question

I was examining the base of my new skis and realized there was a streak of
grease from my bindings. I accidentally touched the binding grease with my
gloves and smeared it on the base. How do I get it off? Is it possible to
get the grease off by skiing and letting the snow "wash" it off? I tried
getting it off with water and a cloth, but now there's a dull looking
streak. Does it mean I have to rewax?

thanks

Jiyang Chen wrote:

I was examining the base of my new skis and realized there was a streak of
grease from my bindings. I accidentally touched the binding grease with my
gloves and smeared it on the base. How do I get it off? Is it possible to
get the grease off by skiing and letting the snow "wash" it off? I tried
getting it off with water and a cloth, but now there's a dull looking
streak. Does it mean I have to rewax?

It isn't going to hurt anything. Wipe it off with a paper towel.

BTW, waxing should be a regular activity, not something to worry about,
so re-wax if you're concerned. In fact, wax periodically no matter what
- don't let ski bases "dry out."

Infodump: when bases are dirty, hot wax with a thick layer of paraffin
and scrape while still soft - cleans everything off; IMO one should not
use so-called base cleaners. No matter what the manufacturers claim,
anything that disolves wax will have some effect on p-tex (modified
polyurethane) ski bases since p-tex is chemically similar to waxes. It's
a bad idea to assault ski bases with chemicals.

Buy paraffin in bulk at gracery stores - it's also called "canning wax."
It's the same stuff as in expensive ski waxes, minus some minor additives.

"lal_truckee" wrote in message
...
Jiyang Chen wrote:

I was examining the base of my new skis and realized there was a streak
of
grease from my bindings. I accidentally touched the binding grease with
my
gloves and smeared it on the base. How do I get it off? Is it possible
to
get the grease off by skiing and letting the snow "wash" it off? I
tried
getting it off with water and a cloth, but now there's a dull looking
streak. Does it mean I have to rewax?

It isn't going to hurt anything. Wipe it off with a paper towel.

BTW, waxing should be a regular activity, not something to worry about,
so re-wax if you're concerned. In fact, wax periodically no matter what
- don't let ski bases "dry out."

Infodump: when bases are dirty, hot wax with a thick layer of paraffin
and scrape while still soft - cleans everything off; IMO one should not
use so-called base cleaners. No matter what the manufacturers claim,
anything that disolves wax will have some effect on p-tex (modified
polyurethane) ski bases since p-tex is chemically similar to waxes. It's
a bad idea to assault ski bases with chemicals.

Buy paraffin in bulk at gracery stores - it's also called "canning wax."
It's the same stuff as in expensive ski waxes, minus some minor additives.



"lal_truckee" may be right about P-tex being modified polyurethane,
but I have assumed that since most (perhaps all) bases on modern alpine
skis are polyethylene, P-tex is also polyethylene.
The few times that I have used P-tex, the burning P-tex candle did not
have the burning wool like smell of polyurethane or nylon.

Cleaning the base with canning wax does seem like a good idea, but I do
wonder about ski base "dry out". My understanding is that the base is very
high molecular weight polyethylene (PE). During summer storage the base
may
loose some wax (which as stated above is mostly low molecular
weight PE), but rewaxing should restore the wax without any problems.
High molecular weight PE will not evaporate. In any case, waxing will not
hurt,
and may help (but do not melt the base while applying the wax).

Except for sunlight, at normal ski use temperature, nothing else is likely
to have much effect
on PE. Even solvents like toluene or xylene have to be heated to at least
80 deg. C (176 deg. F) to start to dissolve the PE. Miniscule oxidation of
the PE may take
place, but most of us do not keep our skies for 30 years, so I would not
worry
too much about oxidation. Bindings are exposed to sunlight more, and are
made of a
different plastic, and I would worry about 30 year (or perhaps even 10 year)
old bindings.

I have a pair of ~30 year old skies, I just looked at the base, and I
do not see any sign of degradation, which in plastics usually show up
as very small surface cracks. I use one of the old skis as a wagon tongue
to attach my garden cart to my tractor for hauling rock and dirt around.
This
ski is one the early metal-epoxy composites, and it seems to be very strong.

Regards,

Ernie

"lal_truckee" wrote in message
...
Jiyang Chen wrote:

I was examining the base of my new skis and realized there was a streak of
grease from my bindings. I accidentally touched the binding grease with my
gloves and smeared it on the base. How do I get it off? Is it possible to
get the grease off by skiing and letting the snow "wash" it off? I tried
getting it off with water and a cloth, but now there's a dull looking
streak. Does it mean I have to rewax?

It isn't going to hurt anything. Wipe it off with a paper towel.

BTW, waxing should be a regular activity, not something to worry about,
so re-wax if you're concerned. In fact, wax periodically no matter what
- don't let ski bases "dry out."

Infodump: when bases are dirty, hot wax with a thick layer of paraffin
and scrape while still soft - cleans everything off; IMO one should not
use so-called base cleaners. No matter what the manufacturers claim,
anything that disolves wax will have some effect on p-tex (modified
polyurethane) ski bases since p-tex is chemically similar to waxes. It's
a bad idea to assault ski bases with chemicals.

Buy paraffin in bulk at gracery stores - it's also called "canning wax."
It's the same stuff as in expensive ski waxes, minus some minor additives.

It's funny, in many 100+ day seasons of skiing (not teaching or otherwise
working) waxing was never that big a deal. A once or twice a month deal unless
there was a drastic temp. change. In the spring I would use acetone to get the
"gunk" from the melting snow off of my bases and ski the spring snow without
applying anything after cleaning. I would need to re-wax when the spring storms
hit though. But that seemed to attract more gunk once it warmed up again.
Perhaps having skis that lasted on the average of about 1 1/2 seasons kept me
from experiencing any noticeable ill effects.

pigo