low pockets in bases

[L&AirC]

It would take quite a while to wear a perfect groove that deep, and quite a bit of precision to have it that focused if caused by stomping on the heel pieces of the other ski. There would be a scatter plot constellation of gouges all around the base from 6 inches behind the heel to the mid arch area of the base if stomping the heel piece was to blame.

He's on the same skis, in the same boots and more than likely has the exact same feet in the boots attached to the same legs - each and every time. I bet each legs rom hasn't changed much.

He's popping off his bindings. Not throwing a knife. This isn't a stretch.

 

[crgildart]

He's on the same skis, in the same boots and more than likely has the exact same feet in the boots attached to the same legs - each and every time. I bet each legs rom hasn't changed much.

He's popping off his bindings. Not throwing a knife. This isn't a stretch.

I've popped my skis off stomping for 40 years over about 30 pairs of skis, some with over a hundred days on them.. Never a single groove worn.. Occasionally a random gouge here and there though,.. O/P's skis don't have that many days on them at all.. Not enough to do that..

I'm betting they ground down screw bubbles.. binding screws too long and too lazy to back them out and fix properly.. just hit the bases with a grinder quick fix.. Brutal!!

Ever hand file down a high base?? Ptex is TOUGH stuff. It would take eons with sandpaper on top of the binding to do that stomping off bindings..

 

[Jacques]

I had a similar thought that they were bubbles popped up from screws which were too long. holes not deep enough. Rather than backing the screws out and drilling deeper or getting shorter screws they ground down the ptex bubble???

Yea, my feeling on that is that I don't see mounting screws causing more problems than the size of the screws.
I will say if that was the case, the lamination of the base to the core would have to be very, very poor for a screw to push off that much base.
I guess it could happen, but I have never seen in many years of "screwing" with skis.
On time I was brought a pair that someone remounted and the screws were all the way through the base. The screws were sharp tipped and black. The guy had no idea until I pointed it out. Ripley's believe it or not!

I have seen many a bubble from too much iron heat, but those never contract back. Never. The plastic has permanently expanded.

This sure is fun anyway. I wonder what the OP must be thinking.

 

[L&AirC]

I've popped my skis off stomping for 40 years over about 30 pairs of skis, some with over a hundred days on them.. Never a single groove worn.. Occasionally a random gouge here and there though,.. O/P's skis don't have that many days on them at all.. Not enough to do that..

I'm betting they ground down screw bubbles.. binding screws too long and too lazy to back them out and fix properly.. just hit the bases with a grinder quick fix.. Brutal!!

Ever hand file down a high base?? Ptex is TOUGH stuff. It would take eons with sandpaper on top of the binding to do that stomping off bindings..

I've used that shop for close to ten years. They own their mistakes and I remember them giving one of my friends a pair of skis for messing them up.

I could be wrong, since we don't have all the facts. But no one, including me has brought up anything but speculation.

 

[crgildart]

Yea, my feeling on that is that I don't see mounting screws causing more problems than the size of the screws.
I will say if that was the case, the lamination of the base to the core would have to be very, very poor for a screw to push off that much base.
I guess it could happen, but I have never seen in many years of "screwing" with skis.

Check out this one.. Looks like the exact inverse of OP's ski..

[/QUOTE]

 

[crgildart]

I've used that shop for close to ten years. They own their mistakes and I remember them giving one of my friends a pair of skis for messing them up.

I could be wrong, since we don't have all the facts. But no one, including me has brought up anything but speculation.

Maybe they didn't mount the skis and crap job covering the poor drilling/wrong screws.. maybe they just did the base grind which just highlighted/revealed the problem that was already there.

 

[Jacques]

Check out this one.. Looks like the exact inverse of OP's ski..

[/QUOTE]

Ha ha. Nice photo angle.......not. Yes even from here that is a long screw.

 

[Sibhusky]

.. And it looks like a screw. Unlike the pictures we're dealing with.

