This thread is money. Really got me thinking about snow types in different regions and different styles. Thank you for that! Going to start offering a "razor tune" and a "butter tune" option going forward, with some test butter tunes going out for a couple folks to test to help me refine that.
Also, got a few good DM / Email strings going on the topic. Here is a note I typed up for Carlh who is buttering in his own pair for the PNW. Thought it might be an interesting read for some.
Quote:
- Use painters tape and mark where the contact points and wide points on the ski footprint.
- This is the "contact region" of the ski
- will reference later, but this is likely the region (between these two points) that will make the biggest difference in the final buttering of the skis.
- The inverse on reverse camber skis is also true... so mark or visual the previous under your binding as being the "contact region"
- Now, put your skis into the vise, bases toward the wall, bindings toward your stomach
- give a good run-through of the edges with your hands.
- Any burrs? if so de-burr them with a ~200 grit diamond stone
- If knocking down hanging side-edge burrs, be certain to clean of the hanging base edge burr with a 400-1200 diamond stone
- Next, we fully assess the sharpness of the ski before doing any work on the ski.
- Any spots noticeably sharper than others? I drag the tips of my fingers laterally over the edges as I slowly move up and down the ski (ie how much do my fingerprints catch on the edge).
- How sharp is the area between the wide point and contact points?
- Is the ski sharp or have a burr outside the widepoints towards their corresponding ends?
- Then, we adjust accordingly, but in the order of importance... and if you need to do a lot on steps 1-2 you may want to ski first before moving onwards down the line, as the higher steps make the biggest difference and are more "everyone wants this and nobody doesn't"/
- Round the edges outside the wide points and remove any remaining burrs
- Adjust any excessively sharp areas inside the wide points by doing a couple of passes with very light pressure (stone just gliding accross the edge) a ~400 grit diamond stone at a 45* angle to the edge. continually re-asses and fully balance the sharpness through the entire length of the edge.
- Sharpnen any areas with an ice cut / finishing file that may be overly dull inside the wide points
- give a good few passes with a gummi to remove any fine burrs.
- If the above are pretty close, and you want a little more butter, then assess the sharpness inside the "contact area" defined above, and consider slightly detuning further. You DO NOT want a dull edge here, but rather something closer to 1/2 sharp. Same logic applies. Diamond stone at 45* and methodically refine the sharpness to taste.
- give a good few passes with a gummi to remove any fine burrs.
- Take a peek at the base... we have come this far, probably worth it to throw a nice wax on there too.
- crack a beverage and libate
- For sure ski it here, but if you still want a little more drift, repeate as needed, but mentally recording where/how/what you like as well as where the ski is catching, to accelerate the process next time you tune and/or next ski you mount up.
