Your board looks like a small animal has been gnawing on it. Your skis look like a teenage acne attack. It’s time for a tune. So spend $30 bucks to get it fixed up? Or is it finally time to learn how to take care of your equipment?  

Nothing against shop tunes, but there are two reasons to go DIY:  Quality and Cost.  It costs a little coin for the initial set-up, but it’s worth it in the long run.  As far as quality, nothing beats a hand tune.  If you’ve never tuned your ride before, you’ll need a few tools of the trade.

TUNING CHECKLIST

1.   A tuning kit. Don’t worry the first few times out about the full set-up. Just start with the basics. Here’s a basic kit from DAKINE. It’s meant for snowboards, but we’ve used it on skis as well

2.   An iron. You’ll need this for melting all that sweet wax. Any old iron will do.

3.   Rock skis/board. Becoming a master tuner takes a bit of practice. So before you start mauling your brand new sticks, spend a few times working on old equipment.

4.   A radio that plays classic rock. It doesn’t even matter if you like classic rock.

5.   A six-pack of beer. Beer tastes better when you’re tuning skis. Maybe it’s the classic rock. Maybe it’s the thick haze in the air. We don’t know. But this is a scientific fact.

6.   An area that can get dirty. There’s going to be metal shavings, melted wax, and spilled beer so pick a place that you don’t mind trashing. Garages and unfinished basements are the best places. The living room…not so great.  Hotel room…awesome.  

Now that you got the basics, here’s a beginner video starring Doug Coombs to get started. Crack open the first beer, sit back, and learn from the experts.  

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O5GUAtShiU