eos4life Posted February 27, 2005 Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 Hello, fellow carver! I need some guidance. It's time for my first tune-up on my Coiler Freecarve. The guy I saw at the shop tells me he need to remove the binding to be able to sharpen the edges and wax my board. I'm a bit reluctant to have him take off my TD-2 for tuning my PRECIOUS!!! Also, what should I ask for my edge sharpening? I'm just in my second year on plates and consider myself a average rider (read need improvement on most of my technique)... Any advice will be welcome. Thanks, Francois. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted February 27, 2005 Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 bindings have to come off for a base grind, no matter what. if all youre doing is edges and waxing, read up a bit and do it yourself! Its cheaper and far more rewarding. If youre not racing its not as imperative that you get dead on perfect results just remember..when sharpening edges...you cant put material back ON them so remove a little at a time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derf Posted February 27, 2005 Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 When you have your board tuned up by a shop, if you don't take off your bindings, the shop will. They prefer to do that because this way the base is more level (the bindings suck up the base a little). So think about it: would you prefer to do it yourself or have the shop do it? And by the way, where will you take your board to be tuned? Usually, I go to Sharks and just ask for an alpine board tune, because I am the type to bring the board to the shop, say "tune it" and forget about it and they specialize in alpine boards. I don't believe in edge bevel, base structure and stuff like that, I just want a board that works. When I go back to get it after a tune, it glides and it's plenty fast for me. I don't ride an expensive board, so that's probably why I don't worry about tuning details. It may be the reason also why I don't ride expensive boards, I don't want to worry about it, I just want to go out and ride. In my opinion, it's the rider, not the board or the tune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eos4life Posted February 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Thanks, Guys! Call me silly, when I was speaking to the guy at my local shop. He was so unsure about what to do with my board since the usual guy was out for the day. I just had my edge sharpen with no wax. D-Sub: What is the angle that Bruce (Coiler) sharpens his board when they get shipped? My stick is a FC 178 with WCC with nothing fancy. The reason for my question: Today when I rode after my edge sharpening, it felt crummy, lots of slip on the back side. It could be that I had a bad day or maybe I'm trying to blame my the tune-up for my lack of technique. But if it's the way my edges got sharpened, It least I will know what to ask for in my future tune-up. Thanks, Francois PS: Derf, last year, I was going to Sharks as well. This year I was looking for a part in my local shop. The guy I was talking to was offering to tune my board. He said he was doing it for a few other guy that were really happy with the results. So far, I'm unsure if I will ever go back to that shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Ive only gotten one board from bruce, and it came to me right around 2* on the side and 1 * on the base (89* overall angle) in all honesty...Id say get yourself a BEAST or the like, and just have a shop put a structure on the base, then you set the edge angle and only file it every once in a while with in between polishing and deburring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hangten247 Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Hi! Let me jump in for a minute. I don't know a Coiler's degrees of side or bottom bevel, but what likely happened to you today is that the side and bottom bevel were not duplicated like they came from the factory, were probably shallower than factory spec, and likely they de-tuned the edges too much. If you are lucky, hopefully they were not detuned by taking a file at a 45 degree angle to the edges. Tunes are going to vary from place top place. You need to know the factory specs as a baseline for next time. Typically, and unfortunately, most shops set themselves up for tuning jib boards, so that ususally means zero degree side, and zero degree base most likely. Not to mention the overkill on the detune. I don't grind my bottom unless I have done a major base repair. Usually, I just do my edges and then clean the base before I do a good hotwax job. I find for me that about 1 degree base with a 2 degree side works well for my needs, good sharpness, and good longevity between tunes, recreational carving, not racing. Once you go smaller than 90 degrees ratio from side to base edge,(trapezoid, as in 1 degree base with 2 degree side, OR 1 degree base with 3 degree side for example), you will increase your edge grip in the snow, but decrease the longevity of the edge sharpness. A 90 degree offset from side to bottom