Simple ski service, edge and wax

We normally have our ski's serviced and waxed in a UK ski shop before we go. This year our two kids now also have ski's so that makes 4 pairs.

I would like to service, edge and wax them myself. I have seen the tools etc in the shops but I cannot find a book or video on how to do it. Does anyone know where to find a simple guide or video on how to service ski's?

Thanks.

Rob,
I would not recommend you do waxing and tuning just before you go on holiday!

Ski tuning is very much like learning how to ride a bike. You car read all sorts of books. You view all sorts of videos, but until you get on bike you will never real learn how to ride bike!

There is no simple short cut!

Sorry.

Here's a few sites to help you out. Good luck. As Pavel says practice makes you adequit. )

http://www.telemarkski.com/html/how_tele_tune.html

http://www.telemarktips.com/Edgetuning.html

and the largest links to the subject that i'vve found:

http://www.tognar.com/

Have fun.

Rob servicing your own family ski's is very easy don't be put off. When you have waxed and edged 1 pair you will be amazed just how simple it is.

My best tip is use an ordinary household iron ( without steam holes ) don't be fooled into buying a specialist iron, there is no need. Keep the heat setting low ( woolens/Silk) and take yr time.

Check out this link which should help.

http://www.monkeysee.com/play/507-tools-to-wax-your-skis

rob in my experience definitly cheaper out of uk just got my skis waxed and edged in france superb job 8euros,also as our hotel was short walk from slopes left skis and boots in shop by slopes for 1euro a set per night.

Swix have a nice site with videos etc that demystifies this, it's not an art at all, just a simple process to follow. The site is here : http://www.swixschool.com

i have a technique of doing them that my father has been doing for all the years he has been skiing, his skis are in almost perfect condition, and they are 12 years old.


Some tools youll need:

1.)A metal scraper, or anytype of straight edged scraper that i spreferebly metal so you can apply alot of pressure to it without it bending

2.) a flat iron or lower end steam iron with adjustable heat settings( just remember to not have any water in the iron

3.) Surform tool, i know that craftsman sells these, also know as a planer, it has many teeth on a cheese grater type surface ( this is really used for repairing any gouges in your base)

4.) a Mill bastard file, straight, with one set of angle on the surface

5.) a grinding stone ( to remove any burrs on the edges, basically your honing the edge with this)

6.) Wax of any kind, red is one of the softer types of wax, it is the easiest to work with but scrapes off easier, i prefer to use blue, it is a nice stable type of wax

7.) colored p-tex ( to repair your bases with, ski shops usually sell it by the foot for about 2-4$ US)

the procedure for doing this is pretty simple
ALWAYS RUN FROM TIP TO TAIL

BEFORE YOU DO ANY WORK, TAKE A PAIR OF BOOTS AND LOCK THEM INTO THE BINDINGS SO YOU HAVE A BRAKE FEE AREA TO WORK WITH

1.) youll want to take your scraper and slowly take it down the ski surface looking from side to side to see that your base is completley flat, not convex, or concave, if you have your skis done at a shop alot this may be likely the case, as all it takes is one little bump on their machine to make your skis uneven. if your skis are uneven, take them to a local ski shop that does this service by hand they will know what to do.

2.) after you have done number 1, proceed to flat filling the base of your edge by :
a.) holding your file flat against the ski base
b.) angling the file so that its slanted at a 45 degree angle but still flat on your ski
c.) pulling the file down towards the tail, applying slight pressure depending on how bad your skis are ( if their rusty or knicked real bad more pressure is needed, if your putting them away for the season and they are still shiny and not to bad looking then lighter pressure is needed
d.) do not fret if you see some of the p-tex coming with it this only means that your shaving it all together which means your skis are flat THis is a good situation to be in
e.) continue doing this alternating every so often with your scraper looking up and down the surface making sure its flat
f.) once the base is well established, you can then proceed to the side edges, and building your actual edge.

3.) if you have any, take some mineral spirits, and rub the base of your skis, as to clean them and get any left over p-tex shavings off of that area

to side file you must:

1.) take your file and set it about half way on the ski, lengthwise so that it is running in the same direction your edges are, take your index fingers on both your hand and put them against the base of your skis, so the file always makes a 90 degree angle
WHAT EVER SKI YOU ARE USING MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THEM MARKED, AS YOU ALWAYS WANT YOUR INSIDE EDGE TO BE SHARPER THAN YOUR OUTSIDE

AS WELL AS THE AREA RIGHT UNDER YOUR FOOT BED FROM THE FRONT BINDING TO THE BACK SHOULD BE THE SHARPEST PART OF YOUR SKIS

2.) begin to file from tip to tail holding the 90 degree angle, you can do this slowly so you always have a constant 90 degree angle so your less apt to slip, take the file to about 4 in. from you tail end of your skis if your a beginner skier( i will explain this in a little bit), if not take the edge the whole way

