Gaining confidence by maintaining the skiis

[uphillklimber]

Hey every one, I've only been skiing some 5 years now, generally a dozen and a half times a season or so. My wife has skiied from her teen years, but really picked it up a notch with me. I am the more aggressive skiier of the two of us, but I try out trails and give her a report on them. I have a real good feel for what she is capable of handling. Pretty much, we can handle anything if it is snow. And this year we are really enjoying the tougher trails, blacks and double blacks.

When I started skiing, I got a tune up kit from my local sports shop and picked their brains on how to do it. Doing your own tune up is not that hard, and it certainly helps to have a place to do it. Besides, I am way to cheap too pay for a tune up all the time. I got the p-tex, the wax, an iron, the scrapers, files and stones. Pretty much I do a full tune up every 6 to 8 trips. But I stone the edges after every trip now. I have been doing this since the middle of last season.

Scrape and ice were our nemisis. We absolutely hated to go on it, or anywhere near it. This will eliminate a lot of trails for us in a hurry, and as the day wears on, even more trails were not available to us. This is no longer the case, since I keep them good and sharp. It used to be that when I tuned them, they would get filed, as I said, every 6-8 trips. Our skiis were basically dull most of the time. And I was worried about filing away the edges too fast. Then I took a stone to them after one filing, and the next trip, I noticed how when I got stuck, and had to traverse ice, that I had control and was able to catch an edge. The proverbial light went off in my head. The next trip, I didn't bother to stone the edges again, and I got stuck on ice again, but couldn't catch an edge. I realized that I had not stoned the edges.

Well, after that experience, I take the stone to the edges every week after a trip. It doesn't take much stoning, if you keep after it. So I am not so worried about grinding the edges away anytime in the near future. I have an orange stone, a little bigger than a band aid, that I use. I hold it square to the edge of the ski, and using a circular motion, I work my way all the way along the edge of the ski, polishing the edges to a shine. To do all four skiis takes about 10 minutes. Then I have some landmarks on the skiis where I de tune the ends so that we can break the skiis loose and turn. (I had a pro show me this-LOL, the pro was a 19 year old kid!!!) It turns out that the K-2 label at both ends of the skiis is an appropriate landmark. It is great having the skiis tuned exactly the same way every time, by the same person, in this case, me.

Anyways, back to the skiing. We are now skiing anything we see in front of us, if we feel like we want a go at it. Ice and scrape are suddenly a no issue. We are able to carve across the ice and turn as we choose to. There were some great trails at Saddleback yesterday that had the tops all windblown and icy, but were snowy down the ways a bit. To have fun on the snow, we had to cross the ice. And on one trail, I do mean ice, not scrape. They had the left side of the mountain open, for once, while we there. We were to spend most of the day over there. We had previously been there once before when they were open, and we opted out of those trails. Not this time. Between our experience and confidence levels, new boots with moldable foot beds, and the sharp edges every trip, we are getting a bang out these ski trips lately. It is just awesome going where we never dared venture before.

I did a lot of personal ski tuning when I was racing Nastar. The waxing and the edge maintenance do make a difference. However, I would add that this takes some patience and skill.. and is not for everyone. A ski can be damaged as much as improved if the edge is put on incorrectly.

Personally I feel better letting an experienced craftsperson do my edges now once or maybe twice a season.. (start and halfway through.. right now would be a good time). I get mine done at Wachusett and they have done a nice job and for small money. I leave them there and demo a set of the demos using a discount pass I got through tripleA.

I always wax my own though.. just using SWIX wax and a aponge applicator and then a rubbing cloth to smooth them out. It really helps in the manmade stuff.

[uphillklimber]

I agree that sharpening needs some expertise. I was chatting with my wife earlier today, and commenting how early in my construction carreer that I had learned how to sharpen my tools and bits. So, sharpening the skiis is, in my case, a variation on a theme. A quick lesson from the 19 year old pro, and his more aged counterpart, and I was good to go. I gotta tell you, that we really appreciate the good sharp skiis.

[Starter Jackets Rule!]

