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Skikanten Schleifen | Wie oft sollte man die Skikanten schleifen? - raze-cat

Ski Edge Sharpening | How Often Should You Sharpen the Edges?

by Frank Steidle

 

Opinions vary widely on how often you should sharpen your ski or snowboard edges. Some people have their edges serviced at a workshop once at the beginning of the season and, if necessary, a second time during the season. The main reason is often that having them serviced at a workshop can become very expensive in the long run. It is also not particularly practical to leave your skis at a workshop overnight several times during a ski holiday. This is especially impossible if you are staying in a mountain hut in the middle of the ski area rather than down in the valley. Others, however, have the appropriate tools (file or edge sharpener) to have a “workshop” with them and sharpen their edges whenever they wish.



How often can you sharpen a ski edge?

The decisive factor is how much material is removed during each sharpening process. Depending on the file used and the pressure applied, manual filing can remove up to 0.2 millimeters (two tenths) of edge material. When sharpening with the electric ski edge sharpener ES 2000PLUS, however, the removal is at most about 0.02 millimeters (two hundredths) per sharpening pass.

To put this into perspective:
A ski edge on a new ski is typically about 3 millimeters thick. Since a remaining thickness of about 1 millimeter should be preserved, around 2 millimeters are available for edge removal. With a maximum removal of 0.02 millimeters per sharpening pass, this results in a theoretical number of 100 sharpening passes before this theoretical wear limit is reached. This makes it clear that even with regular ski edge sharpening, the edge’s service life is considerably longer than many people assume. 

 

How often should you sharpen ski edges?

How often you should sharpen your skis depends on many factors. For example, the  condition of the piste must be taken into consideration. Is there artificial snow on the piste, and is it covered with icy patches? If so, the ski edge will wear considerably faster than when skiing in normal snow conditions or even powder. You also naturally need to sharpen your ski edges more often if you ski for several hours every day, rather than making just a few turns down the slope. The angle of the ski’s side edge also affects its longevity. The more acute the angle, the faster the edge will become dull while skiing. A general statement such as sharpening once or twice a week is therefore not possible; it depends on the different factors.

Our example: With a day of skiing from around 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and normal piste conditions it would be sufficient to sharpen the edges once  every other day. But here too, everything depends on your skiing style.
(You can read about which edge angle is suitable for which type of skier in our blog post Sharpening ski edges – which angle?.) 

 

TO THE SHARPENING EQUIPMENT


Edges becoming dull

Generally speaking, the edges of skis and snowboards become dull relatively quickly.
It is therefore always advantageous to hit the slopes with freshly sharpened edges. This improves safety on the slope and makes skiing more enjoyable.
Tip: Skis and snowboards are not delivered from the factory with optimally sharp edges. It is therefore advisable to test and sharpen the edges immediately after purchase. This also ensures optimum safety on the first day with your new skis. A perfectly sharpened edge is no longer in optimal condition after the very first run. However, this does not mean that you need to take a file with you and run it over the edge at every opportunity during a break. 

 

Developing a feel for edge sharpness

Since safety on the piste takes precedence over all other aspects of skiing, it is important to develop a feel for the edge becoming dull yourself. You can often tell after a day of skiing that the edge is less sharp than it was the day before. In the evening after your day of skiing, carefully run your finger over the edge of your ski. Does the edge feel particularly sharp? This is because the pressure applied while skiing has bent the edge slightly, creating a burr. This means that although the edge feels sharp, it actually is not. You can  test the sharpness of the edge by running your fingernail upward along the edge. If the edge scrapes some material off your fingernail, it is sharp. You can also perform this test immediately after sharpening to check the level of sharpness. Please be especially careful and make sure you do not injure yourself on the sharp edge.
Once you develop a feel for the sharpness of the edge, you can resharpen it as needed. The edge should be in optimal condition every day. For safety reasons, it is therefore recommended that the edge always have sufficient sharpness. 
 
So sharpen your edges  as often as possible. After a while, you will develop a feel while skiing and testing the edge for how sharp it is and how sharp it should be. If you do not want to spend too much money on ski servicing in the long term but still value an optimally sharp edge, it is worth purchasing tools to service your skis yourself. Whether you choose a file or an electric edge sharpener, both devices allow you to resharpen your skis anytime and anywhere.
 
With the ES 2000PLUS, you can prepare your edges yourself to an optimal standard and save yourself a trip to the service workshop. This saves you a great deal of time and means you are no longer tied to opening hours. In other words - more time on the slopes!
by Frank Steidle