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Do Skis Get Blunt?

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Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#151

Post by baggachipz »

huskdigselv wrote: post #135
baggachipz wrote: post #97

> Luckily, fixing this kind of damage isn’t hard. I use a 3D printed jig with a 500 grit diamond stone. A couple of glides down the edge is enough to completely clear this up. I don't ski often enough to own my own skis, so I rent them. Having used those rentals in icy conditions, I've had a lousy time due to their shoddy edges. A tool like this would make my day(s) on the slopes so much better. Anybody know of a pla…

A rental should be able to sharpen them if you address it. (And at least here in Europe all rentals sharpen their skis frequently enough). A good tester is to see if the skis edge grips the surface of your finger nail, the same way you would test a knife or a sharp tool ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHEuV2CPE3w ). If it slides across it with no friction, then it's a blunt ski. Personally, I would advice against t…

A fair point; my technique is... slightly less than stellar. Especially when I hit ice, I tend to panic and try to slow down however possible. So I'll pay attention to sharpness next time I rent, but blaming the equipment is a favorite pastime of mine (read: golf).

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#152

Post by trompetenaccoun »

skiexperte wrote: post #146

Its a shitty article. Just looking at your skies and seeing an 'issue' doesn't tell you anything besides the fact that yes something had fun with that edge. Questions which are completly unanswered: How long does a sharp edge actually stay as it is? If it looks like this after 5 minutes, it doesn't matter. It also doesn't say if it was snow, ice or stones/ground killing that edge. And as far as i remember, he didn't…

>If you keep your skis dry between days out they’ll stay sharp for their entire lifetime. Don’t get him started on waxing. His specific claim was that skis get blunt from corrosion, and all you have to do is keep them dry.

Stopped reading around there. He actually took a microscope to verify what should be common sense for anyone with a basic understanding of physics. And then didn't even do it properly like you point out.

Is it only my perception or are people getting more gullible/stupid? It's something I notice more and more, someone says something obviously ridiculous but instead of dismissing it and filing the person under 'nutter', my feeling is more and more misinformation is taken serious or at least considered as potentially true. Or maybe it's an increasing lack of social skills? Maybe there's a decreasing understanding of the fact that the chance of running into a random guy telling tall tales, being misinformed or outright crazy is high when you're out somewhere with hundreds of people.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#153

Post by jcgrillo »

swader999 wrote: post #127
jcgrillo wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another important tuning dimension is base structure. I never realized the impact of base structure until I got a GS board that had been ground with a very aggressive base. That thing absolutely flies on wet snow.

Yes, structure adds more speed than wax does, especially on wet snow and in speed events. Wax makes the ski easier to turn though.

The most important thing with wax is to brush it all out of the base structure, otherwise you basically just have a flat wax base. I went years (maybe 10?) before I learned that scraping alone wasn't enough. I used to think brushing was like a small optimization that you'd only do if you're racing, but it actually makes a tremendous difference.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#154

Post by burningChrome »

anytime5704 wrote: post #128
stephencanon wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It has to not be impractical to go through this ritual after skiing (try doing this with two or three young, tired kids in tow) Anecdotally I do all the routine waxing and edge maintenance on my family's (wife and two kids) skis, and it's not that big a deal. Slightly less of a hassle than bringing gear to the shop to do it would be for me, and the kids enjoy hanging out with some hot cocoa and helping a bit. Once…

> Once you have everything in your airspace set up… The great filter of self-maintaining ski equipment. I don’t have the space for a permanent setup and it’s just more convenient to drag the skis to the store once a year than buy the equipment, learn to use it, store it somewhere, remember where, etc. I imagine many others (most?) feel the same.

>> it’s just more convenient to drag the skis to the store once a year

I agree.

I've been skiing and snowboarding for over 30 years. I used to tune my skis and board religiously myself. Once I got married and had a few kids, it got cumbersome to tune my board, then two to three additional pairs of skis. Then I went back to just tuning mine and realized how much of a mess it makes and how time consuming it can be.

When I was younger, I loved doing it because it was a sort of a 'zen' process for me to lose myself for an hour or so and the idea of tuning my board like a pro and having to live with the results, for better or worse I always thought was cool. The idea of telling people you knew how to do this and you were really good at it also was apart of the mystique of being able to do it.

