tru bar vs other "rulers"?

[Lilledonmarco]

Is there any real difference between investing in a tru bar vs using a good old fashioned, 90 degree metal right angle ruler?

I would think that the ruler (if its of decent quality), would do the exact same thing?

Or am I wrong?

 

[graham418]

Its a matter of decimal places. Do you want your straightedge to be accurate to .001 or .00001. Whether that accuracy is required for a ski base will undoubtably be debated here

 

[scott43]

You're not wrong..

 

[crgildart]

Pfft.. I've always just used a... gasp.. metal scraper. I drag it across a flat file to sharpen it, deburr it with a stone to make sure it's REASONABLY true. It doesn't matter in the end because the surface you're skiing on isn't flat and true either. As long as your skis are not noticeably railed, convex, or concave all is well.

I will say there is a personal OCD satisfaction in making them "perfect". If that makes you happy have at it. I don't think most of us would be able to discern good metal ruler true from trubar true on the mountain though..

 

[Lilledonmarco]

metal ruler it is!

 

[James]

As long as it’s rigid and straight. The advantage to the true bar is it comes to a point. They use to sell pins and square stock. A planer blade is pretty true.
You can usually tell a lot by the waxing iron.

 

[Hankj]

You can usually tell a lot by the waxing iron.

Never heard this articulated before, but ain't that the truth. Definitely tells you where ski is edge high, both with feel as it drags harder on edges and visually with how the wax is going on. And center high visually (it's got to be super bad for the iron to feel tippy).

great observation

 

[Dwight]

Ski-toolers like to think they are the first to have accurate tools.

Forget about machinists, detailed woodworkers, and the occasional engineer.

 

[scott43]

Ski tech: "they have this thing called an ez-out. It's pretty cool.."
Me: "uh-huh.. You don't say?"

 

[raytseng]

Lambs to the cosmic slaughter