Message #17502

[Svend]

"Most places will grind a ski to flat and then file the metal to the desired bevel angle by hand using a base bevel guide.'

I beleive I have been misunderstood. There are two ways to get to the desired bevel angle on a base (somewhere between .5 and 1.00 degree). You can either have the machine put it on at the desired angle or grind the ski to flat and then use file to bring it to the desired angle. Good technicians will grind it to flat and put the desired angle on by hand. If you don't have a good tech to do it, better to have the machine do it.

Gotcha.  And you're quite right in that a good base grind, flat, structured, followed by a hand tune to bevel the edges can also give an excellent tune if done well.  The $250K laser machines poorly calibrated and/or in the hands of a poor tech will give a worse tune than a simple flat grind followed by a hand tune done by a skilled tech.  Pays to know which shops do a good job, using either method.  I didn't mean to make it sound like the laser machine was the only way to get a quality tune.