Now? I just take my stuff to a shop where I know the guys and they do a bang up job for me. Saves me the time and the people I ride with don't give a hoot whether I can tune my board, they just want to know if I can still ride those double black D's with them.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#155

Post by jcgrillo »

emgeee wrote: post #149
pmart123 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert in this, but I think one common misconception among regular skiers is that a ski tune is "free" rather than each ski only gets so many full tunes as it wears down the base and edges. Obviously, if you get a core shot or something like that, it becomes more necessary. I always understood waxing skis as more protective though?

Could definitely be wrong but I always thought waxing was about reducing the friction between the ski and the snow by both creating a uniform surface and because the wax has a lower coefficient of friction than the plastic of the skis. edit: learned something new!

A uniform surface is actually not ideal, as it causes a lot of suction between the base and the snow, that's why ski and snowboard bases have "structure" ground into them with a stone grinder--that's what getting a base grind does, it restores the base's structure.

Hot waxing permeates the pores in the ptex with oils from the wax, but you really want to scrape and brush it all off--there shouldn't be any residual wax remaining after.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#156

Post by snthd »

IsTom wrote: post #73

> Snow and ice are quite abrasive stuff Per wiki ice has mohs hardness of 2 to 4 depending on temperature and if it has fallen out of the sky I guess it shouldn't be mixed with sand or other abrasives. How is it abrasive then?

Above -37, Snow needs particulates to form.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sci...

>The most important type of ice nuclei is mineral dusts blown into the atmosphere from deserts, arid lands, and agricultural fields. The International Mineralogical Association (IMA) defines minerals as naturally occurring solid substances formed in geological processes.

IIRC snow makers use particulates too.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#157

Post by thereisnospork »

jcgrillo wrote: post #155
emgeee wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could definitely be wrong but I always thought waxing was about reducing the friction between the ski and the snow by both creating a uniform surface and because the wax has a lower coefficient of friction than the plastic of the skis. edit: learned something new!

A uniform surface is actually not ideal, as it causes a lot of suction between the base and the snow, that's why ski and snowboard bases have "structure" ground into them with a stone grinder--that's what getting a base grind does, it restores the base's structure. Hot waxing permeates the pores in the ptex with oils from the wax, but you really want to scrape and brush it all off--there shouldn't be any residual wax…

>but you really want to scrape and brush it all off--there shouldn't be any residual wax remaining after.

I for one have always been a proponent of the lazy-man approach of letting the mountain do the scraping. Avoids the messiest part of the job. Sure the first run or two will be a touch slower, but unless you are serious enough to have a dedicated pair of race skis to schlep to the start, you aren't going to have a pristine base anyway.

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#159

Post by cmrdporcupine »

burningChrome wrote: post #154
anytime5704 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Once you have everything in your airspace set up… The great filter of self-maintaining ski equipment. I don’t have the space for a permanent setup and it’s just more convenient to drag the skis to the store once a year than buy the equipment, learn to use it, store it somewhere, remember where, etc. I imagine many others (most?) feel the same.

>> it’s just more convenient to drag the skis to the store once a year I agree. I've been skiing and snowboarding for over 30 years. I used to tune my skis and board religiously myself. Once I got married and had a few kids, it got cumbersome to tune my board, then two to three additional pairs of skis. Then I went back to just tuning mine and realized how much of a mess it makes and how time consuming it can be. Whe…

The funny thing is that I started tuning our own equipment because of the kids. It's just too much $$ to be getting all 4 sets (and multiple in my case because I have GAS) tuned regularly. It's too much $$ and hassle to be dragging them off to the shop all the time and then waiting to get them back.

Plus, I have had to learn to mount my own bindings because I telemark, and the local shops around here won't touch it, warranty it, or do a decent job. That alone has made me "fear" ski tech a lot less.

A lot of bullshit mystique set up by "pro" ski shops....

Re: Do Skis Get Blunt?

#160

Post by AtlasBarfed »

Zigurd wrote: post #144

Sports and folk knowledge have long been companions. I just saw an article about some teams running 25mm tires on the new gravel stage at the Tour de France because "25mm is fast." It doesn't help that elite athletes can be very opinionated about what is best for their performance, and they are so talented, fit, and well-trained they can perform well on deficient equipment.

25 mm became Vogue and cycling because wind tunnel testing showed it was superior in aerodynamics combined with a new carbon clincher rims

If I recall correctly

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