The process of grinding nordic skis is complicated and time consuming which is not an excuse or justification…
All skis that arrive are analyzed with a steel scraper for severity of damage. e.g., flatness (convex or concave or both), surface damage, edge damage, etc. and then work begins.
Step 1. Skis are placed into a work queue and flattening/restoration work begins. This can involve a steel scraper or the machine or both.
Step 2. The stone is dressed as a flat stone for polishing. Once skis are flat and damage is erased the skis are polished leaving them ready for final structure. Note, some of the time not all damage is erased. Common examples: 1. Ski tips. Ski tips are often concave (picture an upside down shovel) and have thin material and they don’t actually pressure or contact snow. So removing a bunch of material for the visual effect of perfection reduces the life of the ski and does not impact performance. 2. Deformed edges (typically under foot or binding). Maybe skiers are not rotating skis from foot to foot? Skis are often convex underfoot. Ski camber brings this section of the ski off of the snow and will not interfere with performance. Most of this damage can be removed but sometimes it isn’t practical when looking at the ski and life of the ski. 3. Scratches. Surface scratches (hopefully the length of the ski) can be mitigated and sometimes completely undone. The goal is to balance ski life (maintaining uniform base thickness) and performance. It is not practical to fix all defects and won’t impact the final product which is the sensation and speed on snow.
Step 3. The stone is dressed with the final structure. This could be a few different dressings depending on the grind to be applied and skis are passed through the machine 1-2 times as well. The final step depends on the complexity of grind being applied.
Step 4. Cleaning. Skis are cleaned with a cleaner (e.g. wax remover) and brushed lightly to remove residue.
Step 5. Heat boxing and Hardening. Depending on the grind/snow for which the ski is prepared the protocol changes but generally involves saturation (heat box) and then application of a soft graphite (with 3 melts) and a final layer of hard wax (hardening).
I’m not sure if I answered my question but if not, I at least laid out the process of grinding nordic skis in a somewhat consolidated fashion.
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