Nordic stone grind development…by Jim? No, I did not develop the grinds, but Lars Svensson did. Who is Lars? He is the “Goldmaker” or grinding guru and has spent his career developing and refining his CD and LJ structures, and training operators on his Tazzari machine. You lost me… He has made more fast skis and winning nordic skis than anyone in the world using his machine and his grinding techniques. He is a great guy and has a wealth of knowledge and we have spent hours upon hours together building out the machine and training, right here in Bozeman, MT.
A little bit about the machine which will say something about the structures being produced. A composite diamond cuts a physical composite stone based upon the computer program being fed. The stone spins and the diamond travels laterally across the surface. The diamond can cut left to right or right to left which is a screw pattern. It can also cut perfect linear channels by touching the stone, backing out, moving laterally, touching the stone, backing out, moving laterally, over and over again. CD structures involve a left to right AND right to left cut which creates two opposing screw patterns. LJ structures involve a left to right OR right to left cut (not both) and this creates a linear screw pattern. You can combine CD and LJ structures. These combinations are common and produce a structure that can handle both new and old snow conditions. You can play with the depth of the cuts, e.g., .004mm to .04mm (generally). You can also play with the speed of the stone and/or the speed of the diamond. Finally, you can layer cuts…something like .015 to .010 to .005. This feels like TLDR. It is…
This is way too much to come up with on your own without access to snow year around to test and retest all of the different iterations of the process. So, no, I did not develop these grinds. What I have done is take the existing known grinds from the Tazzari catalog and manipulate the depth and speed to produce, generally, more delicate (finer) grinds than found, in say “Central Europe” or “Northern Europe”. The manipulations are all based upon known frequencies, speeds, and patterns handed down from Lars and programmed in the machine. They are measured, tested and reproducible.
The machine doesn’t run itself and requires time and attention. I personally handle each ski that travels through the machine. I can listen to the ski on the stone and I can feel each vibration. All polished and dressed stones are tested and measured on a test ski prior to replication on a customer ski. This is not inconsequential and the product speaks for itself. Give it a try and spread the word!
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