Need Repair Advice

I hit some rough terrain today that did a bit of damage to the bases of my
Fischer SCS Classics. On one ski I have a gouge that is in the same
direction as the structure. It's not bad, but it has some strings and hairs
with it. What is the best way to deal with these? Cold wax & scraping?

The other ski did a bit worse. It's got a gouge running diagonally across
the structure, mostly on one side of the center groove. I know that the
deepest part of the gouge is not repairable, but what about the raised
section on either side of it? Is there any way with wax, heat and a plastic
scraper to "press" the sides of the gouge down so that the edges are more
or less flat with the rest of the base.

Luckily these are not my "good" skis. Unfortunately this bit of rough
terrain appeared in the middle of a steep downhill on a day with otherwise
good surface conditions.

This is what I did with sinilar scratches and it worked out perfectly:
If you have some wax remover use it to clean the base of the ski.
Repair the scratches to the base with a petex candle. A quiet blue
flame on the candle is ideal and produces little or no black carbon.
Hold the lighted candle close to the repair area so the heat of the
blue flame warms up the repair area. This encourages a good weld. For
deep rips build up in layers going back and forth over the repair. For
small scratches twist the candle over the repair painting the molten
petex into the scratch. Once the repair area has cooled and hardened,
scrape away the excess with a steel scraper until it is flush with the
ski base.

R

On Jan 17, 6:20*pm, Mac wrote:
I hit some rough terrain today that did a bit of damage to the bases of my
Fischer SCS Classics. On one ski I have a gouge that is in the same
direction as the structure. It's not bad, but it has some strings and hairs
with it. What is the best way to deal with these? Cold wax & scraping?

The other ski did a bit worse. It's got a gouge running diagonally across
the structure, mostly on one side of the center groove. I know that the
deepest part of the gouge is not repairable, but what about the raised
section on either side of it? Is there any way with wax, heat and a plastic
scraper to "press" the sides of the gouge down so that the edges are more
or less flat with the rest of the base.

Luckily these are not my "good" skis. Unfortunately this bit of rough
terrain appeared in the middle of a steep downhill on a day with otherwise
good surface conditions.

Minor scratches need not be repaired and should not be filled because
the melt-in P-tex will be less able to "absorb" wax than your sintered
P-tex. If the damage is deeper than the base P-tex, you need to patch/
repaire the gouge with slow setting epoxy to keep moisture out of the
base structure.

Take a look at the Tognar website for repair stuff:
http://www.tognar.com/base_repair_to...es_damage.html
Our club owns a Tognar base repair iron (like a low power soldering
iron) and a supply of P-tex repair string and ribbon.

As noted by others, first clean out the damaged area with wax
remover. I would then abrade the damage area with silicone carbide
sandpaper, then apply the repair material with the repair iron. I
like the repair iron because it doesn't drip burn (carbon) material
into the moltent P-tex.

Then finish the repair with file/scraper/sand paper etc to return the
base to a flat surface with the appropriate structure (with the
appropriate final grit) or send it in for base structure grinding.

On Jan 17, 6:20*pm, Mac wrote:
I hit some rough terrain today that did a bit of damage to the bases of my
Fischer SCS Classics. On one ski I have a gouge that is in the same
direction as the structure. It's not bad, but it has some strings and hairs
with it. What is the best way to deal with these? Cold wax & scraping?

The other ski did a bit worse. It's got a gouge running diagonally across
the structure, mostly on one side of the center groove. I know that the
deepest part of the gouge is not repairable, but what about the raised
section on either side of it? Is there any way with wax, heat and a plastic
scraper to "press" the sides of the gouge down so that the edges are more
or less flat with the rest of the base.

Luckily these are not my "good" skis. Unfortunately this bit of rough
terrain appeared in the middle of a steep downhill on a day with otherwise
good surface conditions.

I usually stonegrind my skis. A few scratches shouldn't slow the skis
down beyond the statistical error introduced by such variables as
flex, weather, wax, and technique.

On Jan 18, 4:33*pm, wrote:
On Jan 17, 6:20*pm, Mac wrote:
did a bit of damage to the bases of my Fischer SCS Classics.

Minor scratches need not be repaired
should not be filled because the melt-in P-tex will be less able to "absorb" wax
*If the damage is deeper than the base P-tex, you need to patch/repair the
gouge with slow setting epoxy to keep moisture out

I agree with the basic message here - that is to protect the interior
of the ski from delaminating if the gouge is that deep and to prevent
base drag that will occur. Don't worry about minor scratches.

The melt-in P-Tex repairs WILL NOT adsorb any wax, probably ever. If
you think about it, it is a burning, molten lump of plastic you are
dripping on to the ski base (I've no experience w/ the "gun-type"
device). It probably will sear the adjoining base surfaces as well.
If the gouge is past the base material, you'll likely set the ski
innards on fire if you do not do an epoxy repair first. You will be
able to structure the repaired area with stonegrinding or other hand
tools.

Before I use a P-Tex candle, I would use a strip of the P-Tex repair
tape. Using an X-acto knife, square up the damaged area and carefully
cut it away. Just as carefully, glue in a strip of the tape and hand
sand it to fit. Again, this all assumes that the underlying ski inner
core is not damaged - you want to be laying the tape on top of this.

How do I know this stuff? First hand experience with most of the
above, spending a weekend w/ Zach Caldwell for the rest!

- Bob

On Jan 20, 5:08*am, highpeaksnordic wrote:
On Jan 18, 4:33*pm, wrote:

On Jan 17, 6:20*pm, Mac wrote:
*did a bit of damage to the bases of my Fischer SCS Classics.
Minor scratches need not be repaired
should not be filled because the melt-in P-tex will be less able to "absorb" wax
*If the damage is deeper than the base P-tex, you need to patch/repair the
gouge with slow setting epoxy to keep moisture out

I agree with the basic message here - that is to protect the interior
of the ski from delaminating if the gouge is that deep and to prevent
base drag that will occur. *Don't worry about minor scratches.

The melt-in P-Tex repairs WILL NOT adsorb any wax, probably ever. *If
you think about it, it is a burning, molten lump of plastic you are
dripping on to the ski base (I've no experience w/ the "gun-type"
device). *It probably will sear the adjoining base surfaces as well.
If the gouge is past the base material, you'll likely set the ski
innards on fire if you do not do an epoxy repair first. *You will be
able to structure the repaired area with stonegrinding or other hand
tools.

Before I use a P-Tex candle, I would use a strip of the P-Tex repair
tape. *Using an X-acto knife, square up the damaged area and carefully
cut it away. *Just as carefully, glue in a strip of the tape and hand
sand it to fit. *Again, this all assumes that the underlying ski inner
core is not damaged - you want to be laying the tape on top of this.

How do I know this stuff? *First hand experience with most of the
above, spending a weekend w/ Zach Caldwell for the rest!

- Bob

The advantage of using an soldering type iron or gun with the P-tex
string or tape is in limiting the amount of melted P-tex applied to
the base. Dripping moltent P-tex tends to drop blobs of hot P-tex
sealing a larger area of the base than using an iron.

The only non-structural gouges that benefit from repair are the ones
so big that removing hot wax is a problem. Brushing will usually
remove wax from scratches just as it removes wax from "structure".