Tune ups

[rob56789]

How often should i get my skis waxed and edges sharpened. Also should i have the binding test done once in a while?

And does anyone have any advice on Airplane travel with skis.

 

[thetrailboss]

Lots of questions here!

Wax and tuning: I do my skis once every two or three days, depending on the conditions and how the skis wear. Now I tune my own skis mind you....

Some people can go three days. Others only one. And some go for seven. I'd say at the very least once every ten days if you can and that is the bare minimum. The more often you tune your skis the better they perform and the more fun you have. A waxed ski also is less likely to be damaged by ice/rocks because the wax will protect the base.

As for shipping skis by plane--my advice is to leave them at home if you can and rent. Things are disappearing on flights more often than ever before. I would not risk it and would welcome demoing some new skis!

 

[MAD777]

Re: Tune ups & air travel

My take on tuning.
If you ski hard, all day on icey slopes, tune them every day. If you are an intermediate skier and take long breaks, quit early and the snow cover is good and soft, you may go a week.

I tune and wax my own skis and I don't want anyone else tuning my boards. My biggest gripe is hotels that don't let you carry your skis to your room! For instance, I love Sunday River ski area and stay in the ski in/ski out Grand Summit Hotel/Condo. The place has a wonderful, friendly, smiling staff that takes you skis at the door and asks how your day of skiing went; I love them. BUT, they lock my skis away in a big room next to the ski out door so the next morning, I simply walk to the door, hand them my claim ticket, click in and I'm skiing. So convenient! BUT, I can't tune and wax my skis, darn it all, and if you get caught with skis in your room, you get fined! Couldn't they provide a "tuning shed" for us gear gekes?

OK, rant over. Now I feel better.

Airline travel:
I live and work in Florida (and have land in the White Mtns. to retire - can't wait!) so I fly a few times a year to New England and to the West. I always carry my skiis (and have been doing so for over 25 years) in a typical ski bag. I go to Office Depot and buy a long roll of bubble wrap and wrap the skis. I line the bottom of the bag with clothing, place the wrapped skis and then pack more clothes on the sides and top. I pack enough clothes to require some work to close the zippper (without putting too much stress on the zipper. I have never had a problem with this method and (especially in today's strict airline rule environment) it allows me to carry more items with the two bag limitation. My other bag is a ski duffle with boot compartments at each end. Don't forget to stuff socks, hankerchiefs, etc. inside your boots to save more room. Also, pack clothes around the boots, as much as possible, to protect them. Remember to face the buckles inward toward the center of the bag, so that they are not exposed to external impact from the baggage gorillas!

 

[rob56789]

Thx alot for the advice i have a trip booked to salt lake city in mid march and have never traveled with my skis so this really helps alot

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

Simple stuff to do between shop tune-ups.
1. Towel dry your boots, skis and bindings after each use at the mountain.
2. Gummi stone your edges each day out to remove the burrs.
3. Depending on the conditions wax them regularly. Inspect the bases & edges for repairs make them as needed.
4. Annual binding checks are good most recreational skiers. It is recommended more often for racers and at least every 30-days or so for advanced skiers.

As for traveling, if you're an east coast skier heading to the powder resorts, bring your boots and rent powder skis and have fun!

 

[bvibert]

FWIW I went about 40 skiing days between my last two tune-ups...

That's a little extreme, but obviously I don't buy into the tune every 1-3 days thing...

 

[kbroderick]

It depends on the skis and the conditions. I can feel the deterioration on my race skis after five or six runs on hard snow, and I usually tune those before each outing. My rock skis, on the other hand, are now in a condition such that I wouldn't want to risk running them over an edge grinder because I'd end up sharpening p-tex (and they might damage the grinder). Those only go into the shop if the need more epoxy work, but they still work fine on soft snow. They're damn near impossible to use properly on hard snow, however.

As far as my new all-around skis are concerned, I plan on tuning them once a week or so (roughly every three-five ski days), just to keep the burrs evened out and the core shots sealed up--but they're not even mounted yet, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[thetrailboss]

FWIW I went about 40 skiing days between my last two tune-ups...

That's a little extreme, but obviously I don't buy into the tune every 1-3 days thing...

