I worked in a ski shop for 20 years learning how to hand file skis in the 1970's, I always started with the edge filing first and then filed the base to debur the angle flat compared to the base.When beveling became popular I learned to adjust the angles slightly with masking tape over one end of the file for better edge holding. The new file holders are a tremendous tool to do this properly. Nice video though and it's very important to explain how many steps the modern skis need to be tuned properly.
I can really appreciate improvements in tech. I just used a 12" mill bastard to try and flatten the base. De-tune the tip and tail and guess at angle. One I was told, always go in one direction with the file, to the tail....great post:)
Lol! When Zach holds up his bevel guides at1:18 I thought "No way! That is far more than 1 deg!". Thankfully for my education he immediately goes on to place it in position on the ski and all is revealed as they say!
I have a pocked edge tool that is only intended for side edges (skiman brand). The problem is that when i switch sides i can only use the file from tail to tip. So one side of the ski I can sharpen with tip to tail strokes and the other side i must do it from tail to tip, so if i change the direction of the file i must change the angle to. Is that a factory defect or they just didn't make it correct. Does sharpening one side with reverse direction impact the sharpening process. THanx
As far as scraping wax. You want to have a sharp plastic scraper WITH NO BURS! I always like to use long strokes with little pressure until you have little to no wax coming from the ski. If you have a metal brush use it first, if not use a horse hair brush. You always want to go from most course to least. Always go from tail to tip, this is the best way to get the wax out of the structure.
Seems to me that the base edge sharpening he is using will result in a convex shaped base. Holding the file at an angle, but flat will result in a flat ski. Convex bases result in the ski hooking.
Great presentation, however you always want to do the side edge first. The microburs should always be parallel to the base of the ski before polishing the edge.
It doesn't make you faster, it just decreases the friction of the ski on the snow and allows it to glide better. If your a beginner or intermediate rider who isn't comfortable at speed, your better off sticking to easier runs than not waxing your skis. It actually makes it more confidence inspiring when at high speeds if you have a well maintained ski, as it reacts predictably and smoothly to your movements. An unwaxed ski will feel really sticky, especially in powder or slush, and a ski with poor edges will feel really twitchy or unstable when lent over. Sure, an advanced rider can still ride well with crap skis, but that's down to experience and confidence. When you lack both of these, its helpful to have a good ski to give you every advantage you can get
Yea you really should wax them. It's like keeping a bike tyre uninflated until you know how to ride, sure it will be slow, but also inconsistent/dangerous and it kills all the fun. It's better to learn how to brake.
Philippe52 Plus it keeps the base material from drying out. I had a pair of skis that I neglected to wax for a season, the base got a light whitish haze and after that it never would absorb and hold wax. After like 2 days out the skis were slow and dragging badly. So I’d have to wax them after a full day out. Just my experience. Learned my lesson and I wax all my skis regularly and at the end of the season when they get stored.
JCW, P52, & Greg B are all correct... and to add to their knowledge - waxing (as shown in the video), gets wax to soak into the pores of the ski base, providing a little extra durability. A dried out base will be more prone to scraping & gouging, whereas a waxed base will resist that damage (not that they can't get damaged if you ski over a rock or branch or something, but the waxed base will be damaged less than an unwaxed/dry base). You want to wax your skis.
No lube with the stones! Bad. Destroy stones. Dragging file backwards! Bad. Ruin file. A Swix guy not using Swix Glide Wax Cleaner prior to waxing? IDK about that. Need to remove grease and other junk from base first. Brush alone not nearly as good. Better than nothing though. When waxing the edges were too cold. That's where the base burn starts. Need to tilt iron to heat metal edges up. They are a heat sink and pull heat out if the base. Need wax absorption all the way to the edges.
Exactly, need soapy water on the stones which helps remove grit, allows better cut/polish, allows smoother movement and prevents the diamond stones from wearing out so much faster. I suppose when you get all your tuning gear for free you don't have to really worry about this???
@@cratra Yea, always use water at least! I mix water and denatured alcohol. Next way to ruin a diamond stone is using too much pressure. If I have a really bad edge, I wrap some 220 wet sand paper around a stone and use that first, before I file or stone.
@@Sagina1999 Another thing I find bad for tips of 100mm diamond stones along an edge clean tune is Magne-Traction. This cuts into the tips and wears the ends out excessively. So you need an edge tune device that holds the stone along its width rather than length to prevent this wear.
If you’re waxing and you see you can also tell that when your not true to the angle once you see all the time it’s the same way as all the hahahaha I’m so stoned ......
