A Guide To Ski Servicing

Approximately £50. A piece of equipment that can easily be shared if you’re going away with a few others. If you’re on season its not uncommon to share one between a few friends. It is required for waxing, so I have included it in my list. For anyone not on season or for someone who doesn’t fancy sharing, it’s an important piece of kit. Super easy to use and durable, buy once and you won’t need to replace for a long while. 

To prepare your bases for waxing. Pretty self-explanatory and doesn’t require much skill to use. It’s essential to do this before you wax, as it’s surprising how much dirt is left on your bases—approximately £8. 

My best recommendation would be an all-temperature wax. You can always buy colder or hotter temp wax when required, but for now, an all temp wax will do the job fine. You can get a big bar of wax for £10 -£15. A big bar of wax will last you multiple tunes. 

An essential piece of equipment used to scrape the excess wax from your bases once you’ve finished servicing. It also comes with a notched corner to remove wax from the edges. You can get one of these for about £5

Used to remove excess wax that the plastic scraper left behind and restore the structure to the base. This gives the bases a neat finish, and improves the ski’s ability to slide without friction. You can always add a couple of extra brushes at a later date, but for now, this brush is multi-purpose and will do a great job. You can get a perfectly fine brush for £8-£10

One of the most versatile pieces of equipment. It is used to polish and sharpen your edges without removing too much material. You should only have to sharpen your edges with a file every few weeks. Doing it too often will remove too much metal from the edge and reduce its lifespan. A diamond file will remove burs, polish your edges and keep them sharp. Set your edges with a file, then maintain them with a diamond file. It’s also best to use your diamond files with water or rubbing alcohol to improve their longevity. Similar to the brushes, there are multiple diamond files you can buy. There are fine and coarse diamonds, but the medium file is the best all-rounder and is the best option if you can only buy one. It’s worth buying a decent diamond file, and these cost about £30.

If you can afford another diamond file I would definitely recommend adding a coarse diamond file. A little more robust at deburring edges and getting the ski edge smooth again. Useful for the everyday clean up of your edges.

There are a few different angles a side edge file guide comes in that I’ll cover later in the blog. A side edge file guide just makes sure you’re consistent in servicing the edge and is running smooth. Its also much safer as the risk of your hand slipping on the edge is higher when operating free hand. Its worth buying a good file guide so be prepared to spend a little more.

A simple piece of equipment used to hold the files on the guide. You can probably find one of these knocking around your house or in the garage. If you don’t have one, you can pick one up from a DIY store for just a few quid. 

You’ll need a secure workbench and some way of securing the skis to the bench. You can purchase a pair of ski vises or if you’re a bit of a handyman a DIY version. The skis just need to be secured at the tip and tail and able to stand on their side so you’re able to access the edge.

A few tools are not included on this list; you’d either not use them frequently enough to make it worthwhile, or the potential for error is relatively high and, therefore, should probably be trusted with a professional. The tools included in this list will allow you to maintain a great tune in between an occasional visit to the ski shop. This list does not include tools like a sharpening file and a base edge file guide.

The first step in servicing your skis is to ensure the ski is free of dirt and debris. The ski should be dry and ideally have had time to warm a little if tuning after skiing. Apply your base cleaner to a dry cloth and clean up the bases. You can quickly remove any dirt from the top sheet with a dry cloth. Once the base and edges are free from dirt, you can begin to service the edges. Secure the ski to the workbench.

Using your clamp, attach your coarse or medium diamond file to the side edge guide. Diamond files can cut in both directions, so as long as the file sits on top of the file guide and not on the flat surface that glides along the base, you can pull the file in either direction. Starting at the tip of the ski, work back towards the tail of the ski in approximately 6-inch passes. You can use a fair amount of pressure. You can work tip-to-tail two or three times on each edge. If you have both coarse and medium files, start with coarse. Your edge should feel much smoother and polished. Repeat this process for both edges on both skis.

Lay the ski flat over your vises with the base facing you, and using an elastic band, pull the brakes out of the way. Set your waxing iron temperature to approximately 120 c. Once the iron is up to temperature, hold the wax onto the iron and drip a small amount of wax along the whole length of the ski. Run the waxing iron along the ski base, ensuring the wax is melted and covers the ski evenly. This won’t take long, and it’s important not to overdo it. Once you’ve done one ski, set aside and do the other whilst the ski cools down. It’s important not to scrape the ski when it’s still hot.

Once the skis have had a chance to cool, you can now scrape the skis. Keeping the skis securely held by your vises, use your plastic scraper to pull off the excess wax. Again, working from tip to tail. The plastic scraper works best when placed at a slight angle to the ski base. Using the notched corner, you can also pull off excess wax from the ski edge. Once most excess wax is removed, use your nylon brush to restore some structure to the base and polish. Take a few passes from tip to tail.