will last longer (a right angle)(0 deg side, w/ 0 deg base OR 1 deg side w/ 1 deg base OR 2 deg side w/ 2 deg base, etc). If you cannot tune yourself, you'll need to find a tuner who will listen to you rather than just pump out a 'production line' tune up. If you find a guy who will listen to you, or who already is schooled in how to tune alpine boards, then the board should be consistent from one tune up to the next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 and is close to what I do 2* side bevel and 1* base with NO detune the only time to remove grip is if you feel there is too much with your grind avoid belts they can end up taking more base than edge dont worry about taking off the TD2s they are easy to get the same positions and canting the same with no guess work one thing I highly recomend is a edge tool that has all the angle settings you will ever need like the swix exactor some diamond stones in different grit to keep your edges polished with regular maintenence your board will not need to go to the shop as often wax often like every other day on snow if you are up to it less if you live where there is soft snow like in CO reliableracing.com has bulk packs of wax that will last you years and all the tools you will need when waxing a iron that is not hot enough is better than too hot, too hot can close the pores in your base Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 more than I did in my last post is how much waxing your base protects it when a board is new or just got ground wax it a few times I usually wax it with a soft wax like swix yellow or base prep then wax again with a harder wax like the red swix and finally with a harder wax then when it come to the day I am gonna ride if the temps are way off for the wax I used in the last coat I will wax temp specific for that day having your base well saturated keeps it from wearing down, faster and is actually more resistant to rocks and other nasties that could scrape it up also you could try using a harder wax along the edges it keeps that areas from getting dried out so fast I have started using a tool called the wax whizard its super simple for a quick coat when you can not use a iron to hot wax, it does not replace the good ol hot wax but it blows the doors off of using things like the rub on paste waxes or zardoz http://www.alpineskituning.com/raysway.waxwhiz.htm and for temp specific waxing with swix wax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eos4life Posted February 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Originally posted by D-Sub if all youre doing is edges and waxing, read up a bit and do it yourself! Its cheaper and far more rewarding. If youre not racing its not as imperative that you get dead on perfect results OK, OK, I give up! Really, It makes a lot of sense to tune my board. Where do I need to begin? Video instructions? List of supplies and tools needed? And above all, how much do I need to shell out? Thx, Francois. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Francois check out www.reliableracing.com or www.tokar.com or www.alpineskituning.com or http://www.alpinecarving.com/tuning.html to get your basics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 has bulk pack of wax for $50 here http://www.reliableracing.com/wintersportscatalog/detail.cfm?edp=10700532&category=2500 I bought one of those a few years ago and I still have a bunch of it left swix exactor $39 is here this comes with a file but no diamond stones or ceramic stones http://www.reliableracing.com/wintersportscatalog/detail.cfm?edp=10730323&category=2000 or the FK tool $29 http://www.reliableracing.com/wintersportscatalog/detail.cfm?edp=10121614&category=2000 diamond stones are cheaper at hardware stores, I use red, blue and black stones a iron just get a old one with no coating on the bottom and no holes, like your mom used when you were a kid if you wanna get all tricked out get a wax specific iron they are better and are a bit more safe for your base(easier to control the temp) but not too big of a deal a plexi glass scraper, $5 something for your final finish either a brush or fibertex http://www.reliableracing.com/wintersportscatalog/detail.cfm?edp=10155208&category=2200 this is not really needed but it does make it a little faster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eos4life Posted March 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Originally posted by bobdea when a board is new or just got ground wax it a few times I usually wax it with a soft wax like swix yellow or base prep then wax again with a harder wax like the red swix and finally with a harder wax I'm a bit mixed up, when I learn about waxing cross country skis, they were telling us to put the harder wax first then you could put a coat of softer wax. They were saying that a hard wax on a soft one was like trying to put peanut butter on a layer of jam. Is snowboard wax working on a different principle? Don't get this question as a negative comment on your post! I'm only trying to understand how this works! Thx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.