Recommend Tools for Newbie to Tune with

[SingleWhiteLine]

I'm a newbie at hardbooting and soon to be newbie at tunning the board.

I've been boarding for about 20 years and have never really tuned my own boards. On a soft boot setup I never thought it too important to have a finely tuned board so I usually get a wax or two a season and then a full tune at the beginning of each season.

I believe having a tuned board is arguably (i've read some of the discussions here) more imortant in hardbooting. I'm looking for recommendations on tools to help me deburr and polish my edge myself on a more regular basis. I want it to be somewhat idiot proof so I don't screw up the bevel.

Any tips?

Cheers

Steve

[mr_roboteye]

You can cover almost all the bases (no pun) with a kuu icebuster, or similar tool. The icebuster only comes in 2 angles,(88 and 90) I have an 88 degree, if you live on the ice coast, you may want to find an 87 (or even an 86) degree tool. The good thing about this tool is that it will accurately hold both the file and later on, the diamond stone.

http://www.kuu.com/detail.aspx?ID=202

Put masking tape or base protect tape (if you have it) on your base, so you're not grinding metal shavings into your base. Once you have your side edge angle sharpened with the file in the icebuster (you shouldn't need to touch your base bevel, it's factory set). At this point, if you sharpen your side edge, you are also sharpening your base edge too right? Put the diamond stone in the icebuster and give your side edge a little bit of a polish. The first time you do this it will take a long time to set the edge because you may have to fight with the sidewall and plane it down too, but future touch ups are really quick and easy.

After riding, as long as you don't really nail any rocks you can touch up with the diamond stone in the icebuster file guide. This will keep your edges really sharp, and not wear them down. When I lived in Whistler and rode quite a bit and I would tune my board in this fashion every two days of riding (50 times per year) and my edges would still have plenty of life left since you are only diamond stoning them.

I would recommend never hand holding the file or diamond stone, always use the guide.

Here's a diamond stone from dmt. Scroll down to the 4" one. If you only get one stone, get a blue one (medium).

http://www.dmtsharp.com/products/ski.htm

Anybody else feel free to chime in.

Good luck,

Dave R.

[BulletProof]

Kuu has a lot of good tools...

Cleaning / prep / wax:

-Citrus wax solvent.

-Fiber base cleaning cloth roll (picks up a lot of crap).

-Compatible base repair stick (p-tek) and steel scraper.

-Base prep pad (3M scotchpad), nylon and brass brushes.

-Wax(es) (depends on where you board).

-Old iron.

There's a lot of good sites for techniques for waxing etc.

[Ernie00]

citrus wax solvent is nice to clean the top sheet after the waxing.. I stay away from using it on the bases as it dries it up even more. A nice hot scrape will clean up your base much more.

[Surf Quebec]

I strongly recommend reading the section on tuning at

http://www.alpinecarving.com/tuning.html

[queequeg]

Prosharp adjustable side bevel guide.

Skivisions base flattener.

Good 4" moonflex diamond stones.

Dominator all temp zoom graphite, for base prep/penetration waxing.

Dominator hyperzoom high flouro wax on top for a faster, more durable wax job.

All available at tognar.com

Note: I don't bevel my base edge, so my tool recommendations are based upon the preference for flat base edges. If you like to bevel your base edge, you would need to add something to the mix to do that for you.

I used to be a fan of the skivisions side/base bevel tool, but the stones it uses are not nearly durable enough, and become useless over time.