Ski maintenance

Waxing Skis

Tools

Waxing iron

ski waxing irons are nice but any old junky clothes iron will work ok as long as you don't let it get too hot. The iron is definitely not suitable for clothes after this procedure! If it's smoking then it's too hot. ski waxing irons have no holes and better temperature control.

plastic scraper

Cork

optional for glide wax but essential if you want to use kick wax

Supplies

Wax

wax for colder weather is harder, wax for warmer weather is softer. I use a 3 wax system (cold, mdeium, warm) but lots of people are happy with all purpose wax which is somewhere in the middle. Fancy fluoro waxes are for racers and they aren't worth the money for backcountry skiing.

Basic Method for Glide Wax

1. Set the iron for wool or some other low temperature. If it creates smoke, it's too hot.
2. Melt the wax by touching it to the hot iron. It will drip (onto your skis, hopefully). You don't need a ton of wax on your skis, just a little drip line down the center. Then you iron the wax into the skis for a couple minutes. It's important to warm up the ski base so that the pores open up and absorb the wax, but don't stay in one spot too long so it doesn't get too hot and burn.
3. Let the skis cool for 20 minutes
4. scrape all the wax off with the plastic scraper. You should try to scrape quite forcefully in long smooth strokes. Unfortunetely, it can be tough to properly secure your ski without a proper waxing gig. Get a friend to help or try improvising with a vice. You can reuse the excess wax you scrape off

Advanced Method for Glide Wax

1. clean the skis with cirtus solves to soften the old wax
2. brush the bases with a brass brush to clean out the old wax and open the structure
3. follow basic method
4. buff ski base with the cork

Basic Method for Kick Wax

Kick wax is a great alternative to skins for gentle climbs and flat terrain under the right conditions. Wax works well with cold new snow, but poorly on crusty refrozen snow or melting corn snow. You can put skins on over top of all but the softest waxes without having the wax mess up the skin glue.

Softer waxes have more grip, but less glide. Warmer snow conditions require software waxes because the snow crystals themselves are softer. The temperature ratings given by kick wax makers assume that you are on light XC gear and can generate a good kick to make the wax stick. Since this is probably not the case, use a slightly softer wax than recomended.

1. At the trailhead, decide which wax to use based on the temperature and snow conditions. This is the hardest part.
2. Colour in the base of your ski with the wax. For backcountry skis, put the wax on the whole ski base, not just the part under the foot. The reason for this is that your skis don't have a wax pocket like double camber XC skis, and in soft snow conditions your weight will be spread out over most of ski.
3. Buff the wax smooth with a cork or it will ice up quite badly
4. If you don't have enought grip, go back to step 1 and put a softer wax over top of the harder wax
5. If you have too much grip (snow sticking to your bases) you need a harder wax, but it's difficult to put a harder wax over a softer one. Try scraping the wax thinner or buffing it smoother. If that doesn't work, scrape the old wax off with a plastic scraper and start again.

Waxing for storage

Before you put your skis away at the end of the season, wax them but don't bother scraping. Use a warm wax for this.

Edge Tuning

Tools

standard file

90 degree file holder

this little tool makes tuning the sides of edges much easier as you won't slip and dull the edge.

diamond stone

Procedure

Use the standard file for doing the bottom side of the edges, and the 90 degree tool for the sides. Do most of the sharpening from the sides, since this is easier. You can skip the 90 degree holder, but it saves a lot of slip ups that need to be corrected later. The diamond stone is for removing burrs and rough spots from the edges.

Regluing Climbing Skins

Tools

heat gun

Industrial strength is prefered, but a high powered hair dryer will work too.

putty knife

Supplies

Newspaper

because skin glue is really messy stuff.

skin glue

Black Diamond gold label adhesive is the standard by which all other glues are judged. One can will do a full reglue for about 3 pairs of skins. Once you open the can it gradually goes bad over time as the solvent evaporates. A nearly full can lasts longer than a nearly empty one.

skin glue solvent

Montana make a solvent specifically for skins glue which works well.

Removing Old Glue

You may or may not want to remove the old glue. It's a messy job, but worth the effort more times than not. If you just need a touch up job for some bare spots, don't bother removing the old glue. The benefits of removing some (or all) of the old glue are:

• removing the glue also removes dirt, pine needles, lichen and other gunk that is stuck in the glue. Clean glue sticks better.
• removing some or all of the old glue smoothes out the base for the new glue which helps prevent clumping up of the glue
• Too much glue makes the glue prone to clumping up

There are 2 methods to remove glue - the hot knife method and the paper bag method. Only the hot knife method is described here.

• This is a really messy job, so you will need a good working area and a lot of newspaper.
• Use the heat gun to heat up the glue and scrape it off with the putty knife. Applying heat to both the old glue and the knife for best results, but don't melt you skins
• wipe off the knife on the newspaper while the glue is still hot and repeat
• continue scraping and wiping until you've removed all the dirt and excess glue. There's no need to go over the top if the skins aren't too bad to begin with
• Throw the newspaper away. Don't even think about burning it.
• Cleaning the putting knife at the end of all this is also a challenge. Heat and newspaper work ok, but only paint thinner or a similar solvent will get the last trace of the glue off easily.

Applying New Glue

The solvent in skin glue is usually Toluene or something similar which is really nasty stuff. Known to cause cancer and birth defects in the state of California, so make sure to use it in another state, or better yet, another country. Only attempt this procedure in a warm, well ventilated place. Basically you will want to follow the directions provided by the glue manufacturer. 2 or more coats will be needed, unless it's just a touch up job.

• paint on a thin layer of glue using the supplied brush. Keep as thin as the glue will allow. Whatever you do, don't touch the liquid glue.
• If all the old glue was stripped off the skins, use the brush to work the new glue into the skin as much as possible.
• Be very careful not to get any glue on the plush side of the skins. If you do, just let it dry and then you can clean it later with a solvent.
• Let the skins dry somewhere warm for a few hours before applying additional coats
• Once all coats have been put on (1-3 coats), leave the skins open to dry for 24 hours. Don't fold them back together until they have dried for 24 hours, or the glue could go bad.
• It has been noted that drying skins in a cold place instead of a warm place can result in the glue peeling off the skins and sticking to your skis. This is not good.

Resetting Glue

Skin glue is heat activated, meaning it goes runny in the heat. Supposedly it is possible to smooth out bad glue by putting wax paper over it and then ironing it.