Tuning and maintaining your steel edges is pretty simple if you have the tools. If you don’t, you can take them to a workshop to have them machined. Everyone has an opinion when it comes to grinding. And much is a matter of preference. But it’s worthwhile bearing in mind that ski designers made their decisions for a reason…
Skis, especially alpine skis, come from the factory with their metal edges bevelled according to the designers’ specific intentions. But after this, they’re ours to carve, care for, and tune the way we want according to the way we ski.
This bevelling is defined by two numbers. The first number, for the base edge, tells us the angle the metal edge is cut where it meets the base of your skis. This affects the point at which the side edge bites the snow when it’s time to carve. The second number tells us how sharp that side edge actually is. To put it another way, if your base edge is bevelled to 1°, that means the edge is angled away from the snow at the base by a degree. Your edges won’t bite until you begin to edge your skis. A side edge bevelled to 1° means that this edge is angled a degree inwards, towards the centre of the ski (the diagram might be helpful here). This affects the amount the edge can penetrate the snow once it engages. In scientific terms, this affects the carviness of your carving.
Ski designers specify how the edge should be bevelled for different models of skis. Different skis have different uses (with different amounts of sidecut, rocker, taper, and so on, appropriate to that purpose). So the angles are often different. All-mountain and freeride skis often come with 1°,1° or 1°, 2° cuts. An FIS racing ski, on the other hand, may come with 0.5°– 0.75, 3°.
The greater the base angle, the more forgiving the ski becomes: the edge grabs less, making for a more “surfy” experience. As well as being intrinsically enjoyable, smearing with control is an integral part of every skier’s toolkit of techniques.You can alter or maintain the bevel of your steel edges with tools at home, or take them to a workshop to have someone grind them for you on a machine.
While it’s worthwhile bearing in mind that there was logic behind behind the original design decision, bevelling is very much a matter of personal preference.
It’s also worth remembering that grinding machines have a tolerance of +/- 0.2° and that the grind can vary from tip to the tail. If you ask a shop or ski rental to sharpen the edge for you, do make sure the ski technician clearly understands what you’re after.
General recommendations
Recreational skiers, beginners and intermediate skiers
Average skier
Hard snow
Soft snow
Base edge
1°
1°
Side edge
1° – 3°
1°
Asvances skiers
Base edge
.5° – 1°
1°
Side edge
2° – 3°
1° – 2°
Racing-ski recommendations
Junior
Slalom
GS
SG & DH
Base edge
.5° – 1°
1°
1°
Side edge
3°
3°
3°
WC/Elite
Base edge
0° – .5°
0° – .5°
.5° – 1°
Side edge
3° – 4°
3° – 4°
3°
The angles listed here are dependant on snow quality, speeds, and the skill of the skier. A physically and technically strong skier may choose extremely sharp edges in hard conditions. A razor-sharp edge means that the edge holds quickly and cuts deeper into snow and ice, giving better tight control and the possibility of higher speed. A less experienced skier will find that such sharp edges cut too quickly, too deeply, and too aggressively generally. This can be dangerous: knee injuries and collisions. Be careful when shaping sharp edges. It can make technical demands of our skiing that we might not (and don’t necessarily need) to have.
Sharpening skis
Daily routine
Give your steel edge a once-over. Look for damage and nicks. File out surface rust and small nicks with a medium coarse diamond stone or file. Be careful to go in at the right angle so you don’t have to spend time re-bevelling to make it consistent again.
Gently run your fingernail over the edge to test for sharpness. If it scrapes off some of the nail, it’s more than sharp enough. If it’s clearly dull, following the instructions below to sharpen it.
Bevelling the base edge – the steel edge extending from the base – means lifting it slightly from the snow a degree or so, so that it will not bite until the ski is tilted slightly. Too little angle on the base edge and the edge might not bite when you want it to; too much angle, and you might experience a little instability: you’ll really have to edge the ski to force a bite.
