DIY tuning vs shop tuning pros and cons

[raytseng]

That's great I didn't know this. I could eliminate sidewall cutter from my list. New tune process is:

• Buy new skis
• Get shop to pare back sidewall by 7 degrees and IR wax it
• DIY liquid spray everyday
• DIY razor tune touch up everyday
• Shop IR wax every 7 to 10 days
• Shop base grind and reset base and side edge and 7 degree plane the sidewall again, if necessary, on 25th day.
• Rock skis by day 50
• Rinse and repeat

Base bevel meter would just be for curiosity and I may not even do it all.

I'll open up your analysis by how many skis do you have to keep tuned. If you have 2-3 or more pairs and you rotate your usage, then some of these "everyday" can be deferred to a single tuning session into a batch. This amortizes all the overhead time of setting up, putting away, and cleanup. This then makes the tasks like hot waxing viable in terms of improvements for your effort and time spent.

 

[Dwight]

If you wax your self and use a diamond stone to maintain your edges, you are now in the top 2% of skiers. If you aren't racing for time, you don't need many tools.

You have a process, work it and then tweak. If you don't like the process or the zen of working with your hands on something, take it to a shop.

I pretty sure, I'm the least qualified of tuners on this site. But in my area, skis maintained by me, glide and turn better than shops.

 

[BlueGrin]

If you wax your self

 

[MikeHunt]

Are you really going to do this? If yes, good for you. This is Sheldon Cooper level planning.

The sarcastic side of my brain really wonders what your car maintenance schedule looks like?

Not a lot of doing there on my part except for daily liquid wax and razor tune.

The rest is just me dropping it off to the shop like I drop off my car to the dealership for maintenance.

 

[SlideWright]

If you wax your self and use a diamond stone to maintain your edges, you are now in the top 2% of skiers. If you aren't racing for time, you don't need many tools.

You have a process, work it and then tweak. If you don't like the process or the zen of working with your hands on something, take it to a shop.

I pretty sure, I'm the least qualified of tuners on this site. But in my area, skis maintained by me, glide and turn better than shops.

I'd put you in at least the top 1.5%.

It doesn't take much time at all to keep edges smooth sharp. Waxing longer, but may last for many outings on both. Diamonds and stones are very user friendly and easy.

There is definitely an intimidation factor where people think they need race grade tuning, afraid to make inconsequential mistakes, expensive and think it's a big effort and time factor. Considering the cost of the sport and lifestyle, tuning is cheap and you can control how and what to do or not to do.

You just need to start somewhere and learn over time.

Regarding base repairs, welding with a soldering iron (or even heat gun) is quick, easy & last longer due to a much better bond than dripping ptex candles. Base repair material does not have the wax ptex candles contain & there is not carbon residue.

For grinding, I'd wait until after you do repairs and when there is enough snow that dings will be less likely rather than 1st of the season.

 

[Philpug]

I liken tuning to auto maintentence ...

over simplification ...
60K/120K Major services are like a base grind, best done at the dealer/shop.
15K/30K/45K services, edges, p-tex work, home or shop, depending on tools
7.5K/22.5K, oil changes, or waxing, home or shop, depending on tools

 

[MikeHunt]

I'll open up your analysis by how many skis do you have to keep tuned. If you have 2-3 or more pairs and you rotate your usage, then some of these "everyday" can be deferred to a single tuning session into a batch. This amortizes all the overhead time of setting up, putting away, and cleanup. This then makes the tasks like hot waxing viable in terms of improvements for your effort and time spent.

Have one ski quiver so cannot put off or spread tuning tasks over several skis and days.

After a few days of reading and bouncing off other people's ideas, I've come to the conclusion that the choice between a shop and DIY tune is an equation with 2 simple functions of time spent doing a task and the potential damage that I as a DIY'er or the ski shop can do to the skis.

Tuning Task	Time Spent DIY	Shop Potential Damage to Skis	Conclusion
Daily liquid wax	5 minutes	Low	DIY
Daily sharpening with Razor Tune	5 minutes	Low	DIY
Stripping sidewall and removing and blending tip and tail topsheet	10 minutes	High	DIY - shop can mess up by removing too much sidewall material or remove too much top sheet or make too short or too long the starting point of tip and tail blend
Resetting side edge	30 minutes	High	DIY - shop can mess up the angle
Sharpening very dull side edge	30 minutes	High	DIY - shop can mess up the angle
Fixing stone hits	2 to 10 minutes (depending on severity of damage)	Low	DIY/Shop DIY - if it's a minor hit that can be buffed with a stone Shop - if it's a major stone hit. The ski is already damaged so the shop cannot damage it more than already is. Shop has better tools and skills to fix damage.
Ptex repair	30 minutes	Low	Shop - the ski is already damaged so the shop cannot damage it more than already is. Shop has better tools and skills to fix damage.
Full wax, scrape and brush	30 minutes	High	Shop - with a hot wax, a shop can do real damage to Ptex. Should be ok if IR wax is chosen.
Base grind and base edge reset	1 hour	Low	Shop - the ski is already "bald" so the shop cannot damage it more than already is. Shop has equipment to reset and grind base.

