Snow, Ski & Board Pittsford NY

Just wanted to give my props to Snow, Ski and Board. Chad hooked me up with a tune on my Home-made skis. I was apprehensive about bringing these to a shop, and it turns out he was apprehensive about tuning them ("I don't mind taking a chance of there's a warranty behind the ski."). Here's how it all went down:


"Hi Kyle, this is Chad at Snow. I just started the skis, the side edge is at 3 degrees. When I started the belt grind, it looks like the edges are going to delam."

F@#ck. My concerns have been realized.

"Chad, I can be down there in 15 minutes to see what is going on."

"Ok, I'll be waiting. Just ask for me."

I jumped in the car and left the apartment, with a little bit of thought to what might be happening. Here is my thought process, pretty much in order:

1. Regardless of what actually happened, I can't have any bad feelings towards the shop, these skis were essentially prototypes.
2. What the hell caused the edges to pull out? How hot did they get? I bet it happened in the tips, as I stopped the edges about 3/4 way around.
3. These skis are homemade, I don't expect any retribution. If they offer, my materials cost is less then $100.

I walk in the shop, and Chad spots me before I spot him. He takes me out back to show me what he's done so far. Oh thank god, the edges are still on my skis! He was worried about a very small line that existed at some points between the edge and the base. I figured it was just the spots where my edge wasn't perfectly matched to the base, no de-lam. He also mentioned a few specific high spots (that I knew about) and that generally the bases were high. We decided to keep going with the belt grind, and to skip the stone grind (more aggressive on edges).

I told him I'd wait out in the retail area; he told me to hang out and watch. After each pass, we checked the progress w/ a true bar, then he would make a change to the Grindright machine, explaining why each time (reduced the feed rate to grind more each pass, but reduced the feed pressure to reduce stress on edges). He got it to where I was more then happy, and then one more pass made them almost perfectly flat. He said he could do the stone grind, but that it may be pushing our luck, and there was still 1 high spot on 1 ski. I told him lets skip it, I've got a rilling bar that I can use for structure. We talked about their wax a bit (he said they change it every few days for temperature), but I reminded him that I still had to add structure; I would just wax them at home. He then ran them through to get a 1 degree on the base, which made the bases look even better, answering my stupid questions the entire time.

I signed off that the work had been done, and he sent me on my way. I figured what the hell, and asked "What kind of beer do you like?"

He chuckled, and said "Anything that's cold. We like beer back here."

"Will they say anything if I walk in with a six pack? You've been a huge help, staring with the phone call and then spending the time to go through everything with me, and letting me watch."

"No, but don't bother. Hell, you made your own skis, I think you deserve to watch me try to tune them."


I went and did my grocery shopping, and while there I picked up a six of Long Trail. On the drive back to the shop, I was thinking that while the service was great, the $40 for just a belt tune. I walked in, and Chad was talking with another employee, who saw me first and told him that he had a customer.

"Dude, I told you you were all set. You didn't have to do this."

I told him that he was a huge help, and very patient with me and my skis, so no big deal on my part. I was hesitant to bring up the cost of the tune, but did anyway, suggesting that all I really ended up with was a belt tune package, minus the wax. He said no problem, and turned to the other employee who was listening in, and told him what was actually done to the skis. This guy said no problem, and asked how a $10 store credit sounded.

Fine with me, that was exactly what I was going to suggest. I had to buy some socks anyway.

They set me up with exactly what I needed, were happy to do it, and had no issues with letting me into the tuning area. So, in conclusion, I think somehow I started a relationship with a shop.

Plus the cashier was kind of cute.

Positive rant over.

Sounds like a fantastic experience. I will have to stop in there.

I wouldn't blame a shop for not wanting to run your homemade skis across a high quality stone, as a high edge can do a bunch of damage to a stone quickly. Flattening skis with a belt is less than optimal but it sounds like you got some decent results. In point of fact, you really can't flatten a ski with a typical belt setup, and in fact if you start out belting a completely flat ski the ski will slowly become more convex. At this point I think you should just send them for a a pass across the stone.

Uuum...

It was never an issue about damaging the stone. The concern was that if the edges were begining to delaminate, that the stone would most likely pull them out. He was completely willing to do it, he just wanted me to make the call. He assumed that if I knew enough to make a ski, that I knew enough to be involved in the tuning process. That is why I give the .

For the 1st pair, they are beyond fine. Next time I'll work out the kinks a little bit better, and the bases should come out flatter from the start.

I understand that. What I'm saying is that is not really the appropriate method to achieve the results you are looking for, though it appears it worked well enough for you in any case. Next time use a stone as is appropriate. That kind of rough work on an unfinished ski would typically be done with a harder stone than a shop doing high quality tunes would use regularly. Some shops will have more than one stone for this reason.