DIY ski tuning stoke thread

No problem Harvey. I completely understand. The above link has nothing for sale nor is there any ad revenue associated with it, the site is purely for fun and maybe it will help some people to tune skis at home.  I am on the west coast, hence the late night posting and I am always searching for tuning advice. Thanks.

I'd be stoked for for tuning a/k/a early season ski prep except that it's so tedious.  Iron in a layer of soft wax, allow to cool.  Scrape, brush, repeat 5 times. Then apply a layer of cold weather wax so the wax of the day has something to hold on to.  Multiply by 8 pairs of skis - not all of them mine, some belong to my wife and daughter.

Can't believe I used to follow the advice of one xc ski tun ing maven from the 80s:  "wax each ski as long as you can stand it, up to 10 minutes."

I totally agree with you Peter. A couple of years ago I would do the same routine, prep wax then wax for the day all the while scraping and brushing for what felt like hours. Now i only use a warm or all temp wax, do it fast  and sometimes i just hot scrape it and leave it for done. Skiing very quickly removes all the excess wax, I have skied on storage wax non scraped skis and after one run they were fast and fun. The one thing is I wax after almost every ski day and now my skis are as fast or faster than my kids race skis. Any wax is better than no wax.

A great little video from Toko on waxing skins!  
Saw this over on the Fasterskier site - which made me smile as I spend waaay too much time there because of my XC racing kids... Finally something for the slow motion crowd. (Well the randonee racers probably have already watched this,waxed, raced, and are driving home...



TD

In honour of the first day of summer, I cleaned, ironed on storage wax and finally put away four pairs of skis. It was raining, so what better activity?

No, this is not a Jamaican flag that needs a wash, it is a close-up of the filthy bases of my Line SFBs. Spring skiing takes it toll!


This is the "before" picture. Discovering that I was out of base cleaner, I tried Simple Green. It gets great reviews for cleaning bike chains, so I figured, what could go wrong? A little scrubbing with the Scotch-Brite pad, clean-up with a rag, it worked very well. Less toxic too!

How it's done:



This is especially good advice for Gore skiers.

ml242 wrote

How it's done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O5GUAtShiU

This is especially good advice for Gore skiers.

He's not getting anywhere near my skis.

Check this video series out. https://www.youtube.com/ARTECHSKI

DackerDan wrote

He's not getting anywhere near my skis.

No worries about that, since Doug sadly left us several years ago. On a brighter note, I do believe there is some value in his rough and ready technique, even if he was a sponsored skier. Some days, you just need a sharp edge, and don't have the time for a full tune. Thanks, ML, for keeping it real.

At this time of year I miss ski prep so bad that I waxed my car.

Peter Minde wrote

At this time of year I miss ski prep so bad that I waxed my car.

I prefer to wax poetic.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Peter Minde wrote

At this time of year I miss ski prep so bad that I waxed my car.

I prefer to wax poetic.

and you do......

x10003q wrote

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Peter Minde wrote

At this time of year I miss ski prep so bad that I waxed my car.

I prefer to wax poetic.

and you do......

Why, thank you.

Careful, though, I might just post a poem.

With ski season getting underway, I thought I would bump this essential thread with a little vintage wax iron stoke.



While waxing skis the other night, I gazed at the vintage iron in my hand and thought, "this thing seemed old when my mother told me I could use it for skis." That was when I was 15, and now I am 56 (yes, ancient, I know), so that makes the iron really old.  I did a little Internet research and discovered that a) people collect old electric irons and b) my "Brock Snyder" iron is certainly pre-1940, and likely made in the 1920s or 30s. And it is still going strong, though I did replace the plug recently.



Lacking any kind of temperature control, I simply yank the cord from the back of the iron when the wax starts smoking. The thing holds heat really well, so I can usually get a good layer down before plugging it back in.

As far being a collectible iron, it turns out that it is worth about $40. Way cheaper than some fancy digital Swix model!

My tuning kit is pretty basic- probably horrifying to some of you guys.


What do you think? Small enough to just fill with wax right?

Anyway, 4 pairs of skis ready for the season. It was a 2 beer Job as far as the photographic evidence shows

You can’t be done, we see no wax shavings. You didn’t sweep them and reuse them did you?

PeeTex wrote

You can’t be done, we see no wax shavings. You didn’t sweep them and reuse them did you?

What’s the right answer? I could go back and take a pic of the floor but I already moved the bikes back inside

The advent and mass use of electric side edge grinders has created issues for safety.  The edges are so sharp programs are mandating the use of cut resistant protection worn either under the speed suit during races or over during training.  There was a near fatal accident at WF last spring where a racer sliced his leg deeply by landing on his released ski.  I got the blue one designed and sold by a Gore peep last year and I now wear gloves when tuning becuase I’m tired of slic8ng my hands open.  Coaches all had to take a safety class on treating cuts.

You can bet your ass my edges aren’t that sharp. I’m not confident enough I get the angle right to even make them as sharp as I could with the hand file I use

Brownski wrote

You can bet your ass my edges aren’t that sharp. I’m not confident enough I get the angle right to even make them as sharp as I could with the hand file I use

It's pretty easy if you have decent equipment.  You probably don't even have to bother with a file unless they are dinged up, just hit them with the diamond stones (def worth having).

Also a ski racer will cringe and hearing me say this, but with the diamond stone, they take off so little, you can follow the edge without the guide if it isn't dinged up and it will touch them up.  Just use light pressure and smooth stroke and it will follow the angle that's already on there.

I'm no expert, and most likely a hack, but the edges I've done ski just as good as any I've had done at a shop.  Maybe better...

It’s hard to have consistentcy if you tune by hand

I highly recommend the beast line of products - I own two sets - my skis I do at 2 degrees side  and 1 degree base bevel. My sons are done at 3 and 0.5.  I tried using the same as his but I don’t like them hooking up that fast.

https://www.beasttuning.com/BEAST-Ski-Tuning-Tools-s/68.htm

If there are burrs I take them off his skis with the beast first then I use the grinder.  I’m just using the medium wheel.  Others I know also use the fine wheel after that but I can’t tell the difference and changing the grinding wheels is a bit of a pain.

https://shop.razor-tune.com/products/razor-tune-2-wheel-tuning-kit?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=1667867836429&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-JPJwoe-3gIVE9NkCh1rwgOyEAQYAyABEgJQs_D_BwE