DIY repair of the sliding surface of alpine skis

Early winter. Making amazing turns and reveling in your courage, suddenly you hear a terrible crunch under your feet. Just don't panic; Removing a stone dent in your skiing or snowboarding is very easy with your own hands.

First of all, inspect the damage: what is broken and how serious?

Then follow the doctor's advice, as it were: "if you have a headache, take aspirin, but if you break your arm, do not operate yourself."

So, you only have a dent on the sliding surface. Examine it carefully. If the dent is small to medium in depth and does not touch the edge, you can repair it yourself. For more serious damage, contact a workshop. Small damage (less than ½ mm deep) can simply be ignored.

If you decide to repair the damage yourself, then read on.

Required tools and materials.

• Vise
• Cleaner (or alcohol-based material)
• Metal scraper (spatula type)
• P-Tex polyethylene repair plug
• Propane burner or household candle
• Razor blade
• Sandpaper

Ski preparation

• Slide the skis up and secure the vise in the middle.
• Inspect the damage. If there are strands of base material around the hole, carefully cut them out with a razor blade.
• Remove excess wax with a metal scraper.
• If the dent is large, sand the inside out with sandpaper.
• Rinse with cleaner and scrub with a small wire brush to remove any remaining dirt. Let the skis dry (20 minutes to an hour).

Dent filling

• Use a propane torch or lighter to light the P-Tex candle at one end.
• Wait for it to light up (this may take a couple of minutes). Black soot flakes may appear on the burning end. If they come in contact with the slippery material, the polyethylene may not weld well. Remove them carefully with a metal scraper. If the flame is small and blue rather than yellow, there will be no soot.
• Bring the P-Tex glow plug to the damaged area. Instill the damage so that the drops flow from the edges to the middle of the dent. Fill it smoothly, as the P-Tex will taper as it cools.
• Repeat this operation if necessary. Put out the flames.
• Refrigerate the P-Tex for 15 minutes.
• Take a pointed 90 ° metal scraper and hold it at a 45 ° angle. Use small, jerky blows to remove excess material from the sliding surface of your ski or snowboard. Move in the direction that is most convenient for you.
• Wrap the block with sandpaper and sand the surface completely.

Do-it-yourself lubrication, sharpening, repair of alpine skis is real. In the article we will share our experience on how to set up the process at home, what tools and materials to use and where to buy them.

Self-care of alpine skis - lubrication, sharpening, repairs - seems to be difficult for ordinary skiers. We are intimidated by the many different tools, noisy machines and the spray of sparks that we see in ski service centers.

Reichmann machine - repair and maintenance of alpine skis

However, putting your skis in order with your own hands is not as difficult as it might seem when you look at this chilling sight. This requires a little knowledge, as well as a set of tools and materials. And later the necessary skills will appear.

Why self-lubricate, sharpen and repair skis? And in order not to run to the service center because of every little thing, wasting precious time and money. And the service center can be very far away, especially if you are riding off-piste.

Yes, we ourselves can apply the required lubricant in accordance with the weather, repair the “holes” in the sliding surface and perform general pre-season maintenance.

Again, who doesn't like tinkering with their skis, especially at the start of the season! We cherish and cherish them as the things most dear to our hearts.

Today the bathyscaphe descends to the depths where materials and tools for ski care are hidden from our eyes. Can you feel the light scent of hot paraffin wax on the cool sea breeze? If not, buy drops, you have a clear runny nose. Sit back and breathe in all the salt of our vast ski ocean!

In any case - to the places! The captain is already biting the wheel impatiently.

So, in the article we will talk about the simplest manipulations with skis. More complex repairs - broken mounts, torn edges - are best done in special workshops, which, as a rule, exist at every decent ski and boarder rental.

They're on their way anyway, right? Of course they do, but they can go better, and much better. Everything is relative.

Two of the most important factors that help to get more pleasure from skiing are sharp edges and an excellent sliding bottom surface of the skis (popularly - "slide", "slide"). And the drier the sliding surface, the more scratches on it and the dumber the edges - the worse for us.

Turning on a run-down ski requires a lot more effort than steering a well-sharpened and oiled ski. If you don’t believe it, you don’t need to, but the time will come - you will understand what we talked about. Then appreciate the amazing glide and grip of a well-groomed ski!

