white or grey areas on ski bases. Solved.
lo....@free.fr
following Kuzmin thesis and assumptions about "hairs" on ski bases, I
decided to give it a late season try.
I ordered a "Kuzmin sickel", picked up that old pair of race ski of
mine known for showing grey spots quickly.
I thoroughly scraped them (rendering the base flat, BTW).
After ~80kms *WITHOUT ANY* base wax, bases are still plain black...
First glide tests against my "fast" skis showed very good results. The
major factor influencing glide being grind, nothing else. Tests to be
continued.
Thanks Dr Kuzmin.
Now we need to know more :
- Can we scrap tail to tip as well as tip to tail ? ( I did it lightly
to presumably bring hairs up)
- Is it relevant to polish with some sort of "SctochBright" and brush
to get the shine ?
- Is a Final layer of pure fluoro product still usefull ?
Laurent.
ADK Skier
Where do you get a Kuzmin sickle? Ive attempted to hone a perfectly
square edge on on a meatal scraper and than put a hook on it. It never
comes out right and it cuts strings of P-tex instead of a peel from
the base. I can see if it peeled it would make the base flat.
Otherwise it destroys the base.
lo....@free.fr
I ordered it by email (shipping to France) and managed a Bank Transfer
with a Swedish colleague.
(International Bank transfer was possible but still subject to extra
charge)
A replacement for that sickle could be a cut tool used in wood
machines.
ADK Skier
Could you give a little info than that. Is it a metal scraper or
different kind of tool. Also what the source in Europe?
Anders
> Where do you get a Kuzmin sickle?
Skistart.com accepts payment by credit card; e-mail info@skistart com
You can also buy a "Kuzminsickel" - or a set: beside the "Original",
there is now a "Plus" and a "Minus" - from the man himself; e-mail
kundt...@kuzmin.se
Anders
lo....@free.fr
This is a very sharp metal scraper.The 4 angles are the same and can
do the job.
I have the "original" only.
ro...@invalid.net
argues that grind makes the ski slower and reduces hydrophobicity, which
then makes wax necessary. See his answer to Ian Harvey at the bottom
of page 2:
http://www.kuzmin.nu/files/doc/AnswerTo%20Ivan%20Harvey%20XCitation_3%20Sep.pdf
lo....@free.fr
I had three pairs of skis.
1 - Vandel L101C medium flex, CH + Nanowax Pro 4, minimal (old) manual
grind.
2 - Vandel L101 soft flex, not waxed, kuzmin-scraped, medium Swix
grind + Toko coarse grind.
3 - Rossignol Xium F3, factory grind, CH + Nanowax
Warm temp and soft snow. (note that Nanowax Pro4 gives splendid
results on that snow). I always have some quite soft skis as I weight
~65 Kgs.
The 2 was the fastest, at first.(No doubt). That was a kind of
surprise given their soft flex. I expected some high suction.
Then, I manually grind the 1 and 1 and 2 became comparable. (no doubt
either). with perhaps still a slight advantage for 2. I didn't feel it
myself but my friend did.
The Rossi were the slowest.
lo....@free.fr
Note that the point of this post is not if waxing is relevant or not.
Although it leads to...
The thing I'm now sure of is that Grey areas on the base are hairs and
that
they can be quite easily removed with a proper tool.
They have obviously a major impact on glide, when they're not
agglomerated by some "base" wax.
Now, can we get rid of the final layer is another point to be
investigated.
As mentioned above
I've always felt a good impact of High fluoro (Nanowas Pro4) on high
temp...
Jeff and Stephanie Kalember
due to WAX !!
??
right??
JKal.
<lo....@free.fr> wrote in message
news:6b64577b-0828-4140...@a22g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
lo....@free.fr
<kalem...@chartermi.net> wrote:
> wait, NO WAX on skis resulting in NO WHITE spots means the white spots are
> due to WAX !!
> ??
>
> right??
>
White spots are due to an hairy base. Hairs being hiden for a while by
waxing.
No Hair, no white spot, regardless of wax or no wax.
No Hair, better glide in the long run.
Note that I've seen stone grinded bases staying (visualy) plain black
as well. (Ski prepared by "il maestro" Taschler in Antholz/Anterselva
for the Olympics in Turin and then sold back to an Italian friend (the
serial number on them attest the "Fischer world cup team service")
Now, no-wax giving a better glide than wax is another story that need
to be investigated.
Kuzmin reports the "entire industry" doesn't use any wax nor lubricant
with UHMWPE. The thing is that the entire industry doesn't play at
worldcup races, where 10s over 15kms can be a huge ranking gap.
Kuzmin says that the future is better bases. Saying that, he almost
agrees that current bases are not that optimal in all conditions...
Yet, the enthousiats skier can own 2 or three pairs of skis with
dedicated bases and have a lower overall cost because of wax savings .
I'm very enthousiast about Kuzmin conclusion. Yet, I want to see by
myself
I'm fortunate enough to leave near the Vandel ski factory (France) who
let you choose among 6 types of base. I'll ask them if a tranparent
base could be an option.