NSW Nordic Ski Club

Care of Waxless Skis

Paul Campbell-Allen, 1995

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Thanks to Paul for a very illuminating and helpful demonstration. At the Clubrooms.

Many people think that by buying a pair of "waxless " skis they have acquired skis that need no attention or maintenance during their useful life. They couldn't be more wrong. There is as much chance of being able to get away with this as buying a new car and experience no teething troubles or need to top up oil, water or tyres. You do not need to be a ski racer or waxed ski user to benefit greatly from preparing your skis. Do you ever have trouble with snow balling up under your skis? Tired of having others ski past you in seeming effortless fashion? Do your skis grab when you are turning? Judging by comments from members these are common occurrences. At the club meeting on 28th June Paul Campbell-Allen demonstrated that it is not difficult to avoid these problems by preparing skis for better performance and more enjoyment.

Paul explained that new skis, just like new cars, are often not in perfect condition. In addition all ski bases, including those on waxless skis, oxidise and this means they glide poorly or even ball up. This means that it takes more effort to ski and skiing becomes less enjoyable. By a simple process of tuning and waxing skiing can be made much more enjoyable.

For new skis Paul demonstrated how to check and if necessary correct faults commonly found. These generally just arise from insufficient attention being given by the manufacturer to finishing the ski:

  1. Flatten Base: Place a straight edge across the base of the ski and shine a torch behind the straight edge. The ski base should be perfectly flat but if not, you will be able to see the light in the centre or at the sides of the straight edge. Run the straight edge along the whole length of the ski. It may be concave in some parts and convex in others. If it is not flat along its entire length, sand with 120 -220 grade wet and dry (preferably 220) on a flat block. Use it wet and keep renewing until the base is flat.

    Note: in this, as in all procedures where you move something over the base of the ski, always work from tip to base.

  2. Deburr and Align Dendrites: Run Fibretex or Scotch Brillo along the base of the ski in order to remove burrs and smooth the ski as much as possible.
  3. Rill: Run a plastic riller along the base of the ski to place small indented grooves along the base parallel to the centreline of the ski. This reduces the tendency of the ski to be slowed down by suction between it and the snow, In rilling, be careful to compress the base is rather than gouge it. Plastic rillers (like short-toothed combs) can be purchased at ski shops or are supplied with some wax sets.
  4. Clean Base: Clean the base using wax remover or hot wax (better). Wax remover can be purchased at ski shops. Kerosene or similar products are not recommended. To hot wax, melt wax (any type of ski wax will do) onto the ski by pressing the wax onto a warm iron. Then run the iron over the base of the ski to melt the wax into the base. When using an iron on the ski, it should be set on a relatively low setting. If the wax smokes, the iron is too hot. Immediately scrape all the wax off with a straight-edged scraper. The scraper can be a metal or plastic one. If you are not experienced at using a scraper a plastic one is better as there is less chance of inadvertently gouging the base.
  5. Glide Wax: Warm base by running a warm iron over the base. Do not warm it too much - the ski should be no more than warm to the touch on the top side at its thinnest part. Use an iron heated to 60ºC min. - 100ºC max. It should not be so warm that the wax smokes. Drip a universal glide wax from the iron onto the base of the ski. You do not need much- just enough to cover the base of the ski when melted on. Smooth the wax with the iron. Keep the iron constantly moving and do not overheat
  6. Long Slow Cool: Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.
  7. Scrape: With a plastic straight edged scraper, remove excess wax with long strokes from tip to tail. If you are very confident you can use a metal scraper, but there is a risk of damage if you are not adept at using such scrapers. Remove as much wax as possible, including that from the groove.
  8. Brush: With a nylon or brass brush remove wax from rills by brushing from tip to tail.

All of the above procedures should be carried out on the smooth tip and tail part of the skis. For the patterned part of the ski, especially on skis with a positive pattern ie the pattern protrudes from the base rather than being cut into it, it is difficult if not impossible to flatten the base and wax it satisfactorily. Some possible means of treating the patterned part of the base include:

For old skis follow the procedures in 4-8 above. It is recommended that you wax your skis at the start of the season, and at the end of the season before putting them away to prevent oxidation over the summer. It will also be desirable to rewax during the season, the number of times depending on how often you ski. You will probably know when it is time to rewax - you will feel your skis slowing down.

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