If you're just a weekend warrior who only skis 6 times a year this is WAY overkill cause you will have to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars to buy all the equipment to do it. You will no way be able to tell if the edge is off one degree that's for damn sure. Just have your local shop do a tune for you. If you have to do it yourself just get one fine file and hit the bottoms and sides by eye you will be fine !!!!!!! This tune shown here is for Mikaela Shiffrin !
Lol, I bought this entire kit for $89. Your comment also assumes everyone is a lonely incel who's only ever doing 1 pair of skis. Some of us have families who own skis. $89 is nothing compared to tuning and waxing a families worth of equipment, sport.
Don't worry Logan, they're women' skis so you probably don't need to worry about being seen on them. And by the way, the Dynastar Cham 97 were great all-mountain boards.
Man this guy would not be happy seeing me ski all the way to my car through the parking lot !
I worked in a ski shop for 20 years learning how to hand file skis in the 1970's, I always started with the edge filing first and then filed the base to debur the angle flat compared to the base.When beveling became popular I learned to adjust the angles slightly with masking tape over one end of the file for better edge holding. The new file holders are a tremendous tool to do this properly. Nice video though and it's very important to explain how many steps the modern skis need to be tuned properly.
I can really appreciate improvements in tech. I just used a 12" mill bastard to try and flatten the base. De-tune the tip and tail and guess at angle. One I was told, always go in one direction with the file, to the tail....great post:)
Lol! When Zach holds up his bevel guides at1:18 I thought "No way! That is far more than 1 deg!". Thankfully for my education he immediately goes on to place it in position on the ski and all is revealed as they say!
tough crowd... you guys shoulda had some beer there
LOL...beverage of choice when I ttune:)...Could never understand why my skies were railed:)
I wish he explained the why's behind the angles he chose. The part where he explained the waxing process is well done.
Was there another follow up video on scraping and brushing after waxing?
Exactly.
In modern tuning that is a large part of tuning.
Great video, Zach! I miss skiing on a ski that you’ve tuned!
Starts working on a dynastar ski, at 1:05 there’s a DPS on the bench 🤔🤔
good remark
@@vavas98 The magic of editing in b-roll.
Yeah wtf??
thank you! couldnt be better!
Back in the old days, we would just use wraps of tape on the bastard file to get the bevel on the edges. Progress is good.
Yup. Three wraps of masking tape was one degree.
Which way to flip the file while doing your side edge? The rougher side or flip it around?
1:04 - ski DPS !!!
I have a pocked edge tool that is only intended for side edges (skiman brand). The problem is that when i switch sides i can only use the file from tail to tip. So one side of the ski I can sharpen with tip to tail strokes and the other side i must do it from tail to tip, so if i change the direction of the file i must change the angle to. Is that a factory defect or they just didn't make it correct. Does sharpening one side with reverse direction impact the sharpening process. THanx
As far as scraping wax. You want to have a sharp plastic scraper WITH NO BURS! I always like to use long strokes with little pressure until you have little to no wax coming from the ski. If you have a metal brush use it first, if not use a horse hair brush. You always want to go from most course to least. Always go from tail to tip, this is the best way to get the wax out of the structure.
It's almost like you should do your own video
Before filing the edges i always check if the sole is flat!!!!!!
True bar.
What setting/temp for the iron?
Depends on the wax you are using. There will be instructions on the package. Usually somewhere in the region of 110-150 degrees centigrade.
Nicely ✅
11:03 do that step in the other direction it helps a lot
Wonder how many people ruined their skis because of your dumb comment
Trizz I got that tip from a guy that works for the Austrian race team (Europacup),and it works!
Johann Winkler you’re supposed to brush it from tip to tail, like the snow slides under the ski
Trizz yes after you waxed your skis before you wax them you do it in the other direction
Some good ASMR here
Seems to me that the base edge sharpening he is using will result in a convex shaped base. Holding the file at an angle, but flat will result in a flat ski. Convex bases result in the ski hooking.
Skiers need a base bevel not a flat ski base. Also the guide must be a dedicated guide, be it 1.0 degree .5 or .75.
Beer or Martini! Hilarious!
Great presentation, however you always want to do the side edge first. The microburs should always be parallel to the base of the ski before polishing the edge.