The side edge is usually sharpened between 1° and 3°. The higher the angle, the sharper the edge; the sharper the edge, the deeper into the snow it’ll cut. Too little angle on the side edge leads to a toothless skidding ski; too sharp leads to a ski with too much slicing-power (over-aggressive “railing” isn’t intrinsically pleasurable for all).
Edges must be sharp from contact point to contact point for carving. Without the bite, they’ll just skid when you initiate a turn. If your skis cut too early or too much, you can raise the angle of the base edge at the tips and tails, leaving the middle section (see below). You can also adjust the canting on your ski boots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u49ERIfuIzg
Video: Swix School
If you don’t feel you’ve mastered the art of tuning your steel edges, or if the equipment’s more of an investment than you can justify, there’s nothing wrong with taking your skis to the workshop at a ski centre or rental, or to someone you know with the required nous, at the beginning of the season. The maintenance isn’t too demanding after this!
Tuning the base edge
Always start with a ski with a completely flat sole. Get a base grind if it isn’t completely level.
Clamp the ski in a vice, base upwards. Using an adjustable file guide to set the angle you want, pull a course file towards you using long strokes. It’s not necessary to press over-firmly; you should be able to see from the shavings and the shininess of the edge and that you’re removing material. That’s all the pressure you need.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U35FMH5rusc
HOT TIP
To see where you’re removing edge material, mark the entire edge with a black marker before you start filing. This way it’s easier to get a good image of where you’re removing material with every stroke – and where you’re leaving it..
Crister Næss
Åsnes fixture, ski guide (former alpinist) and gear-dork
It’s pretty important you don’t file into the base material – you want to keep this as smooth as possible, for obvious reasons. Finish by polishing the edge with a medium fine diamond file. Polishing with a progression of finer files will improve performance.
Maintain the bottom edge by giving it a light polish with a diamond stone after any work on the side edge. Hard snow conditions and friction wear on the outer edges of the sole and can cause convexity. It may therefore be necessary to properly grind the sole to get it completely flat again at some point.
Note: Every time you grind the sole, the base edge will need to be reworked.
Planing the sidewall
Most skis are designed with plastic or aluminium sidewall reinforcement just above the edge. This can get scraped off by your file as you try to reach to reach the metal, clogging the tool, or can prevent you from reaching the metal edge altogether. The solution is to remove some of the sidewall material with a sidewall planer before you start working on the side.
Side edges need daily maintenance if your skis are to perform to their best. Hold the ski side edge upwards in a vice, base facing away from you. Like this, you can tool the edge with more control.
With a medium-course file, file with firm-enough overlapping strokes in a single direction until your edge is sharp. Follow up with a medium diamond file to polish the edge. You can use a progression of finer files for a racing finish.
Should skis be de-tuned at the tips and tails?
Older downhill-oriented skis tended to be longer and shaped with less sidecut. Turns were initiated with more of a rotary “steering” force, which meant that the edges at the front and back could be prone to hooking in the snow. The solution was to dull (“detune”) them at the tip and tail. Modern skis, on the other hand, with their shorter lengths and more pronounced sidecut, are designed to turn more on their edges, carving the snow throughout your graceful arc.
According to the current orthodoxy, it isn’t necessary to detune the new generation of skis but to keep them sharp, end to end. There are exceptions of course! Many of us detune our tapered fjellski (cross-country skis built for breaking trail) at the front and back for easier turns. And if you prefer a ski that turns a little more easily, you can detune the edges of your Alpine touring/freeride skis a little at their widest in the front third (and maybe at the end of the tail). This is literally the work of minutes with a file or fine-grit sandpaper.
For skis with rocker and taper you can detune the edges in the section between the widest point of the taper and the point where the sidecut ends (that is, the point where the skis begins to widen, fore and aft). You might want to begin by only partially detuning this area before trying it out.
Machine grinding
If your sole isn’t flat, or it’s too gouged for its own good, take it to a workshop. Stone grinding and machine tuning can work wonders on base and edges, even if you probably won’t get angles precise enough for racing (fortunately, most of us won’t be racing, of course). If you have the tools, setting or maintaining angles yourself when you get your skis back from the workshop after a stone grinding and having the edges done isn’t so complicated.
