Ski Tech in Edinburgh area to run a training session?

A snowHead

Last Saturday I and a few other parents were discussing our attempts at edging and waxing our kids skis ahead of the back to back double header race weekends. The only instruction all of us had had was either from other parents or from YouTube videos. We were all in broad agreement that we had no idea whether we were helping or hindering by home servicing. What we all agreed would be good would arranging for a ski tech to run a course for us and cast are critical eye over our attempts.

Does anyone know an experienced tech who does, or would be prepared to do, such a session?

A snowHead

Gaza, Why not ask your club coaches for advice.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Hi Gaza. I live in Edinburgh and can show you edging and waxing. I have all the tools. I live in Alnwickhill in Edinburgh. I have a garage by the house and can set up a ski servicing workshop. Located a couple of minutes from the Straiton turn-off on the bypass.
I recommend setting an edge on the base and the sidewall whether you are on plastic racing or on snow.
The reason is: The base is the key. Dressing the edge should be a separate job to working on the base. So you need a base-edge bevel. If you have that - you need a side-edge angle to compensate.
So you need base edge at 0.5 Degrees and the side-edge at 88 Degrees. Going sharper devours the edge and makes the edge more fragile. That means it blunts quickly.
You need vices, base-edge guide and side-edge guide. Together with steel-file and Diamond Files.
It does get expensive. I spent £800 on tools. You need to invest that if you are going for Eurotest.
PM Me and we can arrange. It is pretty straightforward if you know what you are doing.
DC

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Gaza, details of my tuning tuition options can be found here http://www.thepisteoffice.com/index.php/the-piste-office-store/tuning-technician-tuition.html or i can put a group lesson package together for you.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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I know Blues have run ski prep/tuning demo sessions at both Firpark and Hillend in the past to demonstrate how it should be done and what kit is needed. Might be worth asking your club to contact them to get it set up. Not sure @SkiPresto, on the base angle of 0.5 (really unforgiving for kids) , and setting at 0.5 only really works if the ski comes with no base bevel or already set at .05 , normal factory setting are between .7 and 1 , so to get it back to 0.5 would require a base grind to get everything back flat to allow a .5 base bevel to be set. On @spyderjon website there is full details of base/edge bevels for most skis and the majority of base bevels leave the factory as 1 , http://thepisteoffice.com/index.php/1-tuning-advice/edge-angles-wax-data/15-ski-manufacturers-edge-angle-specifications.html My son races too and I will normally prep and set up his skis at the start of the season , then he just uses a couple of different grade diamond files on the side edge after every training session or race to keep them sharp , once the base angle is set , it is best left alone. Think if you are dry mat training then a steel file will be needed on occasion to get them back sharp. As to wax , hard as you can for mat , he stopped mat skiing a few years ago but Ski Bartlett do a good mat wax and can be bought in large quantities so cost can be shared around a number of parents. Word of warning it requires a high temp to melt , so make sure the iron is moving all the time or you could damage the base. On snow maybe a couple of waxes for warm and cold temps (cold/harder wax for indoor snow), can get much more technical but not sure it is worth the cost. I believe the most important part of the ski prep is yes setting the angles and getting a sharp edge, but more importantly is getting the bases really well waxed , especially if you are skiing on mat or indoor snow as it is really abrasive and can damage the base if skied on with minimal wax in the base. The process I use is wax , store in the airing cupboard (hottest room in the house) overnight , scrape , brush then repeat , there is no wrong number but at least 5 times before you let them loose on the ski. I will not say how many times his skis get waxed before he is on them , but it's a lot. Another point worth remembering is that the bases get dirty as they pick up all sorts of dirt when skiing , so rather than just waxing on some more wax after a ski session in readiness for the next, do a hot wax scrape every so often , easy job , brush out the ski , wax the ski and scrape while hot, you will be amazed how dirty the wax will be , it could take a few repeats until the wax whilst still hot comes of clean. The more you wax/scrape/brush/polish the faster the ski so they say. Finally one last point as you sharpen the skis over the season it can become more difficult to get the edge sharp and that is because the sidewall is catching the file and effecting the angle set by the file guide , so the sidewall needs to be planed , a side wall planer does this job. If you speak to Blues and they offer to set something up , let me know by PM and am happy to come along and help them if you have a large crowd.

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Ski Tech in Edinburgh area to run a training session?

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