Linda found time to visit the man cave for an edge & wax lesson on her venerable Rossignols. Despite their advanced years the bases were in great shape except for a smear of rust on the edges:
Well a bit more than a smear but superficial really.
As always the party begins with donning the appropriate size & weight of coveralls, then a base flatness check. Unlike most modern all-mountain skis which tend to be a little concave at the fronts then flat under the binding to the tails, the Rossis were nice and flat at the front trending to a little concave towards the tails. Still, the lovely condition of the bases meant we would have been particularly cruel to charge in and start flattening.
Base edges are one degree and they needed little more than a few swipes to get all the Sharpie ink (and rust) off and settled into their old glory. Linda is using the 200 grit diamond file in the photo which is just long enough for the base file guide and needs careful finger support to keep it all together. Diamond file enthusiasts will note the spray bottle of highly specialised diamond file cutting fluid (Aberdeen tap water) on the bench.
A key part of learning to tune your own gear is to involve all your senses in the job. Fingers are great at feeling inconsistencies that you might not see; files running on plastic sidewall instead of steel edge make a high-pitched whizz and nothing really beats the 10x hand lens for getting to see exactly what’s going on. Lots of people struggle with hand lenses but Linda got the style straight away – hold it close to your eye and move your head close to the area of interest. Sadly all she got to see here was rusty pits on the inside of her edges but no matter – she’s around the curve of the tip so we don’t really care other than for aesthetics.
The side edges were a little odd in that they appeared to be somewhat rounded. Normally they reflect a single flash of light as you move your head sideways – they are after all supposed to be flat. Linda’s edges seemed to be a bit convex and reflected light like the back of a spoon. Who knows what has gone on there in the past. Anyway the edges took a few strokes with the sidewall planer to shed their overhanging plastic then a few aggressive swipes with the panzar file to get flat enough to file normally. After that they were fine and were given the usual chrome file, 200 grit diamond, 600 grit diamond and a final swoosh with the gummi to keep the edge sensible.
Linda opted for base Renew wax and Universal top wax:
And in a matter of minutes the skis were glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife, as Meatloaf once sang:
Look at that lovely original structure, still looking great after all these years.
Finally no lesson is complete without a shot of the proud owner showing off her handiwork – remember for the usual £23 cost of the edge & wax she got to do all the work herself. Just picture the satisfaction you could have hurtling down an alpine slope knowing that you had tuned your skis yourself…
I had a last minute panic that my old skis were in desperate need of some TLC a few days before going on holiday, but man cave was able to squeeze me in. I was able to stay and actually do a lot of the work myself as a tutorial. It was really great to actually learn what needs doing and what equipment is needed to do it. Now I’m back from my holiday and was delighted with the performance of my skis for the whole time I was away. I’d totally recommend man cave for a friendly and efficient service but also for the opportunity to actually learn how to take care of your equipment too!! Thanks so much!