There are two options for caring for skis: you either regularly take them to a service workshop and pay for MOT (maintenance), or spend a one-time amount of money on ointments and tools, and then save your hard-earned money and tidy up your skis yourself.

The first option is simple and dull. The second is cognitive and makes life more interesting, and will be discussed below.

Well, here we come to the most important thing - the stages of servicing your skis, which consists of 5 steps:

• Preparation and cleaning.
• Repair of the sliding surface.
• Edge sharpening.
• Cleaning and lubricating the sliding surface.
• Polishing the sliding surface.

If the skis have not been put in order for a long time or have been used intensively, it may be necessary to grind the sliding surface on the machine (for this, you still need to go to the workshop). And only then start working on them yourself. Find a table at home, an office one will do, because signing contracts is not more important than skiing in the mountains, right?

To fix the skis on a household table, you will need the following fasteners:

Mount skis on a household table

For example, a set of "Toko" vices in the "Kant" store costs about 17,000 rubles.

Ideally, you need a special workbench with a vice, but you will get it later when you realize all the joy of personal ski care. Now raise your ski feet, secure them with an elastic band (as in the picture above) and wipe the skis to keep them clean and dry.

Wipe a heavily soiled surface with a special cloth, for example, fiberlene - it does not leave lint interfering with the work.

Special Fiberlene lint-free fabric

The easiest way to repair scratches on the slide is to use P-Tex candles. If you do this regularly, and there are several pairs of skis in the family, it is better to purchase a special thermal gun (although it is not easy to find one in Russia).

Heat gun for repairing skis and snowboards

If from time to time, burying deep scratches with molten plastic will do.

Here is the sequence of work:

• Clean the work area with a cleaner;
• Cut off the exfoliated plastic around the "wound" with a sharp knife;
• Dip it with a melted P-Tex candle;
• Let cool to room temperature;
• Carefully cut off excess plastic until a surface is at the same level;
• Sand the repaired area with fine sanding paper.

Important: Any repairs to the sliding surface can only be started after the skis / snowboard is well dried.

Always use protective gloves when sharpening edges to avoid cutting yourself. Even if you see a bare hand in the picture below, this is just a promotional photo.

Alpine skiing edges sharpening

Clamp the skis in a vise as shown in the figure. With the help of a special file (file) and a guide angle with a clip or a special "canto cutter" sharpen the edges with smooth movements along the entire length of the ski.

Use short, overlapping file passes, gradually lengthening them. Use a wire brush to remove any chips from the file after every few strokes.

Repeat this on both edges. The sharpening direction does not matter. Don't press too hard, let the sharp file do its job.

For greater clarity, I found an informative video on edge sharpening at home on the Internet. For those interested, see (English).

Rotate the ski in a vise so that the sliding surface is facing up. Scrub off old wax and dirt with a plastic scraper. For best results, use "hot scraping": heat the paraffin with an iron and scrape the skis with a plastic scrubber (in a pinch, you can use a CD box) while the paraffin is still warm.

If the paraffin is heavily soiled, use an iron to apply a layer of “base” paraffin, and then scrub it off - this way you can better clean the slipper.

Scrape off old paraffin wax from your skis

You can lubricate skis with an iron or using a ready-made lubricant that is applied to cold skis. Either method prevents the sliding surface from drying out, reduces friction and helps the projectile glide better.

Oiled skis are easier to control. Hot paraffin wax and iron provide better lubrication as the wax penetrates deeper into the pores of the sliding surface material and lasts longer.

Applying paraffin to a sliding surface using an iron

You can also use a ready-made lubricant - it is easy to use, but does not protect the slide for so long and provides good sliding. This option is ideal for quick field lubrication when hot method is not available.

Both lubrication options - iron-on and cold - are available in two types: for any snow temperature (universal ointment) and for specific temperature conditions (special lubricants).

Universal options will work effectively in most cases, but for a narrow temperature range it is better to use special lubricants and paraffins, they are more effective than universal ones. The result is that the skis will glide faster, and we waste less energy.

The more often the skis are hot treated, the better the sliding surface will absorb grease. So ideally you should turn on the iron after every ride. It's no coincidence that athletes lubricate their skis before every workout, let alone a competition.

Well, not for athletes, it is better to use the hot method before going to the mountains, and after each ride, lubricate with a universal lubricant designed for cold application.

