Ski Builders Forum

There's been a few topics/articles about base grinding, scraping, waxing, etc.

I've been missing my scraper from years ago. I was off to the hardware store to buy a cabinet scraper or some other large stiff bladed tool and came up empty.

Then it dawned on me today I have 1/2 dozen used planer blades that I re-sharpened awhile gathering dust. The blades are double sided, 12in long and stiff. Perfect! So I grabbed an old pair of skis and began scraping away with a planer blade. Years of dust and dirt came off and the outcome was a very smooth base. So I tried it on my everyday skis that were in much better shape. Only took a 4-5 light passes and the base was nice and smooth.

Would be nice to have a holder for the blade and hold it in with a few set screws... (another project?...... )

Bright!
I have a couple of blades for my old planer!!! But no holder...have you started your new project?

Which one?

I'm finishing up the jewelry cabinet I started many moons ago. Trying to get it done for Christmas (that was my goal for last year too).

Then it's on to the GS Racing ski. That has to be done by 1/5, our first scheduled night of racing.

I'm on vacation until 1/3 so I have time to get it done.

The only holder I have right now is leather work gloves, so have to be careful. Maybe I'll work on a wood holder... use set screws or rare earth magnets to hold in place.

Great idea!

skidesmond wrote:Which one?

Ha ha ...pick one!

Are you talking about using a scraper instead of stone grinding and waxing?

Brilliant!!

hard and smooth and flat baby.

Brazen wrote:Are you talking about using a scraper instead of stone grinding and waxing?

Yes and no. I'm the opinion that a stone grind is something that s/b done to flatten and clean the base if necessary. Once that has been done, scraping and waxing are the way to go. You have to be careful scraping. You don't want to over do it or flex the scraping tool, you'll get a concave base over time.

You could probably skip a stone grind if the base is already flat and clean, just scrap and wax as needed. I think wax does make a difference.

This is the part that's always confused me about base grind and waxing. I've heard that base grind makes the ski faster because it gives the base structure/texture that will melt the snow thus creating a thin layer of water and make the ski go faster. If that's true then why would you wax the ski? The wax will fill in the texture of the base grind. So wouldn't that undo one of the benefits of the base grind? Even if you brush the wax out....??

One thing most of the articles have in common is you want a clean, flat, smooth, base. Scraping and waxing is a way for the DIY to achieve that.

I don't think I'll be sanding my bases anymore. Creates too many tiny hairs to deal with.

Does anyone flat file their bases anymore? It can be time consuming the first time for a new ski. This is another way to flatten the base for the DIY'ers out there.

I swear the fastest ski I ever had was in highschool when I paid to have my bases ground I they did it one time with a crazy texture, tons of lines. maybe that is for spring snow but it was feb in the NE and they were insanely fast.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I've done a lot of reading and seen tests with dry (scraped) skis as opposed to waxed skis, after all of the testing it's very clear to me that the way we're surfacing skis and boards now is inadequate. Scraping is actually superior in my opinion, and certainly more accessible to the DIY builder. Thanks again for your input.

MontuckyMadman wrote:I swear the fastest ski I ever had was in highschool when I paid to have my bases ground I they did it one time with a crazy texture, tons of lines. maybe that is for spring snow but it was feb in the NE and they were insanely fast.

Yeah I still believe a stone grind can work wonders. I've had them done and they looked almost polished with tiny texture lines.

Locally I'm paying $35 for a base grind, times a skiing family of 4. Plus the skis I've made... Starts to add up to real money.

I swear this was not just a stone it was a cross hatched pattern. the grooves were much deeper than a stone texture. The base was not smooth. Just weird because smooth and flat is the name of the game but that one time that shop near okemo ground them all patterney and they were fast. They said it was a diamond grind but I just thought that was a stone. Must have been an 80's texture stone grind.

Structure in bases is not to melt snow and create water on the base but rather channel the water from tip to tail. The friction from the ski is going to melt a thin layer of snow regardless (microsocpically). the trick is to move that water away from the base to it does not create a suction affect. think of a boot in mud. Why you wax is to help that water run smoothly out from the base. Thats why you ALWAYS should brush you ski after waxing until you have no more white (wax) dust coming from your base. make sense?

That makes more sense than what I've been reading. As for brushing the wax out, that makes sense as long as you brush it out fully.

For kicks, I took a pair of my home made skis, scraped them, waxed then (using only parafin wax) then brushed them out. Then took my everyday skis (Fischers) and scraped them out smooth. Skied on both of them yesterday and didn't notice much of a difference. The snow conditions was frozen granular, which is typically fast anyway.