3.) flip your ski over to the other side and repeat the same process

4.) if you are a beginner skier you will want to take those last 4 in. i mentioned to you, and begin to round off those edges, why you may ask? because with a round edge on the tail of the skis, it is a whole lot easier to turn them, versus a straight 90 degree angle that oyu have to exert twice as much force to turn with

YOU ARE NOW READY TO WAX YOUR SKIS

you can do this in the house no problem just lay down alot of newspaper in your work space to make cleanup a breeze.

you will need to find an area prefrebly a bench that you can lay your skis on so that the tail end of the skis are on the ground while the tips are resting against the bench/ counter, so the skis are at an angle

1.) heat your iron up, you dont want it so high that it burns the wax, just hot enough to melt it, you will heat you iron up all the while you still have your boots attached to the skis

2.) take your iron and flip it upside down so that the tip of the iron is towards the skis so you can 'point' the wax in the right direction on the skis, NOTE: YOU DO NOT NEED ALOT OF WAX, THIS IS WASTEFUL AND MORE WORK FOR YOU TO DO IN THE LAST STEP.

3.) apply the wax to the iron all the while letting the wax drip off the iron on to the ski, make one continuous line of wax from about 2-3 in. from the tip of your ski to about 3-4 inches from the tail end

4.) flip your iron back again so that i looks like you are ready to iron a shirt

5.) take the iron and rub the wax on your skis, you will see it melt and go over the surface of the skis, don't worry if it drips to the side i will come back to that.

6.) keep rubbing the wax on until you have a nice smooth coating all over the skis

7.) take your scraper again after the wax has cooled, and scrape the wax on the base of the skis, you will end up taking off a bit of it but you will still leave a coating on that is flush with your edge( hence the flat base i for-mentioned in the beginning of the feed, the skis will feel sticky on the bottom, thats alright

8. take your scraper and gently along the sides of the edges, just scrape of all the wax that dripped down the sides

9.) then take you stone, and with the same procedure as your side edges run it from tip to tail with the fine edge of it, to remove any burrs, and to hone your egde

10.) find a nylon stocking or buffing cloth, and proceed to rub vigorously the base of the ski till you get a polished finish

CONGRATS YOU HAVE NOW FINISHED SERVICING YOUR OWN SKIS
I ENCOURAGE ALL OF YOU TO ADD ANYTHING TO THE POST OR TELL ME IF I MISSED SOMETHING OR PM ME TO ASK ANY QUESTION YOU HAVE, I WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER THEM,

good luck and good skiing

one little bit to add
if you are putting your skis away for a long time, take some folded news paper or paper towel, and put it between where the tips of the ski surfaces and the tails surfaces meet as the wax has a tendency to stick to its self

GOOD LUCK AND GOD SPEED

Hi Rob

There are quite a few ski maintenance guides you can google, and there are also quite a few videos on utube - e.g. this one for edge tuning -


I've been servicing my own for about 15 years - forced into it when the cost of having 4 pairs got too much. However some notes of caution:

- to do a reasonable job (i.e. not wrecking costly skis) it's wise to buy some tools made for the job. Some people might make do (and a good ski technician probably could) but when you're learning it could be a disaster. I bought a vice pack (3 ski vices that clamp on a workbench as the skis need to be very steady), an edge tuner (adjustable for different bevels), files to fit, steel scraper, an abrasive block, a nylon ski brush. Consumable like wax - different snow temps. If you have an old iron (without steam holes!) that's fine - I use an old travel iron as it's a good size - ski wax irons are very expensive. You can get all of these usually in a good ski shop in the UK, or probably from the internet.

- so if you're buying the basic maintenance kit, not cheap, it's an investment. If you decide to give up after a couple of services you might as well have spent the money on a professional service. So it's worth really thinking about whether you want to be bothered (especially if it's just once a year). Which brings me onto.........

- it takes more time that you think, and a bit balls-aching. By the time you get to the third pair you'll want to be somewhere else....and there's another pair to do. It's better not to leave doing them the day before the ski holiday (as I often did!). It's also better for the skis to service them on return from the ski trip as the wax will prevent them drying out over the year, and they'll be ready for the next trip.

- basic waxing is not too much trouble, don't let the iron stay in one place! Edge tuning is necessary but more care and technique is needed (check whether bevels are needed or not, and to what degree). Filling holes with ptex certainly needs practice, ideally on older/cheaper skis - initially I just got these repaired professionally.

- sometimes edge tuning with a file is not actually needed (and you can take off too much!). After a two or three days skiing you sometimes find a slight burr on the side edge - you can detect it using your fingernail. To take this off and return the sharp edge I just use an abrasive rubber block (for edge de-burring) - well-worth it and you can feel the difference when skiing. To do it imagine your ski face down as normal, then bring down the block at right angles to force off the burr at that point, then move along to the next section.

Good luck!