I think if you tuned your skis and put wax on every 1-3 days, you'd notice the difference. I will not go back, but I have the knowledge and place/time to do my skis.

 

[bvibert]

I'd like to be able to tune my skis myself, but I don't usually have the time and I definitely don't have the space...

I plan on giving the shop at the mountain I work at a shot this year since they're the only shop that's convenient to me. The only other option that I know of is about 30 minutes away and they always want to keep my skis for at least a week... :roll:

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

I deburr my edges after each time out, check bases for gouges.....

After each day on the snow...
1) Check both your base and side edges for nicks and burrs...especially the inside front edges. Deburr these using a deburring stone in conjunction with your bevel device or guide, followed by a polishing stone.
2) Check your base for gouges. If they are shallow, you can either fill them now, or wait til your weekly tune-up. If they are deep, or you see fiberglass or core material exposed, fill them immediately. Remove excess repair material afterwards.
3) Check your base for dry or oxidized areas. This indicates that the base needs waxing. A hot wax is best, but a rub-on liquid or paste wax will do in a pinch.
4) After hot waxing, let the base cool for 20-30 minutes. Then scrape off excess wax with a plastic scraper and brush all remaining wax out of the base structure with a nylon, steel, brass or combo brush.
5) Fasten skis together using a strap or base protector that keeps bases from rubbing against each other.
6) Wipe off ski or snowboard top with clean dry rag.


Once a week, or after 3-5 days on the snow...
1) All the above daily steps, plus...
2) Lightly file side edges (but not base edges) using a steel mill file in conjunction with a side bevel device or guide. This resharpens them for better edgehold...especially on hardpack snow.
3) Hot scrape bases to clean them. This is the same as a hot wax, but you use a soft (warm temperature range) wax, and scrape it immediately after ironing...don' t let the base cool first. This pulls dirt out of the base better than any other method. Follow this with a regular hot wax.
4) Check base for gouges...fill any and all gouges if possible.
5) Pull liners out of your ski or snowboard boots to let everything completely dry out.
6) Spray a little boot/binding lubricant on boots, bindings and ski or snowboard tops (but not bases)...this'll help prevent snow build-up.


Once a month, or after 15-18 days on the snow...
1) All the above daily and weekly steps, plus...
2) Check your base with a true bar for flatness, and correct if necessary.
3) Check base structure for wear, and refresh or restructure if necessary.
4) Check binding mounting screws (but not release adjustments!) and make sure they are snug.
5) Check poles for worn baskets, straps, etc., and repair as necessary. Ditto for your goggles

 

[Grassi21]

I deburr my edges after each time out, check bases for gouges.....

After each day on the snow...
1) Check both your base and side edges for nicks and burrs...especially the inside front edges. Deburr these using a deburring stone in conjunction with your bevel device or guide, followed by a polishing stone.
2) Check your base for gouges. If they are shallow, you can either fill them now, or wait til your weekly tune-up. If they are deep, or you see fiberglass or core material exposed, fill them immediately. Remove excess repair material afterwards.
3) Check your base for dry or oxidized areas. This indicates that the base needs waxing. A hot wax is best, but a rub-on liquid or paste wax will do in a pinch.
4) After hot waxing, let the base cool for 20-30 minutes. Then scrape off excess wax with a plastic scraper and brush all remaining wax out of the base structure with a nylon, steel, brass or combo brush.
5) Fasten skis together using a strap or base protector that keeps bases from rubbing against each other.
6) Wipe off ski or snowboard top with clean dry rag.


Once a week, or after 3-5 days on the snow...
1) All the above daily steps, plus...
2) Lightly file side edges (but not base edges) using a steel mill file in conjunction with a side bevel device or guide. This resharpens them for better edgehold...especially on hardpack snow.
3) Hot scrape bases to clean them. This is the same as a hot wax, but you use a soft (warm temperature range) wax, and scrape it immediately after ironing...don' t let the base cool first. This pulls dirt out of the base better than any other method. Follow this with a regular hot wax.
4) Check base for gouges...fill any and all gouges if possible.
5) Pull liners out of your ski or snowboard boots to let everything completely dry out.
6) Spray a little boot/binding lubricant on boots, bindings and ski or snowboard tops (but not bases)...this'll help prevent snow build-up.


