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Do Skis Get Blunt?

brooker.co.za

31–40 of 196 posts

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#31

It totally depends on the type of skier and the type of skis you have. I worked in the ski industry and thus lived and worked in ski towns for 15 years. If you are a ski racer, tuning edges matter. If you aggressively ride groomers all day, then they will matter. Riding big fat powder skis everyday, inside and outside of the resort? More or less doesn't matter. Are you a park rat that only ever skis the park? Those f…

"Riding big fat powder skis everyday, inside and outside of the resort? More or less doesn't matter."

Until you stop off at the bar on a Sunny day and ride home on dusk once everything has frozen again, then you'd be like "oh I wish I didn't tell everyone not to keep their edges in decent shape", as you fly off the cliff edge.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#32

It totally depends on the type of skier and the type of skis you have. I worked in the ski industry and thus lived and worked in ski towns for 15 years. If you are a ski racer, tuning edges matter. If you aggressively ride groomers all day, then they will matter. Riding big fat powder skis everyday, inside and outside of the resort? More or less doesn't matter. Are you a park rat that only ever skis the park? Those f…

Yeah, I grew up with skis, but I don't think I have ever heard of anyone sharpening the edges. Waxing the skis yes.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#33
Unless you do your own tuning (or are willing to light money on fire) it’s hard to A/B test ski waxing/edge tuning. I kinda suspect this alleged olympic tuner didn’t cross compare, or just doesn’t ski in ways where you’d notice (he might just like skid turns through packed powder). Or he just uses backcountry noodles on groomed snow, and can’t tell since he’s using skis that won’t let him.

Going from dull edges (even “well maintained” ones) to freshly sharpened is quite noticeable on icy days. I use 0°/4° and like the responsiveness and grip.

From my long past race days (when I had to maintain several pairs simultaneously), I could tell that the wax design temp mattered deeply, though mostly >25f vs lower temp. High temp waxes are down right sticky in cold snow (and vice versa). But cold waxes are largely fine for middle temps (~10-20f or whatever). The (horrifying) fluoro stuff was also very effective, though probably banned by now if anyone is sane. I wasn’t able to tell the difference beyond the temp though, unless the skis were damaged. Though, I mostly just don’t wax these days since I’m not trying to eek out extra speed.

Base bevel (the angle trimmed off the metal edge from the side that sits on the snow) matters and is largely ignored by skiers/snowboarders, since tuners are cautious, and skiers don’t know to ask. It determines how responsive the skis are (going from 0° to 1° means you need to tilt your leg an extra degree). You can only decrease it (or clean it up) by flattening the entire base and then sharpening, which requires specialized equipment.

Edge bevel matters, but allegedly has diminishing returns. It (allegedly) gives a bit of extra grippyness. I’ve never quite understood why it matters, since it seems like it just narrows the metal very slightly. From my A/B testing, the freshness of the sharpening seems to matter more than the edge angle, but I’ve also never set it below 2°.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#34
If you’re a weekend warrior like me, for whom 20 days is a fantastic season, the binding release check that your shop should be doing as part of your ski service is probably the most important part, especially as your skis get older.

I had to stop using my beloved “ice cutters” because one of the bindings failed to release in the shop. Up to that point, I had rarely been disappointed by them releasing too easily, and always relieved when they did release.

Make sure that they use one of your boots for the test.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#35

It totally depends on the type of skier and the type of skis you have. I worked in the ski industry and thus lived and worked in ski towns for 15 years. If you are a ski racer, tuning edges matter. If you aggressively ride groomers all day, then they will matter. Riding big fat powder skis everyday, inside and outside of the resort? More or less doesn't matter. Are you a park rat that only ever skis the park? Those f…

"Riding big fat powder skis everyday, inside and outside of the resort? More or less doesn't matter." Until you stop off at the bar on a Sunny day and ride home on dusk once everything has frozen again, then you'd be like "oh I wish I didn't tell everyone not to keep their edges in decent shape", as you fly off the cliff edge.

Yeah but the whole way down you're saying to yourself "I shouldnta have that last drink" because you coulda made it home in time, instead of blaming your tools, unless you're a bad craftsman.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#36
post #29
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other people are reporting that they can feel it with ice. Do you ski much on ice?

I’ve certainly skied ice and all kinds of crust. In my experience true ice isn’t that bad in terms of grip, it’s rarely so smooth that edges can’t easily grip on surface imperfections. It’s not fun to ski because it’s very high impact. I think what most people talk about as icy and slippery that seems to form on skied off groomers is actually some kind of crust that is hard to get edge hold in because the snow is som…

[deleted]

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#37
post #7

My rule of thumb is to get the edges tuned once a season (I clock ~40 days), usually after the last of the rocks is covered up by the initial snow. If one skis less than that, it's possible to get away with every other season, but keep a gummy stone to deburr the edges as needed. If anyone has any methods to reliably grind edges at home, I'd be interested. I have one of the edge tools and a bunch of files, but I basi…

A local shop might as well make things worse if they do not care too much and give your skis the standard treatment (e.g. different angle than before). Once you have a good edge, it's kind of similar as keeping a knife sharpened. No need to really grind every time, a fine polishing after skiing for a day is more than sufficient and makes your edges last a long time. Been using tools from here for 10+ years, they also have informative instructions: https://www.tooltonic.com/

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#38
post #34

If you’re a weekend warrior like me, for whom 20 days is a fantastic season, the binding release check that your shop should be doing as part of your ski service is probably the most important part, especially as your skis get older. I had to stop using my beloved “ice cutters” because one of the bindings failed to release in the shop. Up to that point, I had rarely been disappointed by them releasing too easily, and…

Twenty days is still pretty serious, $1500 for a pass or $150 for a day ticket, gas, gear etc. So pay for at least one tune per year, maybe even three if you ski groomers with groomer type skis a lot.

An effective way to test your bindings - put your skis on at a flat area and with boots done up, dig your edge in and try to twist your boot out of the ski binding with your own muscular power. It will hurt a bit and be hard to do, but if you can't, you need to lower your din.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#39
post #15

[flagged]

It's an guy blogging about sports gear that he doesn't seem to have much experience with, but has instead used a geek gadget and reasoning-from-first-principles to analyze and then blog about it, with a youtube-style "I debunked the myth" flavor to the narrative. I have seen plenty of other stuff like this on HN...though this isn't the best example of the genre, that's for sure.

The article is fine, it's the discussion that is maddening here. Sometimes HN is just too much.

This would have been great n-gate bait. Too bad that site isn't updated anymore.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#40
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean .5 or 5 for the base bevel? 5 is quite far off the snow.

0.5 for base bevel with three degrees for the side is very aggressive for his age but his cuff alignment is dialed and he can handle it.

Thanks for the correction. I had just never heard of 5° degrees as a base bevel. Not sure why you seem defensive. Isn’t 0.5° (or lower) the factory tune for slalom skis? Might only be a thing for U16+.
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