Help need board grind

[ktm162]

Help all I need to get a good grind on a GS board in so cal who should I get to do the work?

[110/220V]

Wow..NO one yet from elsinore?

Short ans. advice up the 395 would depend on the type of board, age and when you need it...If you are near Mammoth Lakes/June Mtn, I can help. Falkingham in Mammoth Lakes had leased the best machine for this task this fall,,and his staff not only know snow and performance racing, but they also know exactly how to use this machine. Otherwise, I have no advice for lowCal or BigBear area..sorry you will need to ask ski shops in your area for input.

Are you recreational carver? Is this for a future amateur-level race? Is this your only Alpin board? These are the questions I would ask before any advice or recommendation. If you only have one board and seek to compete, it would be a good idea to have a slipboard for inspection, and leave the hours of prepration of your race board to the task of gliding limited to the actual racing (post qualify) heats.

If you just want a grind, and have about $60-75 to burn your pocket, then look into every shop for a recommendation and quit reading. If you want to texture an overlay of base material from extensive repair, look into every shop for a local recommendation and quit reading.

If you are either merely curious or require a technician perspective (or a frame of reference for the process), you might continue, since long advice might help. And if you are patient (if you are new to the stone grind), you may find a kernel to your situation.

First...run away from any board/ski shop that lives by the little belt kiosk. This means belt waxing, belt sanding, belt fibertex, etc. Avoid all, and at all cost as the belt/heat integrated will likely slough material from your extruded-base surface... rather than CUT material, which the principal benefit of a stone.

Why not the belt sander? Well first because "everyone does it" it is cheap for a reason, and that is the worst reason to do it, yea?

Why is the grinder so hard to find? Well you might also expect most ski shops with lots of ski traffic can afford the larger profile diamond combi stone grinders that are auto-fed and will provide a variable sidewall/base edge option as the board exits. Most board-focus shops will simply not invest in this specialized technology for many reasons.

Perhaps you have a monetary investment for Alpin equipment, and your board should have required some investment for time thus far as well...or perhaps you just bought a nice board that you intend to keep for seasons or races to come...

The good news is that GS translates to Alpin through and through. There is less focus for freecarving or laying old style Euroturn to look fancy free. You have a sequestered open-area with the sole purpose of racing. This is gold, and the intention is much different than carving. Yes, because your starting gates will be tight and technical with pitch, you will be sliding-cutting most turns or burning the base near edges if you are on predominant man made/blown snow..

So the grind is valid, but type of grind must suit the slowest portion of the GS course rather than the prime conditions just opposite the netting for spectators! Otherwise, you are grinding an entirely different snow type at the top (much harder/abrasive), rather than the slowest/problematic portion in the flats.

The good news for the shop is that your board will not likely present silly railbusiness and low incident* such as the early season core shot. If this is your only board, you may have taken fine care of it...So far so good,as this is what your ski tech will ask.

*If you are concerned to repair a stubby impact at the edge, or your event is two weeks out, I would suggest avoiding the stone grind and simply debur or bring the spot down by skyver/SKS tool designed for this purpose. These are the tool you find in any World cup technician box...they cost lots of money for reason, as well as proficiency to utilise without damaging your Alpin board beyond all reason.

Furthermore, if you have a Sunday race this weekend or next, I would advise you to forget about a grind as you will not have enough hours to prepare the board thereafter (break the grind in, run-in the surface with cursory base prep wax, subsequent edge polishing, layers of wax for the cleanliness and then hotboxing for your base layer wax. This takes timmmmmme and days (especially for amateurs), but the payoff is first hand education and trial/error.

My point is realistic preparation to suit your intention. In any field of proficiency (Am, Pro, fun) time usually translates to hundreths given the consistency of the field...So unless you are realistic with time to actual preparation, mistaking the base grind as panacea for victory will certainly disappoint.

Ok-- if you have lots of time and money to prepare your fine board for upcoming April+ GS races, you might also need to take into account the maker/model. Most older board and many new Alpin board arrive from factory with curse to the camber such as either concavity or convexity for the base. In other words, you have some edgehigh or basehigh warp that will occur during the press (reality of heating and cooling process) that cannot be avoided when producing at volume.

There may be luck involved if you have a fairly true post-factory construction... 'True' is rare for boards off the shelf, or some second-hand racer-stock. Often the second-hand board is the best candidate if it arrives from a racer's private quiver. Teams pay lots of money to pick and choose from the lots...so hopefully you have an idea of the many sides of pro and con. If you understand, a current season does not necessarily translate a superior or Faster board, do not chase graphics or trend. If the board is middle level and you are mid level, the fit is satisfactory to the intention. Likewise if the board is the Olympic 2010 stock, and you are "advance intermediate" with emphasis on "intermediate" the board will not make time that your ability, course-eye and proficiency cannot. Does this make sense?

If you intend to convert an Alpin board with some curse (a superficial barometer if you have a precision-machined piece of flat bar stock, your friendly ski tech can show you how to use this)...

If you are otherwise ready to pay money for a grind, and the board is brand new, do not be confused if the technician refuses the board. They know a bit more than the lay consumer, and they understand true flattening of the board will require lots of time for passes and the end result is considerable edge-material that might have been removed. Many people do not realise this and will accuse the shop of impropriety or negligent damage after the fact...imagine that, yea? This is also important for used purchases (if the board is racer-stock and was "ground once" it may actually have required some amount of passes that the racer is not aware of, despite his or her best intention). If you have doubt, any ski shop should have an edge Bevel Meter so you can determine the life of the remaining edge..

If you already know this, I will refund your five minutes of reading if you are nice...just PM for the rebate.

[ktm162]

Thanks that's good to go.