Bad ski/board tune ups!

[RootDKJ]

Has anyone ever gotten their skis or board back from the shop, only to find out that you are unhappy with the job once you get on mountain?

It has been a really long time since my skis had a full tune (base flatten, edge angles reset to 1 base, 2 side and wax). I do regular edge work with diamond & gummi stones as well as waxing.

Today, they feel really grippy on the powder and the groomers. They feel completly lifeless on the groomers, and I'm having a hard time initalizing and linking into the turns.

Has this ever happened to anyone else and what did you do about it?

 

[Beetlenut]

I once got mine back from a shop near a mountain I was going to ski. I skied on them that day and had a similar experience as you described. The next day when I got home, I looked at my skis with a true bar, and found that the skis were railed. That explained the grabiness of them the day before. I took them to my local shop and had them stone ground and that fixed them.

 

[RootDKJ]

Thanks, love the avatar.

At first I thought it might be that the tips/tails weren't de-tuned at all, so I went out to the car, grabbed my gummi stone and gave them a quick but good rubbing. It seemed to help a very little, but I still couldn't initiate any decent turns.

So - what does "railed" exactly mean? I've not heard that term used before. How can I check for this if I don't own a true bar?

 

[Beetlenut]

Put a straight edge across the bottom of the ski from edge to edge. If you can see any light coming under the straight edge, then the edges are higher than the base (i.e.railed). Check the entire length of the ski. Not sure how that happens, but on the pair that I had, the tip and tail areas were like that.

 

[RootDKJ]

Put a straight edge across the bottom of the ski from edge to edge. If you can see any light coming under the straight edge, then the edges are higher than the base (i.e.railed). Check the entire length of the ski. Not sure how that happens, but on the pair that I had, the tip and tail areas were like that.

Ok, thanks. If so, is there a home remedy for that? What fills in the gap, ptex or wax?

 

[wa-loaf]

Ok, thanks. If so, is there a home remedy for that? What fills in the gap, ptex or wax?

It really needs a stone grind to fix. I'd check it out to see if that's the case and take it back to the shop to have them fix it.

 

[RootDKJ]

It really needs a stone grind to fix. I'd check it out to see if that's the case and take it back to the shop to have them fix it.

Crap. Problem is, that shop, is 250+ miles away. To be fair, they did offer to do it again, but I didn't feel like sitting around for an hour. I asked them to meet me 1/2 way on the cost of the work and they did.

 

[RootDKJ]

Put a straight edge across the bottom of the ski from edge to edge. If you can see any light coming under the straight edge, then the edges are higher than the base (i.e.railed). Check the entire length of the ski. Not sure how that happens, but on the pair that I had, the tip and tail areas were like that.

I checked this out today by using a level (straightest edge I could find) and using a flashlight on the one side. I didn't see any light coming coming through under the level.

 

[Beetlenut]

I checked this out today by using a level (straightest edge I could find) and using a flashlight on the one side. I didn't see any light coming coming through under the level.

Guess they weren't railed then! Might have been the wax they used?

 

[RootDKJ]

Guess they weren't railed then! Might have been the wax they used?

I'm going to really hope that's what the problem is. I'm going to give them a once over this week as well as give my old ski's a really good tune just in case.

 

[skidmarks]

Check your base edge and see if the Stone Grind pattern extends into the edge. Aggressive patterns in the base can be hard to ski too.

 

[RootDKJ]

I re-tuned them by hand last night. We'll see how they act soon enough.

thanks

 

[RootDKJ]

Well it would seem that it was just a bad tune after all. Last night I re-filed the edges to 1* base 2* side, hit them with coarse and fine diamond stones and gave them a nice coat of Racewax.com's cold Hydrocarbon wax. They feel like they are 90% of what they were before...I'm sure that a few more tunes and they will be right were I want them.

 

[skidmarks]

Well it would seem that it was just a bad tune after all. Last night I re-filed the edges to 1* base 2* side, hit them with coarse and fine diamond stones and gave them a nice coat of Racewax.com's cold Hydrocarbon wax. They feel like they are 90% of what they were before...I'm sure that a few more tunes and they will be right were I want them.

Just in case you don't know.
Once you have that 1 degree base bevel set the key is to only work the side edges moving forward. Skis get base high quickly when the base edges are worked more than once.

 

[RootDKJ]

Yup. Thanks, I'm all over that.

I just will smooth out the base edge with the diamond stone on future tunes.