Steel edge

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On winter sports equipment , steel edges have an important function to stabilize the journey and increase durability (see obsolescence ).

In 1929 the skier and inventor Rudolf Lettner from Hallein patented steel edges for skis . He made his first prototypes from watch springs that he screwed onto the running surface. In a few years, the steel edge changed the ski technique - it led from wide ski guides to closed ones. In racing in the 1930s, the "screwed edges" were already essential for good performance.

From the early 1950s, the CD Wälzholz company developed profile edges, which were integrated in the pressing process, for many well-known ski manufacturers. With racing successes on skis with profile edges, which already showed resounding advantages at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina, profile steel edges also became established in mass production.

The edging - sharpening , deburring , polishing - include not only the maintenance of the ski base the most important tasks during ski service .

When it comes to snowsurfing - the swingbo and snowboards - the first models with steel edges came onto the market around 1980 and became standard here within a few years. The edge attempts of the Snurfer pioneers around 1970 did not yet have any lasting success.

The leading manufacturer of ski and snowboard edges is CD Wälzholz KG with a market share of over 90 percent in the USA and around 60 percent in Europe.

Steel edges are also used in other areas, e.g. B. in construction to protect exposed wall edges and plaster. Here, however, they do not have a flat, but rather angular cross-section.