Virtue & Vice

During winter, ski tuning gives me an excuse to grab a pint of Plum Street Porter, head out to the man-cave, and hone my ski edges while dreaming of the perfect waist-deep powder run. I love skiing but also have a wallet tighter than the skin on summer sausage. So to cut the hefty shop fees over the long haul, my home ski tuning set-up is the only way to go.

When skiing in the backcountry or just hiking out-of-bounds, the performance and reliability of well-tuned edges will help you ski better on any snow. And a proper ski tuning bench is the first step.

Enter Bozeman’s Ace Fisher and the Eggbar Vise (eggbarvise.com). Ace is a fully qualified PSIA instructor and has been skiing around the world for over 40 years. He tackled the annoying problem of securely clamping “cap” and tapered sidewall skis to the work bench. His unique vise has a rock-solid grip and will hold the ski flat for base work and vertically for side edges.

Once you mount the Eggbar Vise to a workbench or portable saw horse, just insert the tip of your ski in the front of the vise and cantilever the tail toward the rear support. The downward pressure from filing your edges is more than enough to hold everything in place. We tuned my skis last fall and the set-up proved to be rock-solid for removing edge damage from last season.

The Eggbar Vise has a patent pending and is fabricated right here in Bozeman. It’s laser cut from 12 & 16-guage steel at Midwest Industries and then powder-coated at Revelation Industries. Ace handles the final assembly to make sure that everything is up to snuff.

Eggbar also has nifty little tracks that allow the tail of the vise to slide fore/aft to quickly adjust for any length ski. Got a snowboard? The vise also comes in a wide version that does double duty. Depending on which features you choose, the Eggbar will run between $200-$300.

Locally made, saves money, and helps my skis perform better. Done deal.