Tuning. Bevelling. Sharpening. What’s it all for?
Skis, especially alpine skis, come from the factory with their metal edges bevelled according to the designers’ specific intentions. But after this, they’re ours to carve, care for, and tune the way we want according to the way we ski.
This bevelling is defined by two numbers. The first number, for the base edge, tells us the angle the metal edge is cut where it meets the base of your skis. This affects the point at which the side edge bites the snow when it’s time to carve. The second number tells us how sharp that side edge actually is. To put it another way, if your base edge is bevelled to 1°, that means the edge is angled away from the snow at the base by a degree. Your edges won’t bite until you begin to edge your skis. A side edge bevelled to 1° means that this edge is angled a degree inwards, towards the centre of the ski (the diagram might be helpful here). This affects the amount the edge can penetrate the snow once it engages. In scientific terms, this affects the carviness of your carving.
Ski designers specify how the edge should be bevelled for different models of skis. Different skis have different uses (with different amounts of sidecut, rocker, taper, and so on, appropriate to that purpose). So the angles are often different. All-mountain and freeride skis often come with 1°,1° or 1°, 2° cuts. An FIS racing ski, on the other hand, may come with 0.5°– 0.75, 3°.
The greater the base angle, the more forgiving the ski becomes: the edge grabs less, making for a more “surfy” experience. As well as being intrinsically enjoyable, smearing with control is an integral part of every skier’s toolkit of techniques.You can alter or maintain the bevel of your steel edges with tools at home, or take them to a workshop to have someone grind them for you on a machine.
While it’s worthwhile bearing in mind that there was logic behind behind the original design decision, bevelling is very much a matter of personal preference.
It’s also worth remembering that grinding machines have a tolerance of +/- 0.2° and that the grind can vary from tip to the tail. If you ask a shop or ski rental to sharpen the edge for you, do make sure the ski technician clearly understands what you’re after.
General recommendations
Recreational skiers, beginners and intermediate skiers
Average skier
Hard snow
Soft snow
Base edge
1°
1°
Side edge
1° – 3°
1°
Asvances skiers
Base edge
.5° – 1°
1°
Side edge
2° – 3°
1° – 2°
Racing-ski recommendations
Junior
Slalom
GS
SG & DH
Base edge
.5° – 1°
1°
1°
Side edge
3°
3°
3°
WC/Elite
Base edge
0° – .5°
0° – .5°
.5° – 1°
Side edge
3° – 4°
3° – 4°
3°
The angles listed here are dependant on snow quality, speeds, and the skill of the skier. A physically and technically strong skier may choose extremely sharp edges in hard conditions. A razor-sharp edge means that the edge holds quickly and cuts deeper into snow and ice, giving better tight control and the possibility of higher speed. A less experienced skier will find that such sharp edges cut too quickly, too deeply, and too aggressively generally. This can be dangerous: knee injuries and collisions. Be careful when shaping sharp edges. It can make technical demands of our skiing that we might not (and don’t necessarily need) to have.
Sharpening skis
Daily routine
Give your steel edge a once-over. Look for damage and nicks. File out surface rust and small nicks with a medium coarse diamond stone or file. Be careful to go in at the right angle so you don’t have to spend time re-bevelling to make it consistent again.
Gently run your fingernail over the edge to test for sharpness. If it scrapes off some of the nail, it’s more than sharp enough. If it’s clearly dull, following the instructions below to sharpen it.
Bevelling the base edge – the steel edge extending from the base – means lifting it slightly from the snow a degree or so, so that it will not bite until the ski is tilted slightly. Too little angle on the base edge and the edge might not bite when you want it to; too much angle, and you might experience a little instability: you’ll really have to edge the ski to force a bite.
The side edge is usually sharpened between 1° and 3°. The higher the angle, the sharper the edge; the sharper the edge, the deeper into the snow it’ll cut. Too little angle on the side edge leads to a toothless skidding ski; too sharp leads to a ski with too much slicing-power (over-aggressive “railing” isn’t intrinsically pleasurable for all).