 

[James]

You’ve got a pretty horrible shop you use?

 

[Sibhusky]

On the base grind, I'd maintain they can overdo that as well and shorten the life of the ski. Unless it's railed, I'd say you can do it yourself just fine. Light structuring with the Skivision tool will reduce the likelihood of you getting base high from usage and your ski won't be "bald".

 

[Dave Marshak]

On the base grind, I'd maintain they can overdo that as well and shorten the life of the ski. Unless it's railed, I'd say you can do it yourself just fine. Light structuring with the Skivision tool will reduce the likelihood of you getting base high from usage and your ski won't be "bald".

Somewhere there's a Youtube of guy who put a snowboard over a belt grinder 200 or 300 times. One or two bse grinds a year will never go though the base before the side edges are gone, even if every base grind is so bad it needs to be redone. I've never seen a ski that unusable because it was sharpened too often.

dm

 

[Jilly]

AH.....I have a pair right now. The pressure the shop used on the grinder has just about removed the base of the ski at the tip and tail. One of the reasons I decided to learn how to tune my own.

Now those skis are old, but still functionable. I'm using them as rock skis. But my 2020 Hero's are falling apart at the tail. Partly the grinder, partly placing them roughly on concrete and partly the ski design.

So hopefully doing my own totally next season will extend the life of my skis.

 

[Mendieta]

I sharpen every 2 or 3 days, so shops are way to expensive for that. Maybe once a year I'll bring them in for a base grind. Waxing and sharpening are easy enough at home. I'll fill core shots with epoxy, but most base work is beyond my skill level. YMMV

dm

We should have stopped here! Best post IMO. Some (a lot of the) work can be done at home, and save the trip. Base grinds, I take to a shop where they use the freaking $250k machine.

It's not all or nothing!

 

[MikeHunt]

We should have stopped here! Best post IMO. Some (a lot of the) work can be done at home, and save the trip. Base grinds, I take to a shop where they use the freaking $250k machine.

It's not all or nothing!

Waxing is tiring and messy and takes the longest time though and is NOT not up for debate.

 

[Mendieta]

Waxing is tiring and messy and takes the longest time though and is NOT not up for debate.

Phantom is great for that!

 

[MikeHunt]

Phantom is great for that!

I'd rather go back to waxing at home, annoying as it may be, than go Phantom.

 

[Dave Marshak]

Waxing is tiring and messy and takes the longest time though and is NOT not up for debate.

It’s debatable whether hot waxing is better than liquid wax, but hot waxing with an IR lamp is easy and doesn’t require any clean up at all. Wax irons are obsolete.

dm

 

[markojp]

Split the difference... shop (with a good tech) does the prep grind and bevel set, you do the maintenance, waxing, and minor base repairs. Easy.

 

[oldschoolskier]

Somewhere there's a Youtube of guy who put a snowboard over a belt grinder 200 or 300 times. One or two bse grinds a year will never go though the base before the side edges are gone, even if every base grind is so bad it needs to be redone. I've never seen a ski that unusable because it was sharpened too often.

dm

The question is why this is the case, simple surface area, snowboard wide large contact area on the belt so lower pressure per sq inch hence less material removal. As @Jilly mentions indirectly narrow skis allow significantly high pressure per sq inch resulting way more material removal in little or no time.

Test it with two blocks of wood on the same belt sander one 6 x 12 and one 1/4 x 12. Place both on the sander with equal pressure for the equal amount of time. The 6 x 12 will have some material removed, the 1/4 x 12 well ensure you don't sand away your finger tips.

 

[oldschoolskier]

A couple comments I'm going to make again in all tuning applications, DYI, Shop or Race Tech Tune.

Good equipment generally makes life easier and more efficient to do the work for anyone, but the final result comes down to the skill and care of the individual tuning.

Poor skill and/or indifference of the tuner result in a poor tune.

Good skill and care results in a great tune.