Ski Tuning and Waxing

Artech has a lot of great stuff too! Prices are reasonable.

Take your time and get them tuned well, then mine have skied well after initially melting/ironing in a couple+ layers of softer wax to build up bases. Has worked well....don't know if it's needed anymore...y/n?

wa-loaf said:

Check out these guys: http://www.tognar.com/bevel_edge_tips_file_bevel_ski_snowboard.html

They have a ton of tuning tips on their site.

Click to expand...

Good site!

Everyone has their favorite wax brands. I'm happy with Saucer Wax. Simple temp ranges...decent (or better) performance. They have some race overlays as well that I've used.

Ironing...lots of people like to melt wax and scrape and make a mess. :> (applogies to all of you who do) I follow the guidance from SkiMd...and use tthe Wax Wizzard (or however it's spelled). Crayon the wax onto the base. Wax Wizzard (friction) the wax onto the base. Roto Brush (love the roto brush...choked on the price). :>

Sometimes I use a Swix iron after crayoning the wax to the base, then I scrape, then I roto. Meh. If you're going to tune (or a least wax) after each day on snow....it seems to me the crayoning method should be adeqquate...and you burn through lots less wax....and that pile of scraped wax (which probably carries a bunch of debris from your ski...which is why people still use the method) is avoided.

Base bevel...I've heard from several legit tuners to leave it alone. Side bevel? 2 to 3 degree depending on your ski. You can check your side angle by puting a sharpie layer on, then use the lower degree bevel and take a few strokes. See if the sharpie wipes off.

Arctech...great source. I'm sure the others are just as legit. Returns and deliveries from Arctech are speedy and problem free. Just sayin.

Swix has a great tuning vid on line. Arctech has a DVD.

As for base repair...I leave that to the pros....let them put the stucture back into the base.

Enjoy!!

andrec10 said:

Artech has a lot of great stuff too! Prices are reasonable.

Click to expand...

I just bought a bunch of stuff from Artech - Brushes, wax, base and edge filing tools, scraper, and a cool device that locks into my bindings that I can secure in a vice. Bought a generic vice from Home Depot and bought magnetic plastic covers to protect the ski. I also built my own bench and for now using a regular iron.

Roto brushes will be next since regular brushes are a lot of extra work and more time consuming - but they are a whole lot cheaper!

Just need to add the finishing touches and a will post a pic!

Another site:http://www.slidewright.com/

I wanted to order the SkiVisions edge tool but Tognar didn't have the stone or ceramic pieces available. Slidewright not only had all the parts but was a little cheaper.

Sky said:

..........Crayon the wax onto the base. Wax Wizzard (friction) the wax onto the base. Roto Brush (love the roto brush...choked on the price). :>

Sometimes I use a Swix iron after crayoning the wax to the base, then I scrape, then I roto. Meh. If you're going to tune (or a least wax) after each day on snow....it seems to me the crayoning method should be adeqquate...and you burn through lots less wax....and that pile of scraped wax (which probably carries a bunch of debris from your ski...which is why people still use the method) is avoided.

Click to expand...

Usually use the standard blue-stuff..but have always had good results with the Crayon wax whenever used. Produces a fast base with little, if any, mess... I still drip a little too much of the standard stuff on with the iron....

http://www.theclymb.com/stories/tips/everything-need-diy-ski-snowboard-tuning-shop/

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

C-Rex said:

http://www.theclymb.com/stories/tips/everything-need-diy-ski-snowboard-tuning-shop/

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Missing brushes! Looking forward to their next article on this topic!

C-Rex said:

http://www.theclymb.com/stories/tips/everything-need-diy-ski-snowboard-tuning-shop/

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Missing brushes! Looking forward to their next article on this topic!

So I picked up a bunch of tuning gear without really considering WHERE I was going to use it. Get to our condo and realize there is no good place inside to do it without driving my wife crazy with the mess. So, is it possible to tune outside? I don't mind being in the cold but does tuning in sub-freezing conditions have a negative result? I thought I read somewhere that the ski should be "room temp" before beginning.