Base first.
so i will wax it when i want more speed... for now i'll keep them as they are
It doesn't make you faster, it just decreases the friction of the ski on the snow and allows it to glide better. If your a beginner or intermediate rider who isn't comfortable at speed, your better off sticking to easier runs than not waxing your skis. It actually makes it more confidence inspiring when at high speeds if you have a well maintained ski, as it reacts predictably and smoothly to your movements. An unwaxed ski will feel really sticky, especially in powder or slush, and a ski with poor edges will feel really twitchy or unstable when lent over. Sure, an advanced rider can still ride well with crap skis, but that's down to experience and confidence. When you lack both of these, its helpful to have a good ski to give you every advantage you can get
Yea you really should wax them. It's like keeping a bike tyre uninflated until you know how to ride, sure it will be slow, but also inconsistent/dangerous and it kills all the fun. It's better to learn how to brake.
Philippe52
Plus it keeps the base material from drying out. I had a pair of skis that I neglected to wax for a season, the base got a light whitish haze and after that it never would absorb and hold wax. After like 2 days out the skis were slow and dragging badly. So I’d have to wax them after a full day out. Just my experience.
Learned my lesson and I wax all my skis regularly and at the end of the season when they get stored.
JCW, P52, & Greg B are all correct... and to add to their knowledge - waxing (as shown in the video), gets wax to soak into the pores of the ski base, providing a little extra durability. A dried out base will be more prone to scraping & gouging, whereas a waxed base will resist that damage (not that they can't get damaged if you ski over a rock or branch or something, but the waxed base will be damaged less than an unwaxed/dry base). You want to wax your skis.
Come on man never push those files forward but only in the direction the ski slides
He's only applying pressure when moving towards the back of the skis. He's a pro, he knows what he's doing.
Jeremy Liem you can’t actually go both directions. Running down the ski is only important working with the base of the ski/ waxing.
But what if I ride switch?😃
@ 1:32 Did Zach eat Cheetos beforehand?
all nice but i think he heats up the ski too long, too much, half of it is more than enough, i mean preheat wax and 2 passes max
Could be. I don't wax that slowly or that long.
Gloves
No lube with the stones! Bad. Destroy stones. Dragging file backwards! Bad. Ruin file.
A Swix guy not using Swix Glide Wax Cleaner prior to waxing? IDK about that. Need to remove grease and other junk from base first.
Brush alone not nearly as good. Better than nothing though.
When waxing the edges were too cold. That's where the base burn starts. Need to tilt iron to heat metal edges up. They are a heat sink and pull heat out if the base. Need wax absorption all the way to the edges.
Exactly, need soapy water on the stones which helps remove grit, allows better cut/polish, allows smoother movement and prevents the diamond stones from wearing out so much faster. I suppose when you get all your tuning gear for free you don't have to really worry about this???
@@cratra Yea, always use water at least! I mix water and denatured alcohol.
Next way to ruin a diamond stone is using too much pressure. If I have a really bad edge, I wrap some 220 wet sand paper around a stone and use that first, before I file or stone.
@@Sagina1999 Another thing I find bad for tips of 100mm diamond stones along an edge clean tune is Magne-Traction. This cuts into the tips and wears the ends out excessively. So you need an edge tune device that holds the stone along its width rather than length to prevent this wear.
@@cratra Yea, I've worked over a few of those skis. I've always just used a small portion of the file and stone, so for me, it was about the same.
He said "bastard".
...file.
From this video, I DID learn how to wax my skis: pay a proper technician to do it.
Same😭
Maybe we need a video on how to assess a proper technician 😃
Dude, it is super easy. You dont need to be this thorough
@@ThatSB True, but if you have the time and tools you can do a more thorough job.
Signed, the same guys who need someone else to please their wife
Just use the KISS method brah
If you’re waxing and you see you can also tell that when your not true to the angle once you see all the time it’s the same way as all the hahahaha I’m so stoned ......
i wanted to tune my skis to save a few bucks
instead i got presenting with $1000 worth of equipment
Damn, that's a lot of tools...
Crap I’ll just purchase new skis!
Ha! And they will require a tune pretty quickly.
If you're just a weekend warrior who only skis 6 times a year this is WAY overkill cause you will have to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars to buy all the equipment to do it. You will no way be able to tell if the edge is off one degree that's for damn sure. Just have your local shop do a tune for you. If you have to do it yourself just get one fine file and hit the bottoms and sides by eye you will be fine !!!!!!! This tune shown here is for Mikaela Shiffrin !
Lol, I bought this entire kit for $89. Your comment also assumes everyone is a lonely incel who's only ever doing 1 pair of skis. Some of us have families who own skis. $89 is nothing compared to tuning and waxing a families worth of equipment, sport.
bunch of older people in audience
Those skis r ugly af
Don't worry Logan, they're women' skis so you probably don't need to worry about being seen on them. And by the way, the Dynastar Cham 97 were great all-mountain boards.
Who cares? I doon't make decisions based on cosmetics.