After you've finished treating your skis, let them cool to room temperature.

Using a sharp plastic scraper, remove any excess wax. What remains in the pores of the material is enough for excellent ski glide.

Then, using a horsehair or nylon brush, polish the skid well with firm pressure from toe to heel.

Toko Repair Spark Plugs

So now we know how to care for our skis (and boards) - how to sharpen the edges, repair and lubricate the sliding surface. At the end, here is a list of what you need to work from home:

• Repair plastic P-Tex.
• Fibertex and remover for old grease.
• Special file and angle with clip or edge cutter.
• Plastic scraper (scraper).
• Stiff horsehair or nylon brush.
• Sanding paper.
• Universal paraffin wax.

Manufacturers of materials and tools for ski care:

All manufacturers are decent, besides, the sites of all three are translated into Russian. By clicking on the links, you will find a lot of useful information: what other tools are there, where you can buy them, how much they cost.

By the way, you will probably find an old iron with a temperature regulator, a lighter and a knife on the farm, and buy a file cleaning brush and work gloves wherever it is convenient.

Once again I enjoyed the fact that I wrote this work. Hope you find it helpful. Leave comments, requests and complaints, I will be happy to answer any question. Thanks to my friends who filled the gaps in my experience and knowledge.

Floating up ... no, one second ...

If the article was useful, and you liked the bathyscaphe, then subscribe to new articles and get ski benefit directly to the mail (no spam!).

• is it possible to ski / snowboard immediately after purchase - even if not, but really want to. Of course you can!
• do i need to sharpen the edges? - to learn close-up turns - no!
• How much is it necessary to remove transport (conservation) grease? - the first five descents will free you from this heavy concern.

• Go to the catalog "Alpine skiing"
• Go to the catalog "Ski boots"
• Go to the catalog "Ski poles"
• Go to the catalog "Ski and snowboard helmets"
• Go to the catalog "Ski masks"
• Go to the catalog "Ski backpacks"
• Go to the catalog "Ski clothing"

SPORT MARATHON: THE LARGEST TOURIST AND SKI SHOP IN MOSCOW. SAIKINA 4

You might think that Sport-Marathon is just another sports and tourist store in Moscow, and you would be wrong. We do sell clothing and equipment for alpine skiing and snowboarding, as well as tents, sleeping bags, backpacks and other products for outdoor activities. But this is where our similarities to other stores end. We are different!

Working in the market of top-end equipment for more than ten years, the managers of our company have accumulated a huge store of knowledge in order to try to make the really best ski and outdoor store in Moscow! And believe me, these are not empty words. Personal passion for tourism and skiing, hundreds of hours at exhibitions and seminars and many years of cooperation with the best distribution companies allow us to present a truly outstanding range.

In addition to an excellent assortment, we have tried to make our store not only a pleasant and convenient place for shopping, but a real Club and a favorite meeting place for all lovers of tourism, skiing and outdoor activities in general. Therefore, we made a new renovation, ordered special, individual trade equipment, suffered for a long time, choosing a convenient and pleasant light, and even developed the best, as we think, loyalty system for the most active buyers. We even found a cafeteria spot where you can grab a bite to eat during a tiring but enjoyable shopping!

Early winter. Making amazing turns and reveling in your courage, suddenly you hear a terrible crunch under your feet. Just don't panic; Removing a stone dent in your skiing or snowboarding is very easy with your own hands.

First of all, inspect the damage: what is broken and how serious?

Then follow the doctor's advice, as it were: "if you have a headache, take aspirin, but if you break your arm, do not have surgery."

So, you only have a dent on the sliding surface. Examine it carefully. If the dent is small to medium in depth and does not touch the edge, you can repair it yourself. For more serious damage, contact a workshop. Small damage (less than ½ mm deep) can simply be ignored.

If you decide to repair the damage yourself, then read on.

Required tools and materials.

• Vise
• Cleaner (or alcohol-based material)
• Metal scraper (spatula type)
• P-Tex polyethylene repair plug
• Propane burner or household candle
• Razor blade
• Sandpaper

Ski preparation

• Slide the skis up and secure the vise in the middle.
• Inspect the damage. If there are strands of base material around the hole, carefully cut them out with a razor blade.
• Remove excess wax with a metal scraper.
• If the dent is large, sand the inside out with sandpaper.
• Rinse with cleaner and scrub with a small wire brush to remove any remaining dirt. Let the skis dry (20 minutes to an hour).

