Paul Oberin
24-07-2009, 11:19 AM
I thought the readers of Snowatch might appreciate a little tuning advice that relates to both skis and also snowboards.
Edge angles are important but remain quite a mystery, even to many paid ski tuners working in ski shops.
Ski technology has changed the way we ski as has the more common use of chairlifts rather than drag lifts.
When we skied on the old straight skis we spent a lot of time using the ski while it was flat on the snow, now we basically only use a flat ski when using a drag lift, and while actually skiing we are always on one edge or the other, modern skis also pivot a lot less during a turn unlike the straight skis, a base bevel was introduced to help pivoting at the initiation of a turn when on straight skis, and this bevel was also useful when riding a drag lift to stop and edge catching and dumping you on the ground, using a ski with a 1 degree or greater bevel on the base requires the skier to roll their boots over further to engage an edge than a ski with no bevel at all, this fact is seeing good skiers now reducing the base bevel back to only a half degree and slalom racers are using no bevel at all.
The factories that make skis do extensive research and testing to determine the correct side edge bevel for a ski, and this varies from brand to brand and also on the intended use of the ski, Austrian made skis are usually the best when it comes to edge hold on ice especially at speed, this is partly due to them having a 3 degree side edge bevel, whereas skis made primarily for use off piste and in powder tend to have a more forgiving 2 degrees that requires less frequent tuning.
Some skiers buy new skis and rarely get their edges tuned, some get them tuned once a year at most, the problem with this is that every time the skis are used they slowly get duller at the edges, and the performance drops away, then when they do get tuned a shop ski technician uses a machine to remove a substantial amount of edge material to get them sharp again, the next time you use them you almost have to learn to ski again due to how different the ski handles.
A far better method of keeping your edges sharp and the performance consistent is to use a Diamond file set in a file guide at the factory settings for that ski after each days use, this removes way less edge material and will keep your skis at the same level of performance every time.
When skis are to be sharpened you should only ever do the side edge, a base edge should just be deburred with a diamond file in a base file guide if you hit a rock, I sell Toko base file guides for $15 each, and usually stock 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 degree base bevel guides.
The newer skis are coming out with 0.5 base bevel, it is suggested you start at 0.5 and if you do serious base damage you would increase the base bevel to 1.0 degree, and then if more damage is done make it 1.5 degrees, after that you should get them stone ground flat on a Montana stone grinder ( Not a Wintersteiger) as Wintersteiger stone grinders cannot grind a ski flat, they will always place a base bevel onto a ski, and often it is 1 degree or greater.
After getting the skis set back to zero degrees, you should hand bevel back to 0.5.
Snowboards were generally tuned with a 1 degree base and also a 1 degree side edge bevel, but now many are using a 2 degree side edge bevel to increase edge hold on ice.
Edge angles are important but remain quite a mystery, even to many paid ski tuners working in ski shops.
Ski technology has changed the way we ski as has the more common use of chairlifts rather than drag lifts.
When we skied on the old straight skis we spent a lot of time using the ski while it was flat on the snow, now we basically only use a flat ski when using a drag lift, and while actually skiing we are always on one edge or the other, modern skis also pivot a lot less during a turn unlike the straight skis, a base bevel was introduced to help pivoting at the initiation of a turn when on straight skis, and this bevel was also useful when riding a drag lift to stop and edge catching and dumping you on the ground, using a ski with a 1 degree or greater bevel on the base requires the skier to roll their boots over further to engage an edge than a ski with no bevel at all, this fact is seeing good skiers now reducing the base bevel back to only a half degree and slalom racers are using no bevel at all.
The factories that make skis do extensive research and testing to determine the correct side edge bevel for a ski, and this varies from brand to brand and also on the intended use of the ski, Austrian made skis are usually the best when it comes to edge hold on ice especially at speed, this is partly due to them having a 3 degree side edge bevel, whereas skis made primarily for use off piste and in powder tend to have a more forgiving 2 degrees that requires less frequent tuning.
Some skiers buy new skis and rarely get their edges tuned, some get them tuned once a year at most, the problem with this is that every time the skis are used they slowly get duller at the edges, and the performance drops away, then when they do get tuned a shop ski technician uses a machine to remove a substantial amount of edge material to get them sharp again, the next time you use them you almost have to learn to ski again due to how different the ski handles.
A far better method of keeping your edges sharp and the performance consistent is to use a Diamond file set in a file guide at the factory settings for that ski after each days use, this removes way less edge material and will keep your skis at the same level of performance every time.
When skis are to be sharpened you should only ever do the side edge, a base edge should just be deburred with a diamond file in a base file guide if you hit a rock, I sell Toko base file guides for $15 each, and usually stock 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 degree base bevel guides.
The newer skis are coming out with 0.5 base bevel, it is suggested you start at 0.5 and if you do serious base damage you would increase the base bevel to 1.0 degree, and then if more damage is done make it 1.5 degrees, after that you should get them stone ground flat on a Montana stone grinder ( Not a Wintersteiger) as Wintersteiger stone grinders cannot grind a ski flat, they will always place a base bevel onto a ski, and often it is 1 degree or greater.
After getting the skis set back to zero degrees, you should hand bevel back to 0.5.
Snowboards were generally tuned with a 1 degree base and also a 1 degree side edge bevel, but now many are using a 2 degree side edge bevel to increase edge hold on ice.