Ski servicing?

OK all you experts, let me have the benefit of your experience.
I bought new skis for this season, having always hired in past years.
How often do you think I should have them serviced, and what type of service should they have?
I have used them for 1 week up to now and they have some scratches on the base and some nicks to the edges, but nothing serious, and they still feel sharp. They will be doing another 2 weeks this season and I would expect to have them fully serviced before I read them a story and put them to bed. But what about in between the current trips, what do you reckon?

Waxed and edged after every trip, that is a one week trip …. the light scatches will be covered with rewaxing …. to save money do it yourself.

I did three weeks on one service last year and had no problems. After one week this year the bases and edges look like someone has taken an angle grinder to them so I will need to get them done again before my next trip. It just depends upon how much of a beating they have taken.

At the end of season, always put on a protective wax.

At the start, check the bindings, and bases, have them serviced if required. After that, I have them serviced to conditions.

The main element for me, particularly for afternoon hard pack, is the edge sharpen. I get an 87 degree cut, but a normal 89 degree would suit most people. In soft porrage snow, I may have a double waxing, red under and silver over.

Like Ian, I used to service my own skis, but I now pay only a few Eurus for a service, (plus a number of beers for the techie)!

Mine get serviced when they need servicing, that could be after 3 days or 3 weeks depending on conditions.

Piste skis after every 7 days edge and wax. Offpiste I would do every 2 weeks but would wax myself between. New Concept show in Chamonix is servicing whilst you wait with free beer thrown in. Almost rude not to have them serviced.

Most ski bases are only about 1.3mm thick so if you put them in for a full machine service every time the edges become blunt or the bases get gouged they won't last very long.

I have the bases of my piste skis ground when the structure has almost worn off (usually once or twice a season) at the same time I get the shop put a 0.7 degree bevel on the base edges and set the side edges to 87 degrees. My wider skis get their base edges set to 1 degree and side edges set to 88 degrees.

Ideally the bases should be stone ground on a machine that has the facility to cut a pattern into the stone, which will then cut the structure into the base. Diagonal (KA) or chevron (CHV) structures generally work better than plain linear structures on piste skis, although most people won't notice much difference.



Between services I just keep the side edges sharp by hand filing and polishing with diamond stones (I don't touch the base edges), fill any gouges in the base as and when and hot wax them. If you don't want to go to the trouble of diy a decent shop should be able to do it for you.

At the end of the season it's a good idea coat the edges with wax to stop them rusting.

Good post SB. Many people will not recognise the terminology. The base edge relates to the difference from the horizontal, when the ski is laid flat. I generally don't touch this after the first setting, mainly because the side cut grind brings the side back to an edge with the base, (Not always, if there has been some rough skiing, perhaps not)