Backshop: How to put your skis away for the summer

By Published On: April 29th, 2014Comments Off on Backshop: How to put your skis away for the summer
Graphite/moly wax protects from abrasive snow.

Graphite/moly wax protects from abrasive snow.

With another ski season in the books, it’s time to start a spring sport, get back in the gym, or just sleep in and relax. Time to stuff the skis in the closet for the summer, too, right?

Not so fast. A few simple steps can protect your skis for storage and make them easy to work on when you next have them on your tuning bench. An ounce of prevention, as they say, is often worth a pound of cure.

  1. Make sure all of your skis are thoroughly dry.
  2. Check edges for burrs, dings, etc. File and diamond-stone the edges as you would for a training session.
  3. Scrape the bases with a sharp scraper; brush with a good steel or brass brush.
  4. Perform at least one hot scrape of the base — details are in the next section.
  5. Brush the base with steel or brass brushes after they have cooled from the hot scraping.
  6. Apply a thick coat of warm hydrocarbon wax. To get thicker coats, use a lower iron temperature while moving the iron faster than usual. You are trying not so much to saturate the base but rather to create a layer between the base and the outside world.
  7. Earn bonus points for getting any wax off the base and side edges (you don’t need to scrape) and applying a rust inhibitor.

This process will also save you time if you plan to ski during the summer, or will maximize the value when you want to sell the skis…

This is only a preview. Read further tips and the complete ‘Backshop’ article in Issue 12 of the digital magazine here.

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About the Author: SR Staff Report