SKI SERVICE BY HAND
Good ski service in the beginning of the season is essential!
Powder snow and blue skies! This is what skiers dream of all summer long. But in contrast to the skiers eagerly awaiting the beginning of the winter season, their skis are still battered from last year: dulled, rusty edges and brittle bases may well ruin one’s winter pleasure. This is why your skis need a good service before the beginning of the season, which is something that everyone can do after some practise.
Ski equipment which is well looked after and functional is essential for fun and success on the piste. Especially in the beginning of the season every skier should therefore check his or her equipment critically. Have stones or aggressive, coarse-grained snow damaged the ski during the last season? The right maintenance of coating and edges allow better control over the skis and more pleasure and security at the same time. And besides, good maintenance also implies the conservation of value.
Clever ones have already thought ahead and indulged their skis with a service including care wax in the end of the last winter season before storing them away for their deserved summer sleep. In the beginning of the new season, they save a lot of time preparing their skis, because they just have to remove the care wax layer before cleaning the skis and waxing them anew.
If you measure up your skis in the beginning of the season, you have to clean them first in order to remove dirt and rests of wax. The best way to do so is using special cleaning supplies and wax removers applied on a piece of fleece cloth.
Repairing coating and edges
Scratches and cracks in the coating can be repaired by dint of a strip of melted polyethylene, called ‚folit strip’: You just seal damaged areas with drops from the burning strip. After the matter has cooled down, you can remove redundant material by dint of a metal scraper or a body file.
Dulled edges or rough dents are pre-treated with a dovetail plane (oxide stone), in order to even the edges for grinding. “With edges that have already been grinded several times, the side bars should be tuned with a side bar sharpener (picture 2) from time to time. This creates a perfect angle for the grinding of the edges”, recommends Franz Nemeth, chief developer and ski racing chief of the renowned ski wax producer HOLMENKOL. Finally, you grind the front and back part of the edges (approx. 5 to 10 cm each) slightly hanging (0,5° to 1 °) on the side of the running surface. “These ‘hanging edges’ improve the turning characteristics of the ski and prevent you from catching an edge”, specifies Franz Nemeth.
For the actual grinding the skis are clamped edgewise into a ski clamping system. The relief-grinding of the edges (88°-to 89°) happens by dint of an adjustable edge grinding device or an aluminium connection angle with a file. Depending on skills and disciplines, up to 86° are possible. You should always grind towards your body so that you don’t hurt yourself with the freshly ground edge. If you prepare your skis often, you can cut the expenditure of time from 30 to 5 minutes by dint of an electrical grinding device (see picture 3). After the grinding, the full length of the edges should be finished with an Arkansas stone or a diamond file. Since the edges should be sharp but not cutting, you should remove the grinding burr in the front and at the back by dint of grinding rubber.
Waxing improves the gliding characteristics and protects
After the pre-treatment of edges and coating, the application of the wax follows. Ski wax makes the coating smooth and resistant. It improves the water repellent features and gliding characteristics of the ski coating. The choice of the right wax depends on the temperature, humidity and type of the snow. Before waxing it is advisable to rough up the coating by dint of an abrasive ski pad or a brass resp. bronze brush so that the wax penetrates into the surface more easily.
The chosen wax mixture is trickled generously onto the ski and then worked in by dint of a wax iron, which avoids variations in temperature. Soft wax should be ironed at a temperature between 105° and 125°, while harder wax penetrates best between 125° and 145°. Attention: Temperatures above 150° can cause irreparable damage to the coating! Using a fleece cloth lowers this risk and allows the homogenous application of wax. After cooling down, superfluous wax can be removed by dint of a scraper. Also the edges should be freed from rests of wax.
Finally: polish and finish
The final wire brushing uncovers the structure of the coating again. Now the actual waxing procedure is completed. For racing purposes it is advisable to apply additional fluor hybrid products. Fluor hybrid can be purchased as powder, paste or stick. It optimises the protective and water repellent features of the wax layer and allows best acceleration and highest speed levels along the whole route! Depending on the product, you either apply cold fluor hybrid with a cork or by dint of a sponge. Afterwards you have to brush and polish the skis well. While a plastic brush is suited best for coarse and wet snow, a horsehair brush delivers best results with cold, fine snow.
If you carry out your ski service consistently as described above, you will be rewarded with first-class gliding- and skiing-pleasure. Depending on the aggressiveness of the snow the ski should be maintained with hot wax every second or third day. “Even a very well finished ski loses between 30 and 40 percent of its gliding characteristics throughout a day of skiing”, explains Franz Nehmet. “Skies can never be waxed often enough! The more often you wax a ski, the better the gliding characteristics.”
So, a good ski requires regular service, which should also include two or three professional makeovers per season (renewal of the coating’s structure) at your sports shop. There they also offer special ski preparation courses.
Franz Nemeth, HOLMENKOL
