Tom’s Musings | Grinding Down to the Dirt

Tom’s Musings | Grinding Down to the Dirt

Which brings me to my new segment, ‘Should I Grind or Should I Own’.  

This will be quick. 

I’m a ski shop part owner according to my wife and partners but a stonegrinder in practice and at heart according to me.  

 

So we’ve been doing some grind testing in this winter of ‘none’ and even though it’s a small sample set, an interesting difference in performance of skate grinds in man made vs natural snow has emerged. Certainly other influencing variables exist that need to be taken into account but this limited data still gives good food for thought. Plenty of man made snow around to test in, not so much with natural snow. So that’s a challenge. But we have a tester that visits Bemidji often. More vetting will come but for now, its fun to talk and speculate. And keep testing. 

I’ve been aware of this this for a bit but linear skate grinds, vs broken line grinds, have begun producing more consistent results. Valley depth and width and amount and shape of ski surface area remaining after cutting a grind (to get a perspective, we’re talking hundredths of mm) all contribute or take away performance in those 2 kinds of snow. Compound grinds of linear and broken line structures (with exceptions) have been the norm. More ‘exceptions’ need to be explored. Figuring the right recipe is the fun part.  

Tom