Dent filling

• Use a propane torch or lighter to light the P-Tex candle at one end.
• Wait for it to light up (this may take a couple of minutes). Black soot flakes may appear on the burning end. If they come in contact with the slippery material, the polyethylene may not weld well. Remove them carefully with a metal scraper. If the flame is small and blue rather than yellow, there will be no soot.
• Bring the P-Tex glow plug to the damaged area. Instill the damage so that the drops flow from the edges to the middle of the dent. Fill it smoothly, as the P-Tex will taper as it cools.
• Repeat this operation if necessary. Put out the flames.
• Refrigerate the P-Tex for 15 minutes.
• Take a pointed 90 ° metal scraper and hold it at a 45 ° angle. Use small, jerky blows to remove excess material from the sliding surface of your ski or snowboard. Move in the direction that is most convenient for you.
• Wrap the block with sandpaper and sand the surface completely.

In the process of writing arcs on slopes of various profiles and qualities, alpine skis become unusable. Therefore, the main purpose of this message is to consider ways to remove this sad moment in all senses.

Snow crystals act as a good abrasive (skin). As a result, the sliding surface of downhill skis acquires a whitish color familiar to many. It is clear that this does not reduce friction and the process develops. You can resist this if you periodically, depending on the intensity of skiing, paraffin your skis. For a skier who spends 3 to 6 hours a week on the snow, the frequency is approximately equal to 1 time per month.

The skis are cleaned with a swab dipped in gasoline or acetone (preferably both in the specified sequence). Then, after a short drying, the sliding surface of the ski is greased with paraffin-primer (you can also use a candle in the absence of a set of ointments), then the surface is smoothed with a heated iron (tie irons are especially convenient). The heated paraffin fills the surface defects, and its excess is removed with cycles, that is, with a flat steel plate (good, for example, a wide spatula). The surface is finally finished by polishing with a cork. Then, on the skis from above and below, put on a long polyethylene bag and you are ready to start. Packages are put on so that during carrying, debris (dust, sand) falling between the skis does not scratch the surface. The need for this is clearly visible before processing - pay attention to the fact that most of all the slip is damaged in the 20 cm areas at the toe and heel.

Therefore, it is necessary to fix the ski in a vice and, using suitable files, grind the ski from the side of the slide until the surface is absolutely smooth. Checking with the same ruler. The surface must also be smoothed. A canto cutter is suitable for this purpose. You just need to remove the guide plate from it.

If there are defects on the surface - yesterday they were driven over the stones, then they must be repaired using well-known methods. I just want to add that heating with an iron requires special care (the consequences are described), so it is safer to use a 75-100W soldering iron. And yet, it is better to press the welded polyethylene with a polished wooden block, because, due to low thermal conductivity, it allows you to press still soft polyethylene. Do not overdo it with pressure - one beginner ski-master squeezed the bend zone on the tip of the ski so much that it became, as it were, part of a polygon.

In conclusion, a few words about edging. Do not be lazy with a velvet file to grind small defects that arise almost after every ride. Your glide will become much easier. After all, the ski, of course, needs to be waxed.

The rental equipment has one indisputable advantage - you do not have to take care of it. We just skated, handed over the skis to the rental worker and forgot. Preparing alpine skis for the season in this case - the "headache" of the ski resort servicemen.

But, if you have already acquired your own equipment, you will have to take on the entire "burden of responsibility". As a rule, the preparation of alpine skiing for the season begins immediately after the last skiing period. And after each workout it will not be superfluous to service your alpine skis.

Before climbing a slope at the start of the season, I usually check how sharp the edges of my alpine skis are. This is done quite simply. First of all, a visual inspection. No chipping on the edges - everything is in order. Further, you can scrape the edging with your fingernail and, if chips form on the nail, then the edges are still quite suitable for rolling. Otherwise, the edges will have to be sharpened. This is probably the main point in preparing alpine skiing for the season.

I do not advise sliding on blunt edges, because, firstly, it is not safe and, secondly, turns on a hard slope will be extremely difficult.

