Self-servicing vs store-servicing

A snowHead

I've been servicing my skis for years (waxing, minor base repair and side edge sharpening) and have been on the tuning course with Jon at thepisteoffice (which is excellent and I would recommend and note I am not getting any commissions out of this!).

I'm debating if it's worth getting my skis serviced by a ski store next time I'm out. I've been doing some research on google and going through some threads here and the result seems to be mixed. Some says it's better to have skis serviced once a year by a ski shop as after all they are pro but I've also seen some argues most shops probably wouldn't put as much care into servicing your skis as they have tonnes to go through each evening (so they would just machine dip your skis in some wax) so you might as well do it yourself.

Both sides of the argument seems to make sense so I'm not sure if it's worth it.

I'm mainly looking to get some minor base damage fixed. In the past I have ptex'ed most of the obvious base damage myself however there remains some small cosmetic scratches that are either not worth my time or too shallow to be ptex'ed. I'm hoping the pros might have a way to fix those and that's the only reason I'm considering getting them serviced. I don't think those scratches affect my skiing or the integrity of the skis so I'm not too bothered if they can't repair those (but I guess I'm bothered enough to ask a question here!)

I would not consider getting my skis sharpened by a shop as (1) I'm quite comfortable doing it myself (2) they take off too much metal

A snowHead

They’ll get rid of superficial scratches by doing a base grind of the ski. Too many base grinds and you take life out of the ski. If the superficial scratches aren’t affecting the ski too much why bother trying to fix them?

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

You need to Login to know who's really who.

My criteria for a base grind is how scarred the edges are on the base bevel and also has the structure gone from the base - if both then get a base grind and then you can redo the base and edge bevels to your own spec and also re-prep the bases. Who you trust to do the base grind is the biggest conundrum. Confused

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I've never had problems with loss of structure other than when a number of large repairs have been done (pennine skiing) or dry slope use. I have had a number of base grinds done for the same reason @snowheid, states. I have never had a pair of skis where the bases have got too thin, they have always gone soft / dead long before that point is reached.

Help!!

Self-servicing vs store-servicing

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