Ski Tuning | How often should you sharpen ski edges?
Opinions differ widely on the question of how often you should sharpen your ski or snowboard edges. Some people just have their edges sharpened once at the beginning of the season in a service workshop and, if necessary, a second time during the season. The main reason for this is that having them sharpened in a service workshop can be very expensive, especially for families. It is also not particularly practical to leave the skis in a workshop several times during the night during a skiing holiday. This is particularly impossible if you are staying in a hut in the middle of the ski area and not down in the valley. Others, on the other hand, have the option of sharpening their edges using the appropriate tools (file or Edge grinders) to have the “workshop” with them and to be able to grind whenever they want.
Frequency of grinding process
However, opinions differ on the frequency of grinding. Should you go over the edges once a week? Or is it enough at the beginning of the skiing holiday? Concerns are often expressed about the wear on the edges. If you grind the skis too often, you will eventually not be able to use them anymore. How often you can actually grind your skis until they are unusable is a question of opinion. depends on several factors When filing, depending on the file used and the pressure applied, up to two tenths of a millimeter are removed from the edge. When grinding with an electric ski edge grinder such as the ES2000PLUS become per grinding pass up to two hundredths from the edge. Depending on the tool used, this requires 10 to 100 grinding or filing operations.
Sharpening ski edges - How often?
How often you should sharpen your skis depends on many factors. For example, you have to consider the Condition of the slope . Is there artificial snow on the slope and is the slope interspersed with ice? If so, then the edge of the ski will wear down much faster than if you are skiing in normal snow conditions or even in powder snow. Furthermore, you will of course have to grind the ski edges more often if you every day for several hours instead of just making a few turns on the slope. The angle of the ski side edge also influences its longevity. The sharper the angle, the faster the edge becomes blunt when skiing. You can find out which angle of the edge is suitable for which type of skiing in our blog post Grinding ski edges – which angle? Read more. A blanket statement Grinding like once or twice a week is therefore not possible .
TO THE GRINDING MACHINES
Blunting the edge
In general, it can be said that the edges of skis and snowboards become blunt relatively quickly.
Therefore, it is always beneficial to hit the slopes with freshly sharpened edges. This always promotes Safety on the slope and ensures more driving pleasure.
Tip : Skis and snowboards are not delivered from the factory with perfectly sharp edges. This is not possible from a production point of view. Therefore, it is recommended to test and grind the edges immediately after purchase. This ensures optimum safety on the first day with the new skis. A perfectly sharpened edge is no longer in optimal condition after the first run. But that does not mean that you have to take a file with you to go over the edge again at every pit stop. On a day of skiing from around 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and normal piste conditions It would therefore be sufficient, for example, every other day to drag over the edges. But here too, everything depends on the driving behavior.
Therefore, it is always beneficial to hit the slopes with freshly sharpened edges. This always promotes Safety on the slope and ensures more driving pleasure.
Tip : Skis and snowboards are not delivered from the factory with perfectly sharp edges. This is not possible from a production point of view. Therefore, it is recommended to test and grind the edges immediately after purchase. This ensures optimum safety on the first day with the new skis. A perfectly sharpened edge is no longer in optimal condition after the first run. But that does not mean that you have to take a file with you to go over the edge again at every pit stop. On a day of skiing from around 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and normal piste conditions It would therefore be sufficient, for example, every other day to drag over the edges. But here too, everything depends on the driving behavior.
Feeling for the sharpness of the edge
Since safety on the slopes takes precedence over all other aspects of skiing, it is important to have a feel for the Blunting the edge to get. Often, after skiing one day, you will notice that the edge is less sharp than the day before. In the evening after a day of skiing, carefully run your finger along the edge of your ski. Does the edge feel particularly sharp? This is because the edge has bent a little bit due to the pressure while skiing, creating a ridge. This means that the edge feels sharp, but is no longer sharp. You can Test the sharpness of the edge by running your fingernail up the edge. If the edge scrapes off a little of your fingernail, it is sharp. You can also use this test immediately after sanding to check the sharpness level. Please be extra careful and make sure you do not injure yourself on the sharp edge.
Once you get a feel for the sharpness of the edge, you can sharpen it as needed. The edge should be in optimal condition every day . Especially if you mainly ski down black slopes. For safety reasons, it is therefore advisable to keep the edge sufficiently sharp at all times. But this is definitely not the case if you only take the ski to the ski shop for service once or twice a season!
Once you get a feel for the sharpness of the edge, you can sharpen it as needed. The edge should be in optimal condition every day . Especially if you mainly ski down black slopes. For safety reasons, it is therefore advisable to keep the edge sufficiently sharp at all times. But this is definitely not the case if you only take the ski to the ski shop for service once or twice a season!
So sand your edges as often as possible . After a while, when you ski and test the edge, you will get a feel for how sharp the edge is and how sharp it should be. If you don't want to spend too much money on ski servicing in the long term, but still value an optimally sharp edge, it is worth buying tools to carry out the service yourself. Whether it is a file or an electric edge grinder, both devices offer you the opportunity to resharpen the ski anytime and anywhere.
With the ES 2000PLUS you can prepare your edges yourself and save yourself a trip to the service workshop. This saves you a lot of time and you are no longer tied to opening hours. For you, that means more time on the slopes!