El Bishop said:

So I picked up a bunch of tuning gear without really considering WHERE I was going to use it. Get to our condo and realize there is no good place inside to do it without driving my wife crazy with the mess. So, is it possible to tune outside? I don't mind being in the cold but does tuning in sub-freezing conditions have a negative result? I thought I read somewhere that the ski should be "room temp" before beginning.

Click to expand...

Room temp definitely helps when it comes to waxing (for many reasons).

I've found that a big plastic tarp down on the floor before you put the bench in the room and then tune, followed by a thorough clean up, with a quick pass over with the vacuum keeps most wive's happy (even when you're tuning in a room that has carpet as I do! )

So I picked up a bunch of tuning gear without really considering WHERE I was going to use it. Get to our condo and realize there is no good place inside to do it without driving my wife crazy with the mess. So, is it possible to tune outside? I don't mind being in the cold but does tuning in sub-freezing conditions have a negative result? I thought I read somewhere that the ski should be "room temp" before beginning.

I think the biggest problem would be hot waxing. If you boards are cold and you apply hot wax and an iron to the bottoms you could cause irreparable damage as the base upon expanding could pull away from the core.

Room temp - yes! You can use a rub on technique with cork or brushes even.

Steps
Go outside use bronze brush to clean base up then wipe off with a cloth

Sharpen edge while out there

Let skis warm up

Rub on the correct temp wax covering completely

Brush using a nylon brush followed by a horse hair brush or cork. Cork will generate enough heat to get but to bond well with the base

Well that's a technique I hadn't considered. Would this work?

Skis at room temp (inside) -- bring them outside for nylon brushing and edge sharpening (diamond stone).

Bring inside for hot wax and let cool to room temp inside

Bring outside again and quickly scrape and brush.

That work or does the cold outside immediately hinder teh scraping/brushing?

Thanks

El Bishop said:

Well that's a technique I hadn't considered. Would this work?

Skis at room temp (inside) -- bring them outside for nylon brushing and edge sharpening (diamond stone).

Bring inside for hot wax and let cool to room temp inside

Bring outside again and quickly scrape and brush.

That work or does the cold outside immediately hinder teh scraping/brushing?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I think that would be fine!

Get a big painters tarp. Then roll it up and shake it off somewhere oustide out of the way.

I use this toolo vs a cork for waxing withou an iron:

http://www.alpineskituning.com/

Rays Way Wax Whizzard (sp?) Simple really. PVC pipe with an abbrasive cloth wrapped around it. Drives the wax into the ski. Brush and done.

www.Skimd.com recommends this procedure as well.

El Bishop said:

Well that's a technique I hadn't considered. Would this work?

Skis at room temp (inside) -- bring them outside for nylon brushing and edge sharpening (diamond stone).

Bring inside for hot wax and let cool to room temp inside

Bring outside again and quickly scrape and brush.

That work or does the cold outside immediately hinder teh scraping/brushing?

Thanks

Click to expand...

If you've ever the the top of a mountain team race course, you'll see PLENTY of racers and/or racers parents (depending on the age of the kids racing) scraping and brushing skis in whatever temp it is outside at that moment. You can scrape at any temp.

Or here's another idea.

I'm a BIG fan of a Stuntwax. (www.stuntwax.com) - it's developed and produced by a few chemists who also happen to be instructors and patrolers. It's universal temperature, with very good longevity, and the actually recommend that you DON'T scrape. You can if you want, but I can vouch from having over 200 days on the hill and going through well over a dozen bars of their product the last 5 years or so since I was turned on to their product, that 99% of the time, you won't notice any difference between scraping and not scraping (the only exception that I've noticed is when the air and snow temperature are REALLY cold (like below zero cold) when I feel that skating and gliding at slow speed benefit from a scraped and brushed base