BACKSHOP
Edgr: Made by Brad Taggett of Cold River Manufacturing, this was designed “for a lifetime of shop use,”
he says. Taggett’s design uses a porter-cable laminate
trimmer, coupled with a two-piece cast frame, and a
machined aluminum guide deck. The carbide spiral
flute bit, which resembles a drill bit, will sharpen at
least 5,000 scrapers, says Taggett. The Edgr is heavy
— a full 10 pounds — and designed for shop or club
use ($239).
Now for the test — admittedly, completely subjective. All
of the manufacturers are rightly proud of their accomplishments,
and for me it was interesting to see how each arrived a solution.
After spending time with each one and testing each one out, I
honestly believe that you cannot go wrong with any of the three.
But I also believe that each one is best suited for a different type of
user. So buy the one that best suits your user profile!
The great aspects:
The Ski Scraper Sharpener: Well thought-out global cord
program, excellent scraper finish for the money, unique approach
and use of materials (Trex).
Tri1: Light, portable, well made, superb cut and scraper finish;
takes up the least amount of bench space, debris drops below
device and is easiest to clean up.
Edgr: Superb cut, won’t move once you set it down; by far the
best guide system; will even sharpen groove pencils (for nordic);
best scraper finish; drive system is not proprietary and can easily
be replaced if it ever wears out; brushes in feed zone keep debris
from flying upwards; would be the easiest for shop pros, juniors,
parents to use with consistently reliable results.
The good aspects:
The Ski Scraper Sharpener: Doesn’t seem like it would be
damaged if dropped, works best with one hand on scraper and
another holding the device (a natural movement for less experienced
ski tuners), seems like it would be easy to travel with with juniors
(not much chance of hurting it).
Tri1: I liked that I could operate it with drill batteries or using the
Tri1 power supply; also, it’s the unit that would work best on a
technician’s traveling ski bench, with its small footprint and feed
direction.
Edgr: Has the greatest range of scraper sizes that you can
work with (up to 9 millimeters, perfect for snowboarders), best
combination of finish quality for the money.
Areas that need improvement:
The Ski Scraper Sharpener: Debris exits on the bottom through
a grate, which clogs very quickly. The diagonal pathway of running
the scraper through makes it easy to hold the unit with your left
hand, but also requires more bench space to use this effectively.
Will most likely end up being located in a stand-alone location in a
club or home environment.
Tri1: Designed for only 3, 4, and 5-mm scrapers — which is all that
alpine technicians ever use, but may not be best suited for a wider
range of needs. I might be afraid to leave this unit out in a club
environment for everyone to use, given how small and light it is.
Guide system is well made and accurate, but requires two steady
hands to feed scraper without wobbling. Definitely for pros.
Edgr: Debris exits at the bottom neatly, but with such force (it
bounces up) that I reached for my safety glasses right away.
Mounting this on a small shelf with a cutout over a trash can would
solve this issue nicely. And unless you’re a coach who doesn’t
mind travelling with a TON of stuff, you’ll most likely leave this 10-
device at the club or in the shop.
Wrap Up:
In short, the quality of the finish was nearly identical among all
three devices — so close that I would discount any differences;
however, the Tri1 and Edgr were virtually the same, and just barely
behind in finish quality was the Scraper Sharpener. Again, all left a
SUPERB finish — better than you can get by any other method.
User profile:
After reviewing these devices, I deduced that the Tri1 would be
best suited for professional technicians; the Edgr best for a shop,
clubhouse, or sweet home setup; and the Scraper Sharpener
would be best for clubs to travel with, or for affordable home use.
