Fixing gouges in waxless skiis?

I (classic) ski mostly back country, ungroomed trails where conditions
vary widely and are often marginal at best. My 5 year old Fisher SL's
are getting pretty tore up and the bottoms have lots of gouges in them.
Is there anything I can do myself to repair the damage? I was thinking
of trying to smooth them out with 000 steel wool but thought I better
ask before I do something that completely ruins them. Thanks in advance.

Rich M

You may want to try Fibertexing the patterned section of the base with
the more aggressive version of the Swix Fibertex or similar product.
The steel wool could bring up "hairs" which would need to be Fibertexed
anyway. Unless the gouges are exposing base, I wouldn't worry about it
since the pattern section is not going to glide very well anyway.

Edgar

Edgar wrote:
Unless the gouges are exposing base, I wouldn't worry about it
since the pattern section is not going to glide very well anyway.

Edgar


Good point, I hadn't thought about that! Thanks.

Rich M

Rich M wrote:

Rich are you referring only to the grip section or do you have gouges on the front and back glide areas also.

Rich are you referring only to the grip section or do you have gouges on
the front and back glide areas also.

Both, although I was only considering repairing the front and back glide
areas.

Rich

Rich,
My earlier comment re gouges exposing base should have read exposing
the structural core, i.e. a deep gouge that cut through the base
material. In that case, you would need to repair the base to keep
moisture out of the structural core.

Here is what Noel, former owner of Sierra Nordic wrote re base repair:
"Therefore, the only time the base should be repaired by melting in new
base material is when the gash itself is so deep and ugly that the loss
of wax holding ability is outweighed by the increased drag caused by
the open cut."
See Sierra Nordic Tech Tip #18 Archive:
http://www.fwpages.com/home/index.ph..._selection=746
"DINGS, CUTS and SCRATCHES - FIXABLE?"

Edgar

Edgar wrote:
Rich,
My earlier comment re gouges exposing base should have read exposing
the structural core, i.e. a deep gouge that cut through the base
material. In that case, you would need to repair the base to keep
moisture out of the structural core.

Here is what Noel, former owner of Sierra Nordic wrote re base repair:
"Therefore, the only time the base should be repaired by melting in new
base material is when the gash itself is so deep and ugly that the loss
of wax holding ability is outweighed by the increased drag caused by
the open cut."
See Sierra Nordic Tech Tip #18 Archive:
http://www.fwpages.com/home/index.ph..._selection=746
"DINGS, CUTS and SCRATCHES - FIXABLE?"

Edgar

Just the information I was hoping for, thanks for the link.

Rich M