Edges must be sharp from contact point to contact point for carving. Without the bite, they’ll just skid when you initiate a turn. If your skis cut too early or too much, you can raise the angle of the base edge at the tips and tails, leaving the middle section (see below). You can also adjust the canting on your ski boots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u49ERIfuIzg
Video: Swix School
If you don’t feel you’ve mastered the art of tuning your steel edges, or if the equipment’s more of an investment than you can justify, there’s nothing wrong with taking your skis to the workshop at a ski centre or rental, or to someone you know with the required nous, at the beginning of the season. The maintenance isn’t too demanding after this!
Tuning the base edge
Always start with a ski with a completely flat sole. Get a base grind if it isn’t completely level.
Clamp the ski in a vice, base upwards. Using an adjustable file guide to set the angle you want, pull a course file towards you using long strokes. It’s not necessary to press over-firmly; you should be able to see from the shavings and the shininess of the edge and that you’re removing material. That’s all the pressure you need.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U35FMH5rusc
HOT TIP
To see where you’re removing edge material, mark the entire edge with a black marker before you start filing. This way it’s easier to get a good image of where you’re removing material with every stroke – and where you’re leaving it..
Crister Næss
Åsnes fixture, ski guide (former alpinist) and gear-dork
It’s pretty important you don’t file into the base material – you want to keep this as smooth as possible, for obvious reasons. Finish by polishing the edge with a medium fine diamond file. Polishing with a progression of finer files will improve performance.
Maintain the bottom edge by giving it a light polish with a diamond stone after any work on the side edge. Hard snow conditions and friction wear on the outer edges of the sole and can cause convexity. It may therefore be necessary to properly grind the sole to get it completely flat again at some point.
Note: Every time you grind the sole, the base edge will need to be reworked.
Planing the sidewall
Most skis are designed with plastic or aluminium sidewall reinforcement just above the edge. This can get scraped off by your file as you try to reach to reach the metal, clogging the tool, or can prevent you from reaching the metal edge altogether. The solution is to remove some of the sidewall material with a sidewall planer before you start working on the side.
Side edges need daily maintenance if your skis are to perform to their best. Hold the ski side edge upwards in a vice, base facing away from you. Like this, you can tool the edge with more control.
With a medium-course file, file with firm-enough overlapping strokes in a single direction until your edge is sharp. Follow up with a medium diamond file to polish the edge. You can use a progression of finer files for a racing finish.
Should skis be de-tuned at the tips and tails?
Older downhill-oriented skis tended to be longer and shaped with less sidecut. Turns were initiated with more of a rotary “steering” force, which meant that the edges at the front and back could be prone to hooking in the snow. The solution was to dull (“detune”) them at the tip and tail. Modern skis, on the other hand, with their shorter lengths and more pronounced sidecut, are designed to turn more on their edges, carving the snow throughout your graceful arc.
According to the current orthodoxy, it isn’t necessary to detune the new generation of skis but to keep them sharp, end to end. There are exceptions of course! Many of us detune our tapered fjellski (cross-country skis built for breaking trail) at the front and back for easier turns. And if you prefer a ski that turns a little more easily, you can detune the edges of your Alpine touring/freeride skis a little at their widest in the front third (and maybe at the end of the tail). This is literally the work of minutes with a file or fine-grit sandpaper.
For skis with rocker and taper you can detune the edges in the section between the widest point of the taper and the point where the sidecut ends (that is, the point where the skis begins to widen, fore and aft). You might want to begin by only partially detuning this area before trying it out.
Machine grinding
If your sole isn’t flat, or it’s too gouged for its own good, take it to a workshop. Stone grinding and machine tuning can work wonders on base and edges, even if you probably won’t get angles precise enough for racing (fortunately, most of us won’t be racing, of course). If you have the tools, setting or maintaining angles yourself when you get your skis back from the workshop after a stone grinding and having the edges done isn’t so complicated.
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