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First-time edge tuning.


dshack

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I bought a bunch of tools this season have been doing my own edge tuning regularly for the first time this season.

i pretty much went with all of the Beast tools. you should also pick up their instructional DVD if you have no clue what you're doing. for edge tuning and mainly for regular maintenance, i bought the following:

Side of Beast Pro w/ 1* and 2* guides

Base Beast in 0.5* 0.75* 1* and 1.5*

Swix 20 tooth/cm file

200 grit DMT diamond stone

400 grit DMT "..."

600 grit DMT

1200 grit DMT

gummi stone

Beast Juice

i hardly ever use the file or the 200 grit stones though (i think they might take off too much material). i pretty much just do the 400 --> 600 --> 1200 in that order to polish up my edges and remove any burs i might have gotten. so far i've been doing this every other day out. oh and, i only polish the side edge unless the burs are really bad, then i'll do the base. so far though, i've been avoiding the base as much as possible since i don't want to make the base of my board all convex.

i pretty much did what everyone else said and practiced on some beater boards. i have about 5 freeride boards sitting around -- 3 or 4 of which will never be ridden again for various reasons -- none having to do with my edge tuning...

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dshack - if your not racing don't drive yourself nuts over this stuff. A 2/1 is nice a nice compromise, you get an 89* edge out of the deal without taking too much meat off the board. If you follow my advice and let the local shop set the base angle and structure the base it will take the hardest task off your plate.

The vast majority of shops will give you a 1* base even if you don't ask for it. They do the edges first, then structure the bases. This is done to keep the edges off their structuring stone - you definately don't want you edges structured.

Polish with a blue diamond stone (medium grit) and be done with it. Hit the side edge with the stone (quickly) every other day (BEFORE you wax) or so to freshen up the egde - assuming you don't sustain damage requiring a file.

If you are laying trench you need to wax frequently to avoid frying your base near the edges.

It sounds like you have about the same level of carving experience as I do (intermediate on a good day), put a decent tune on the thing and go get stick time.

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Far from intermediate, methinks. I've spent about two days on my alpine board and have just been wasting away snowless winter-vacation time on the forum. I can probably get a good deal more performance out of proper angulation and thinking about body position than the angle of my edges.

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  • 2 weeks later...
ohh, for polishing I have to reccomend arkansas stones, I think tognar has them they seem to out last fine diamond stones as well as polish better

what kind of guide do you use with those? i just got one, and it doesn't fit in my side of beast pro, so I can't use it on any of my side edges :(

i did use it on my base edges though, and they feel great.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

ha ha thread revival!

So I'm wondering if anybody has actually filed an edge so much that it is unusable? I've used one of those aluminum file guides and a pansar file for years and sometimes the edges get thin but it has never seemed to be a problem. I have swapped out my stuff pretty frequently so maybe that is a big part of it. But I typically see big curls of metal flying off of that super aggressive pansar file. Pass me the shop vac!

So the reason I asked is that I used to ski race a lot, got new stuff every year. Now I'm into free carving, bought my first new board, and would like it to last. I picked up a Ray's Way edge tuner to give that a try too-it looks like an easy way to preserve the edge while still keeping it sharp. So that is where I'm at...but I was wondering (curious)....anybody file a ski or board down edge down to nothing?

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My old (now retired) board was pretty dang close. You could see the metal through the bottom of the board. Every time it got sharpened it was cutting more and more into the sidewall. It was in bad shape. It came down to the point that the ski shop didn't really want to sharpen it again. I got one more sharpen out of it and rode it a couple times then retired it. It's got gouges and delams and a couple places the edge just got pushed INTO the board. (Off-piste, hittin trees and stumps and crap.)

Lemme tell you, that board has alot of charactor.

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