Detuning/sharpening - lets make it sticky

now for my input (which is wholely uninpressive).

I started with the impression that I would just detune my new edges naturally by riding rails/boxes. The first day out, I caught an edge and took a chip out of it. So I scrapped that idea.

I went to the shop and bought a TOKO edge tool. I also discussed several theories/techniques with the tech...and he even brought me into the workroom of the shop and showed my some sharpening techniques on some chicks snowboard he was working on.

I ski all mountain...so I really didnt want to detune the shit out of my skis...because I like to carve. So my idea was to bevel the edge of my skis up .05-1 degree the whole length of the ski. It's my understanding that this will reduce the risk of catching edge on rails, but will still allow me to carve if I take the ski a little further over. Any thoughts?

Regardless, my question is this. The tool can do 88-89 degrees(I believe these are measurements for edge bevel), or 0.5-1 degrees (which I believe are measurements for base bevel).

Which is which...and which do I want to adjust. Informed answers only please.

Wow, thats way to complicated man, take a rock or file and grind down ur edge, jesus H man.

Freeskier had a good article recently, or Skeeze, I can't remember which. Detune under the bindings if you ride a lot of rails, and 2-3 inches past the contact points at tip and tail.

look at the armada t-halls. if you are detuning, use that as a guideline.^he was correct about the tip and tail, we do that at our shop on all skis except race ones

why would you detune all the way up therE?

to stop the tips/tails from catching on turns, or when spinning to ski switch.

1 and 1 is what most skis come with from the factory, so you "detuning" them to 1 degree isnt really detuning them. if you want to have an edge and still not hang up on rails, go with like a 3 degree base bevel. otherwise, just do the standard 1 degree and then dull them underfoot, you can still ski all mountain fine.

The bevels are different for everybrand, and sometimes within brand. Tognar has a chart with everything you need for that.

Tognar also has the best tuning resource on the web and there is no reason to make a sticky, just go there and read it.

for detuning buy a gummy stone.. its meant for dulling eadges.. u just slide it back and forth along the edges.

if you do rails and stuff, take a hardstone and rub it at 45 degrees under you boot, thats really all you need as far a detuning for rails

as for the rest of the ski, flat file the base side of the edge, and use your edge tuner to do the side edge, then take your file 45 degrees to edge faces, and detune your tip and tail, starting where the ski either gets skinnier or the tip begins to rise. then blend it just a little with your hardstone. then wax...

your good to go

yeah, 1 degree isnt anything. almost all skis have 1 degree bevels from factory. 3 degrees is usually good. however, if you do a big base bevel, you should also do a heavy side bevel, to help keep a good edge on the ski. what you might want to consider, is doing a 2 degree bevel the lenght of the ski, and and then 3 or 4 underfoot, of course smoothing out the transition. and of course you still want to take the edge down a bit. and yes, detuning the tips and tails helps a ton. you go about 2-3 inches inward from the contact point, and all around the tip of the ski. helps a TON with catching edges while reverting, buttering, or just turning. but bottom line, is your gonna hae to detune your edges a bit for rails, but if you do feel so inclinded to get tech with the tuning of the skis, it is possible to keep the edge acceptably sharp and still be able to ride rails without catching.