Featured Post Ski Stone Grind Base Cleaning

If you had a ski stone ground, it should be cleaned well before you start base wax preparation.
This is long as always, but the theory and argument will be in the discussion, so listen to the entire thing before you give your take on the process.
It will be helpful if you can leave a video time in relation to your argument or comment such as at 13:50 etc.
Any information you have to add is always appreciated.
We all want to learn new stuff. (Me too!)
So please chime in with your questions or knowledge.
This is the link to the long video of my process.

 

Dynamite, I'm a big believer in the utility of high explosives.
Probably not for ski base cleaning though...
Happy Thanksgiving!

 

I've posted my trick before. Grey Fibertex + sheet sander.

 

I just spent more time watching that video than I will ever lose to slow wax!

Fun video. Aimed more at people who enjoy playing with their skis than actually changing glide characteristics on civilian skis.

Useful for me though - how to remove the klister I use on the fast days to slow me down!

Eric

 

I don't understand what you are getting at here.
I will say, had I just waxed the skis without the cleaning, the base would become less receptive to the wax.
One should not wax UHMPE dust into the base.

 

I don't think that's going to clean the base.

 

Please read the last paragraph in this article. http://www.caldwellsport.com/2012/02/removing-fluorocarbons/
The cleaners are more than just cleaning fluorocarbons.

 

Nice video, don’t know if I’d go through all that for the OLDLADY. My hen wouldn’t ever notice the difference. Might even give me the business if I return them to her not as clean as she liked.
And they would probably be to shiny on the bottom too.

 

Shame on you. Do you not respect your lady?
I treat my lady's skis the same as my own. The skis in the video are my wife's.
I treat other folks skis I work on the same as my own.
Thanks for saying "nice".

Folks, we need constructive comments and arguments here.
I have a sense of humor, no problem, yet sometimes it's nice to have additions that others can actually learn from.

 

Jacques, OK, I'm in.
I'll spring for a can of the stuff and work with it.
Who knows, maybe I will be persuaded that a solvent blend that costs $250 a gallon is better than PrepAll for $12/gallon.
I'm still pretty sure I could get bases really clean with dynamite.
Blow all the wax right off in a big flash.
But you probably couldn't find a piece bigger than a nickel if you got the charge right.

 

If you take a look at the safety data sheet www.swixsport.com/content/download/7397/.../1/.../I64C_0005_07-03-2017_EN.pdf you can see that Swix Glide Wax Cleaner is a solvent mixture mainly composed of odorless mineral spirits (Hydrocarbons, C10-C12, isoalkanes, <2% aromatics). Klean-Strip odorless mineral spirits costs around $14 a gallon.

If you want to know what the other components are Google their CAS numbers, the CAS number is a unique numerical identifier assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) to every chemical substance described in the open scientific literature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_Registry_Number

I can’t really see why anybody would want to spend around $40 on a pint of something that is mainly a readily available cheap solvent.

Solvent cleaning is very crude, the way to go is plasma cleaning https://www.plasmatreat.com/downloa...toffe-international_race-ski-impregnation.pdf

04:05 “This stuff does not dry out the base”, UHMWPE ski bases are intrinsically hydrophobic, they don’t get wet so they can’t dry out.

 

Toni, that's a very good read.
It gives a clear explanation of how sintered bases are made and the surface physics that affect wax absorption.
Plasma treating is commonly used to surface modify polyethylene bottles so you can print on them with ink.
It is used a lot in the semiconductor industry to clean and etch.

 

Sorry to be flippant. I actually watched the video and got some good takeaways. Thanks. But it was overkill. A base grind makes my skis ski so much better that any trace contaminants in the wax from a cursory cleaning will not affect the skis in a way I can notice.

Not needing the best practices does not mean that knowing the best practices isn't fun. Of course, the other posts on alternative cleaners mean that I can impress when I create my own special cleaner juice (mineral spirits with some carb cleaner squirted in) if I get hired as a race ski tuner. Note, I use carb cleaner to remove the mold wax from the waterskis I build so my juice might actually be OK.

I was kidding about putting klister on my skis. But some days the snow is uncomfortably fast so I think about it as I'm waiting for the spring conditions to return.

Eric

@Swiss Toni Interesting article. Thanks.

 

Thanks for posting another great video. I've learned a lot from them.

I have to say that I see a lot of people saying not to use any sort of cleaner or solvent on the skis. I know you say that it won't dry them out but why isn't this a common thought; that the swix product is okay to use?

 

So what did you find out? What exactly is in the mix?
Plastic drys out over time. This includes your ski base. Wax keeps them moist and preserves them. Just like wax on automotive paints to protect and preserve the paint.

I can't figure how someone into skiing, an expensive sport, is so worried about spending $40.00 to clean a ton of bases prior to waxing?

 

Of course it will, if you soak the pad with whatever cleaner you prefer.

 

It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

 

You had only said "Grey Fibertex + sheet sander." prior. I guess if you used the fibertex to apply the Glide Wax Cleaner, that would be fine.
Not sure where the "Sheet Sander" comes into your process.

 

You put the grey Fibertex on it. It knocks down the sharp ridges of the structure and (more than) halves the amount of time one spends per base.

Of course, if you chuck white Fibertex into it and use it after the hot scrape then it can work there too.