Yoo-hoo! @weatherman ! Do you stomp on your skis? What's the rear binding look like?

 

[crgildart]

.. And it looks like a screw. Unlike the pictures we're dealing with.

Yoo-hoo! @weatherman ! Do you stomp on your skis? What's the rear binding look like?

Looks like a mirror inverse of it.. Like someone took a grinder to a similar problem but went a tad too far with the grinding. It would take a LOT of stomping to build enough abrasion to wear down ptex that far.. Imagine trying to do that to a ski base with a piece of plastic or smooth rounded metal.. I doubt it could be done with that. I stomp my bindings all the time and that's never happened.

 

[Sibhusky]

Well, apparently you have the experience to know. I spend too much time tuning to do that to my skis.

It's hardly a mirror to that screw pop. Bad grind, maybe. Or he always sits on the same side of the chairlift and the foot rest end is rough. I use the foot rest and don't get that, but there's rubber covering here. I think it's shifted off to the same and not mirror sides of the ski because it's something to do with always using the same foot for something.

 

[crgildart]

I think it's shifted off to the same and not mirror sides of the ski because it's something to do with always using the same foot for something.

By mirror/inverse, I meant that looking at the side of the ski, not straight at the bottom.. it dips exactly where a screw could have popped up, probably not nearly as bad as the screw photo but same general shape, an ellipse. OP's may have been very slightly raised in the same shape, then shop hit it with a grinder.. which is now a slight valley. Doesn't have to be multiple either,,, sometimes just one isn't drilled quite deep enough and that happens with the rest being fine..

I tune my own skis too. If stomping the bindings hurt the ptex I'd probably quit. I think it's more likely to ding the edge than hurt the ptex..

 

[weatherman]

Sorry to tune out for a day or so. Wow. Okay, to confirm... this low spot is after grinding -- many passes.

And no, I do not stomp on the bindings to release. I'm a pole release guy, so try again.

 

[weatherman]

It's worth noting that the ski originated from Sport Thoma in Bartlett, NH as demo skis. I'm going to bring them there next with a glare.

 

[crgildart]

It's worth noting that the ski originated from Sport Thoma in Bartlett, NH as demo skis. I'm going to bring them there next with a glare.

That might explain some of it. Sometimes demo skis start out as bad mount for a customer that got refused then became a shop demo ski after shop gave upset customer new replacement skis. My bet is still on a binding mount problem, screw suck, or tiny bump ground down too far..

 

[James]

Looks like a grind mark from something. Like a free hand portable belt sander tipped at an angle. I was trying to imagine how you could get that on a GrindRite floor mounted belt sander but can't.

 

[François Pugh]

Looks like a grind mark from something. Like a free hand portable belt sander tipped at an angle. I was trying to imagine how you could get that on a GrindRite floor mounted belt sander but can't.

Could be pre-existing damage that just wasn't noticed right away.

 

[crgildart]

Looks like a grind mark from something. Like a free hand portable belt sander tipped at an angle. I was trying to imagine how you could get that on a GrindRite floor mounted belt sander but can't.

Like trying to grind down a tiny screw bubble instead of backing the screw out to redrill or get a shorter screw..

 

[Jacques]

 

[crgildart]

 

[trailtrimmer]

Sorry to tune out for a day or so. Wow. Okay, to confirm... this low spot is after grinding -- many passes.

And no, I do not stomp on the bindings to release. I'm a pole release guy, so try again.

Binding stomp marks are dimples in the ptex and sometimes burrs in the edge if the heel piece has any metal in it. Edge abrasion like that happens from really hard cold snow and not keeping up with hard wax and the deeper gouge is likely just from debris.

As for the depression, screws are ramps, they can and do pull material up so the wood fibers can easily be pulling up on the ptex.

None of it matters if they still ski fine. If you mentally can't get past it, go buy new sticks, that depression isn't going any place.