structure

It's a patern that's usually brushed into the base (both the ptex and wax) that aids in breaking the vaccum between the snow and the ski. It essentially makes you go faster. Unless you're racing, you won't notice much difference. If you want to try it, the cheapest and easiest base structre is 120 grit sandpaper brushed with medium pressure from tip to tail. That will do the trick. Hope this helps.

^Yeah, Im sure thats great, but that is so wrong its damn funny.

Structure is the pattern that is ground into the base of the ski, by a stone grinder, to channel water away from the base. The different patterns supposedly work better under different circumstances, ie structure X is best in powder, structure Y is better in slush. Dont know how true all that shit is. Also, the depth of the structure has an effect as well.



In tractor pulls, a 'full pull' is the best you can get. Ahh, how sport mirrors life.

Actually, that would be you trying to sound alot smarter than you really are. The water is created when the friction of your skis moving over the snow melts it, causing suction to form, thus the vaccum. You are correct only in that the structure channels the water away from your skis, but only partially so, because it's twofold. It also (as I said before) works to break the vaccum between water, snow, and ski.
ski

No, I meant you were wrong about putting a structure in by hand, not about the vaccuum part. I personally have never heard of that theory.



In tractor pulls, a 'full pull' is the best you can get. Ahh, how sport mirrors life.

Here's a link to a good page for explaining all of this. http://www.tognar.com/bsstructtips.html I learned the sandpaper trick from a friend of mine who has taught lessons for about 15 years and has coached some of the best racing teams in the southeast. A recreational skier, especially a park skier, will not notice the difference between a structure provided by sandpaper and one done with a grinder or silicon carbide paper.

I gave up on the chevron pattern idea, I didnt feel like dressing a $1500 stone away. Back to the topic, you can barely notice a differnce with differnt patterns, some just seem to give you a little better control, and speed. And is that whole vacume tension thing you guys were talking about also known as surface tension?
He calls himself Lord of the Dance? I think we all know what happened the last time someone called themselves lord of anything.