You can sharpen the edges during the preparation of alpine skis for the season yourself or contact the service for help. Alpine skiing edges are sharpened depending on the level of training of the skier. For beginners, a sharpening angle close to 90 degrees is suitable. Athletes sharpen at a sharper angle, but in this case the edges become blunt faster.

You can read more about sharpening the edges of alpine skis here.

Preparing alpine skis for the season not without checking the mountings. It is necessary to check that the fasteners do not dangle, have no mechanical damage that could have formed either at the end of the previous season, or during storage.

Next, set the required value of the release forces of the mountings, depending on your weight and level of training.

How to do it? Nothing complicated! You can find out about the adjustment of ski bindings here.

To prepare your alpine skis for the season to be complete, look at the sliding surface of your skis to ensure that it maintains its properties. The slide should have a uniform black color. In the event that a grayish or white coating is observed along the edges, along the edges, it is better to treat the skis with special paraffin and ointments that improve sliding with an iron.

First, we remove dirt from the surface of alpine skis that could have formed during skiing. This can be done with a damp cloth or special cleaning fluids.

On the fasteners, loosen the forces to the minimum values ​​so that the springs are not constantly compressed (let them rest).

To avoid drying of the sliding surface and the formation of a white coating on it, it is better to treat the base (slip) and edges with paraffin.

We store skis vertically and away from heating appliances. It is advisable to open the cover, providing air access to the skis, or even store the skis outside the cover or wardrobe trunk.

Having skated the day on alpine skis, before stuffing them into the car, it is advisable to walk on the skis with a broom brush, clearing them of adhered snow, and upon arrival home put them in an upright position so that the water is completely glass.

Then we wipe the skis with a rag and start dreaming about future snow peaks!

Thus, preparing alpine skis for the season is not particularly difficult, you just need to love your skis a little and they will serve us for a long time with faith and truth.

When buying skis, we always hope that good glide is maintained throughout the lifespan. However, a year or two passes and the skis gradually lose their properties. At a positive temperature, snow begins to stick under the block, and at a good minus temperature, the skis do not "go" at all. During operation, the sliding surface is inevitably damaged. Deep and small scratches appear on it, it is enough to drive along the branch and a trace may remain on the plastic. All these damages, of course, affect the quality of sliding and, as a consequence, the speed of movement. To avoid such troubles, it is enough to regularly lubricate and, if necessary, cycle the skis.

If you did not do this on time, and instead of buying new skis, you decided to put the old ones in order, then this article is for you. Where to begin? First of all, with the tools. The minimum set of tools for preparing skis consists of an acrylic scraper, an iron, a combined hand brush (nylon / bronze), and a rub (synthetic or cork). This is enough for the care of walking skis, if you have the opportunity to fix the ski with the help of improvised means when processing the ski.

For better preparation, a special table is needed, which allows you to rigidly fix the ski. It is also desirable to have a metal scraper-cycle and repair plastic.

1. Secure the ski with the sliding surface up. If necessary, remove the remnants of the old grease with a scraper, then use a cycle to remove a thin layer of oxidized plastic.

2. Carefully clean large scratches from dirt and fill with repair plastic (a plastic stick is set on fire from one side and the damaged area is poured from a distance of 1-2 cm). Then, after cooling down, the excess plastic at the repair site is carefully removed in cycles, achieving a smooth, uniform surface.

3. Apply ground paraffin to the prepared sliding surface, warm it up with an iron and allow the paraffin to harden.

4. Remove the paraffin with a scraper, brush the ski. Repeat the operation described in items 3-4 several times.

5. Apply paraffin, selected in accordance with weather conditions, on the sliding surface, warm up with an iron and allow the paraffin to harden.

6. Remove the paraffin with a scraper, brush the surface.

7. Repeat this procedure several times depending on the length of the distance from the state of snow. The longer the distance and the harder the snow, the more wax layers are recommended to be applied to the ski.

8. After applying the last layer of paraffin, it is necessary to remove the paraffin with a scraper, remove the rest of it with a nylon brush. Remove wax residues from the grooves of the structure with a fine hair steel brush (1-2 passes without pressure), and then polish the sliding surface with a soft nylon brush.

Your skis are now ready for the season.

If you still have questions related to the preparation or selection of skis, the L-BIKE specialists and the service center staff will always provide the necessary assistance and advice.