Stone Grinding & Services

Tom the Goblin offers expert stonegrinding on our Wintersteiger Micro 1 Stonegrinder. We do stonegrinding year-round. Some of our customers include members of the U.S. Olympic Nordic and Biathlon teams, members from all of the major factory teams, many of the top collegiate XC ski programs around the country, as well as many high school teams in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Bring in your skis today and see what a difference stonegrinding can make.

Stonegrinding service is available year-round!
Any questions, call 888-finnsisu or email tom.novak@finnsisu.com

When to stonegrind?

Stonegrinding is not something that is necessarily needed each season. In fact, just because a base may look "battle scarred", that doesn't mean it should be immediately stoneground. If the skis are still fast, don't grind them. A ski base has a fixed amount of polyethelene and each stonegrind will further reduce that base. Also, a stonegrind will not improve the performance of an improperly fit ski.

Some of the times when stonegrinding is most appropriate:

New skis -- Some skiers prefer to start a new pair of skis with a stonegrind, while others will use them "as is", preferring to see how the ski performs first before deciding if they might need a stonegrind. Should you decide to grind a new pair of skis, iron in a few coats of wax and if possible, ski them in a bit.
Good skis gone bad -- You've had a great pair of skis that you've noticed are getting progressively slower. A stonegrind can remove scabbed polyethelene, resulting in proper wax absorbtion and restored performance.
Custom grinds for a quiver of skis -- structure to specific snow conditions -- cold dry to warm wet.

Stonegrinding Process

Stonegrinding is usually done in batches, largely due to the preparation involved with the stonegrinding machine. There is a four step process for professional stonegrinding:

Flattening
The stone is dressed to a course grind. This step can involve several passes with each ski to remove old structure and sealed base.
Blanking
This grind creates a flat, smooth surface on the ski base.
Structuring
The stone is dressed to the required structure pattern and the ski is then passed over the stone to impart that specific pattern.
Hand work.

This is a fluid process: we continuously experiment/test and refine the process.

Types of Grinds

Name	Structure	Conditions
Fine	Shallow linear structure. Broad snow type/temp range.	Cold, dry conditions. Single digits to below 0.
Fine 1-4	4 grinds developed for cold temps. Narrow snow type/temp range.	Additional options for cold dry temps ( call for more info )
Uni	Shallow offset structure. Broad snow type/temp range.	Low teens to low 20s conditions.
Uni Plus	Somewhat deeper/wider offset structure. Narrow snow type/temp range	Mid 20s to high 20s conditions.
Finn	Aggressive offset structure. Narrow snow type/temp range.	Warm (freezing and above), wet conditions.
Diamond	Aggressive offset structure. Narrow snow type/temp range.	Warm ( freezing and above ) granular conditions.
Custom grinds While most grinds we do are regionally oriented, we have the ability and knowledge to generate grinds for any location worldwide.

Stonegrinding Options We offer a number of different types of stonegrinding services. These include:

Standard grind: $59 -- Machine grind , hand work and one coat of base prep wax.
Standard grind : $79 -- Machine grind, handwork, 1 coat of Rex Base Oil and 1 coat base prep wax.
Refresh grind: $25 -- 1 or 2 passes over a properly dressed stone. Ideal for a mid-season re-tuning. This type of grind is very light and does not remove all of the old wax. Refresh grind only applicable to previous Finn Sisu ground skis.
Split grinds: $20 additional -- This process involves putting different grinds on the front and back halves of the ski.

Note: Base oil is a product innovation from Rex. It is a lightly fluorinated oil used in place of multiple layers of soft wax.

Note: $20 shipping charge for continental U.S. $8 for each additional pair. All shipping is insured. Additional cost for shipping to Alaska and Canada.

Before dropping your skis off, please scrape and brush all glide wax and remove all kick wax from ( sidewall and base ) with wax remover. Please add $5 if we need to perform this cleaning service.

Note: Please include a detailed note with return shipping instructions, grind preference from grind menu, e-mail address and phone #.

Please note: Outside of the Refresh grind, a stonegrinding leaves the ski in a very fresh, like new condition. This means the bases will require the same full base prep you would perform on a new pair of skis: warm ( or Rex Base Oil ), medium, and hard wax base prepping.