Once a month, or after 15-18 days on the snow...
1) All the above daily and weekly steps, plus...
2) Check your base with a true bar for flatness, and correct if necessary.
3) Check base structure for wear, and refresh or restructure if necessary.
4) Check binding mounting screws (but not release adjustments!) and make sure they are snug.
5) Check poles for worn baskets, straps, etc., and repair as necessary. Ditto for your goggles

This is all great information. But where did all of you guys learn how to tune? Observation? Class? I want to learn and start maintaining our equipment, especially since we hope to have little ones who ski down the line. I have no problem spending the time or investing in the equipment but the idea of getting at my edges with a no experience scares me.

 

[jack97]

This is all great information. But where did all of you guys learn how to tune? Observation? Class? I want to learn and start maintaining our equipment, especially since we hope to have little ones who ski down the line. I have no problem spending the time or investing in the equipment but the idea of getting at my edges with a no experience scares me.

There's a book title "tip to tail" Rader, a how to for tuning skis. I also saw a web site with vids (maybe from toko) on waxing.

Only way to gain experience is by doing it, I tried it when I got permission to get a second pair of skis (if you know what I mean). I praticed on my older skis which turned into rock skis; sharpening the edges, apply wax and brushing/buffing until they were as good as the shop.

 

[andyzee]

For travel, I got this ski carrier:

Can be found here: http://www.sunandski.com/Sportubes_Series_3_Snowboard_Tube_p/3461064600310.htm Sports Authority or most ski shops

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

check out www.tognar.com they have every piece of gear you'll ever need to tune. they also have great vids/books and their phone tech support is great....basic tuning is not that difficult...amazes me that people buy $1000 skis and dont take care of them..its very easy

 

[MAD777]

Reliableracing.com is another tool supplier that I purchase from with good results.

 

[kbroderick]

(CHOMP)
4) After hot waxing, let the base cool for 20-30 minutes. Then scrape off excess wax with a plastic scraper and brush all remaining wax out of the base structure with a nylon, steel, brass or combo brush.
(CHOMP)

You mixed in a bit of bad advice with a lot of good advice, so please pardon my OCD-ness in pointing out that you do not want to use a metal brush after waxing. Metal brushes are for use prior to waxing, not after it (well, unless you're about to do another cycle of waxing). Brass brushes should be used to clean the base and open up the structure (more on that in a minute); steel brushes can be used to "refresh" a structure and deal with oxidized bases, based on what I've found with Google--I don't use a steel brush very often (read: never have) myself.

Pre-hot-wax brushing with a brass brush should be done after all edge work is done but before waxing the bases; if base repair is needed, it should be done before and after base repairs. Brushing with a brass brush has two important functions:
1. It removes all sorts of crap from the base, including the metal filings you created while working on your edges
2. It opens up and refreshes the structure of the base so that the new wax will work better.
Using a brass brush regularly (and correctly) will result in a ski base that performs better, longer, even when it's not properly waxed.

I'd suggest that it's not really necessary to brush after scraping for most uses; usually, I only bother if I'm going to carry my skis to a race start (something I haven't done in years), or if I'm about to run a race and I haven't skied off the wax that was left after scraping (which is also pretty rare--a few runs on Eastern snow will generally take care of the excess wax).

 

[jack97]

I'd suggest that it's not really necessary to brush after scraping for most uses; usually, I only bother if I'm going to carry my skis to a race start (something I haven't done in years), or if I'm about to run a race and I haven't skied off the wax that was left after scraping (which is also pretty rare--a few runs on Eastern snow will generally take care of the excess wax).

yeah, with my skis, I usually don't brush after scraping, I don't see the point of it. For the majority of skiers in the East, I think it just cosmetics.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

I usually do scrape then brush as I'm usually not done with my bottle of merlot and need to just spend some more time in the basement watching ski porn....

 

[MAD777]

skiquatro,

Now THAT'S what I call good tuning techique!

 

[Bumpsis]

Some of you guys sound like seriously obsessed equipment junkies.
Tune up every few days? Perhaps, if you're racing, but for general skiing that's a serious overkill.

I'll have the skis tuned if my edges don't bite into the hard stuff any more and since I rarely ski when the conditions are crappy - couple of tune ups per season and then, an occasional pass with a file is just fine.