"I hold it square to the edge of the ski, and using a circular motion, I work my way all the way along the edge of the ski,"
YIKES!
Thats a dimond stone, right?
http://www.kuu.com/product.asp?DeptI...ID=21125079791
hey if you want a VCR tape on how to do it right PM me....(cost/ postage only, it's was made by willy wiltz)pm me.
do you use file guides?
bevels vary from ski co to ski co. IE; Head 1°base 1°, Atomic 1°base 3°side.
go to your skis web page and look up what beval you should use.
One can take a "Sharpie" marking pen and cover the edege to be sharpend and try to remove the color thet was just put on...but I don't recomend it.
theese are some of the tools I use.
for the side edege:
http://www.reliableracing.com/Winter...&category=2000

for the base:
http://www.reliableracing.com/Winter...&category=2000


To deburr:

http://www.reliableracing.com/Winter...og/detail.cfm?
edp=10820108&category=2000

files:

http://www.reliableracing.com/Winter...&category=2000

something like this will also do the job:

http://www.reliableracing.com/Winter...&category=2000

[uphillklimber]

Starter jackets, those are some pretty impressive tools you have there. I have some that are similar to those, and some that are not.

No, I don't use a diamond stone anymore. I have bought many of them over the years, some at good prices, and some at full prices. In my opinion, the value for them is less than stone. While diamonds, industrial or otherwise, are the hardest known substance to man, they will dull, in what I consider an inordinately short amount of time. Also, there is the issue of adhering them to the base so that they stay put. The diamonds work loose, and since they are essentially diamond dust, you don't really realize it, until one day, it hits you, and "wow, I don't remember working this hard to sharpen this when this stone was new". In other words, for what I paid for them, I expect much more life out of them. I think I can say that I have thrown away more diamond stones than most folks have ever bought. I have found that the right stone, on the right material works pretty good. A new diamond stone works pretty good also, just not my tool of choice, anymore.

[Starter Jackets Rule!]

That sounds cool .
The prob. with a stone is that they will go out of square.
and you might end up with a uneven edege.
dimond files/cards are to be used with a very light touch. I clamp one into a file guide then run them tip to tail.
if this is done you can get a season out of one.
Lucky for me I get them at cost (through our shop).
And yes they are expensive suckers.
like I said I have a tuning tape all for the price of postage.

[uphillklimber]

"I hold it square to the edge of the ski, and using a circular motion, I work my way all the way along the edge of the ski,"
YIKES!
Thats a dimond stone, right?


hey if you want a VCR tape on how to do it right PM me

like I said I have a tuning tape all for the price of postage.

Starter Jackets, the above three quotes make it sound as though you think I am not correctly sharpening my skiis. Is there something I have posted that makes you believe this? Or are you of the opinion that anyone who does not have a certificate from Ski Sharpeners University is never qualified?

Some folks have the mechanical ability to maintain their own equipment, and others don't, so they hire it out to make sure it's done right. It is a reasonable concern. I would say it is not hi-tech to maintain your own equipment, but that term could very easily be a relative term. What's hi-tech to one person, is another day at the office to another.

When I started this thread, I was hoping to encourage others, who had the ability and desire to maintian their own equipment, but hadn't quite decided, to do so. It really is not that hard, acknowledging that it can be done wrong also. Personally, my wife and I really appreciate the skiis grabbing on scrape and ice, and that ability has opened up a lot more of the mountain to us. (Of course, with each trip, we learn a little something new, a lesson thrown in here and there, and plain old practice are a part of the equation also). Also, there is the advantage of getting the skiis tuned identically every time. I have brought my skiis to the same place every time, and the edges were always de-tuned differently. As a beginner, working through intermediate, I found it disconcerting that the skiis always took a different amount of pressure to make a turn. Now every trip, and the skiis "feel" the same, every time. That is worth a lot to us.

Anyways, I really did not want to get involved in a testoterone brandishing debate of "have you got the right tools, like I do", or "If you want to know how to do it right, I can straighten you out" kind of stuff. I know those are not exact quotes, but that is what I hear from what you are saying.

As I said, I was hoping to encourage others who felt competent to do so. My sharpening kit did come with clear instructions, and the pros at my shop were very helpful in instructing me, it's really not that hard. And I never have to drive a ways and go back a couple days later. Actually, I bring them back once a year or so (basically to have them grade my efforts), as they do have a lot more practice than I get.

Enjoying this season on the slopes!!!