europe?

On 14 huhti, 13:39, ADK Skier wrote:

Where do you get a Kuzmin sickle?

Skistart.com accepts payment by credit card; e-mail info@skistart com
You can also buy a "Kuzminsickel" - or a set: beside the "Original",
there is now a "Plus" and a "Minus" - from the man himself; e-mail



Anders

http://www.kuzmin.nu/

This is a very sharp metal scraper.The 4 angles are the same and can
do the job.

I have the "original" only.

What do you mean by grind being the major factor? I ask because Kuzmin
argues that grind makes the ski slower and reduces hydrophobicity, which
then makes wax necessary. See his answer to Ian Harvey at the bottom
of page 2:
http://www.kuzmin.nu/files/doc/Answe...on_3%20Sep.pdf

wrote:

First glide tests against my "fast" skis showed very good results. The
major factor influencing glide being grind, nothing else. Tests to be
continued.

Thanks Dr Kuzmin.

I mean manual grind. Swix + toko

I had three pairs of skis.

1 - Vandel L101C medium flex, CH + Nanowax Pro 4, minimal (old) manual
grind.
2 - Vandel L101 soft flex, not waxed, kuzmin-scraped, medium Swix
grind + Toko coarse grind.
3 - Rossignol Xium F3, factory grind, CH + Nanowax

Warm temp and soft snow. (note that Nanowax Pro4 gives splendid
results on that snow). I always have some quite soft skis as I weight
~65 Kgs.

The 2 was the fastest, at first.(No doubt). That was a kind of
surprise given their soft flex. I expected some high suction.

Then, I manually grind the 1 and 1 and 2 became comparable. (no doubt
either). with perhaps still a slight advantage for 2. I didn't feel it
myself but my friend did.

The Rossi were the slowest.

Note that the point of this post is not if waxing is relevant or not.
Although it leads to...

The thing I'm now sure of is that Grey areas on the base are hairs and
that
they can be quite easily removed with a proper tool.
They have obviously a major impact on glide, when they're not
agglomerated by some "base" wax.

Now, can we get rid of the final layer is another point to be
investigated.
As mentioned above
I've always felt a good impact of High fluoro (Nanowas Pro4) on high
temp...

wait, NO WAX on skis resulting in NO WHITE spots means the white spots are
due to WAX !!
??

right??

JKal.



wrote in message
...
Hi,

following Kuzmin thesis and assumptions about "hairs" on ski bases, I
decided to give it a late season try.
I ordered a "Kuzmin sickel", picked up that old pair of race ski of
mine known for showing grey spots quickly.

I thoroughly scraped them (rendering the base flat, BTW).

After ~80kms *WITHOUT ANY* base wax, bases are still plain black...

First glide tests against my "fast" skis showed very good results. The
major factor influencing glide being grind, nothing else. Tests to be
continued.

Thanks Dr Kuzmin.

Now we need to know more :

- Can we scrap tail to tip as well as tip to tail ? ( I did it lightly
to presumably bring hairs up)
- Is it relevant to polish with some sort of "SctochBright" and brush
to get the shine ?
- Is a Final layer of pure fluoro product still usefull ?

Laurent.