Dipstik's new and improved photo guide to tuning ski's

**dipstik** · 11-25-2008, 12:16 AM

Oh yes, it's finally here. The fact that the original guide had been bumped for nearly five years encouraged me to step up and rewrite and re-photograph the entire thing. The new version is much more extensive and comprehensive than the original, mostly because I have more experience with tuning now than I did in 2004.

That said, the principals of the guide are the same: to show that ski tuning is simple and affordable.

The original guide had 35,000 views, and many thousands more on all the other forums. So in the interest of space, layout, and keeping all the comments and questions contained in one place, I decided to publish the guide on a blog with its own domain name. It just went live yesterday, and I am still working out some of the kinks, so let me know if something doesn't work or look right to you.

Have at it!

www.SkiTuning101.com

link to original: http://tetongravity.com/forums/showt...3059#post63059

**dipstik** · 11-25-2008, 12:17 AM

Tap - had to start the thread over to make some last minute changes, didn't mean to delete your reply!

**Tap** · 11-25-2008, 12:19 AM

poorly tuned skis stand no chance!

heh, nice work, dipstik.

**DownAmr** · 11-25-2008, 12:49 AM

awesome.

**haydukelives** · 11-25-2008, 01:26 AM

be sure and see doug coombs q and p for fun tuning

**2stix** · 11-25-2008, 03:13 AM

Awesome dipstick!
Only thing I would add is to pull the files towards you instead of pushing. Pulling tends to keeps the files and your arms more true, whereas pushing tends to cause a "wavy" effect on the edge.
I learnt most of my tuning from your original guide and experience since then.
Good job on the page and thanks for the effort, very thorough and Maggot friendly!

**moose pit** · 11-25-2008, 09:19 AM

Looks good all round.

Thanks.

(is the complete guide for fixing core shots section missing? This early season has been thin)

**bennettc14** · 11-25-2008, 09:46 AM

Dammit I've been using one of those shitty multi-edge tools this entire time!!! Thanks for the super-friendly guide, now my tunes should be half as shwag.

**Nobody Famous** · 11-25-2008, 09:48 AM

Nice work.

**dipstik** · 11-25-2008, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by 2stix

Awesome dipstick!
Only thing I would add is to pull the files towards you instead of pushing. Pulling tends to keeps the files and your arms more true, whereas pushing tends to cause a "wavy" effect on the edge.

I agree - I will have to go back and make that clear.

Moose - I didn't have any really bad coreshots when I made the photos, but once I do, I'll be sure to post about it.

**HankScorpio** · 11-25-2008, 02:47 PM

Awesome info. I love the no bull shit approach to ski tuning.

**Gordyman** · 11-25-2008, 08:11 PM

Props to dip

**dipstik** · 11-26-2008, 12:07 PM

bump....

**JBird** · 11-26-2008, 12:17 PM

Nice work. I've let others know of your site. Hopefully, they'll get the hint and start to take care of their own equipment.

**deliberate** · 11-26-2008, 07:27 PM

I paid $40 for a ski shop tune, and was pretty disapointed all around with what I got back. This is real nice, now I need to try and find out my edge angles...

**Microcosm** · 11-30-2008, 12:48 PM

Thanks for this! Time to start reading/ learning.

**Daywalker** · 12-19-2008, 09:43 AM

bumping because I just looked at it.

**robnow** · 12-19-2008, 11:17 AM

Nice work Dipstick, that's awesome. Can't wait to get more "proper" tools and have at her.

For great free elastics and healthy green fibre, I use the elastics that hold together broccolli bunches. Good length and strong.

**El Chupacabra** · 12-19-2008, 11:34 AM

Well done -- site looks good.

Question for the tuning pros: do you use a diamond stone on burred edges? (that's what dipstick's guide seems to indicate) I use a cheap arkansas stone; the diamond stones seem mostly for polishing.

Aside from ordinary waxing/scraping/brushing, most of my "tuning" involves knocking off edge burrs from rock hits with an arkansas stone, hand-held. Second-most common repair work for me is base welds. Only rarely do I use diamond stones or files, but I ski in the Sierra, so it's mostly not particularly hard (ice) surfaces. Simple de-burring is usually good enough for me. When my edges get really bad, I just have a shop do a machine tune -- maybe once a year, if that.

**dipstik** · 12-19-2008, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

Well done -- site looks good.

Question for the tuning pros: do you use a diamond stone on burred edges? (that's what dipstick's guide seems to indicate) I use a cheap arkansas stone; the diamond stones seem mostly for polishing.

Aside from ordinary waxing/scraping/brushing, most of my "tuning" involves knocking off edge burrs from rock hits with an arkansas stone, hand-held. Second-most common repair work for me is base welds. Only rarely do I use diamond stones or files, but I ski in the Sierra, so it's mostly not particularly hard (ice) surfaces. Simple de-burring is usually good enough for me. When my edges get really bad, I just have a shop do a machine tune -- maybe once a year, if that.

I usually hit any burrs or damage with an arkansas stone before I break out the diamond stones. Like you said, sometimes that is all that needs to be done. The arkansas stone will smooth out the rough sections of edge, which would otherwise damage a file or diamond stone, but it will not sharpen a dull edge as well as a diamond stone.

Does that make sense??

**El Chupacabra** · 12-19-2008, 03:18 PM

Makes sense -- that's what I thought was the way to do it, but only because it's how I've done it (don't know if I'm doing it the "right" way, but it works for me).

**mb2778** · 12-20-2008, 04:38 AM

great guide man! Just a heads up, either the site has a bug in it somewhere or my computer does. it's HIGHLY likely it's just my computer, but figured I'd give you the heads up in case other people were noticing it. Essentially only half the text comes up on each entry until you highlight the whole entry... probably not your programming but my computer.

**mtnjam** · 01-01-2009, 09:05 PM

Great guide dipstik. Got a question for the masses here. For "damage" as shown below (no core shots or major sidewall damage) what would you go with? Yeah, I gotta pick out the little granite pieces, but after that...? Say fuck it and just wax over it with some cold weather wax?

**Conundrum** · 01-02-2009, 09:59 AM

I would pick out the granite, run a true bar down it to see if any plastic is sticking above base level, if so run a razor blade or file down it a couple times and fill it with wax. Get it polyjetted and ground someday.