Ski wax protects the base of your skis and helps the ski glide over the snow. Keeping skis waxed helps you be a better skier. But sometimes you need to remove that wax. Different types of ski wax work best in different temperatures, so you may want to remove one type of wax in order to use another wax better suited to changing weather conditions. Wax also gets scuffed up and dirty, and you need to remove the old wax before you apply a new coat. Removing old wax is one of the first steps in preparing skis for another run.
Step 1
Depress the brake lever on the side of the ski by holding it down with your thumb. Slip a rubber band over the ski to keep the brake lever down, which holds the lever out of your way while you work.
Step 2
Place the skis in a vise. The vise holds the skis securely while you work on them. Secure the ski in the vise with the base facing up. Now you'll have both hands free to work on the skis.
Step 3
Pour some rubbing alcohol on a soft rag and wipe down the bottoms of your skis to remove dirt and crud embedded in the old wax. You need to remove the dirt before you remove the wax to avoid driving the dirt into the base of your skis when you remove the old wax, advises Telemarktips.com. Allow the skis to dry 15 to 20 minutes.
Step 4
Scrape the base of the skis with a plastic scraper made for this purpose. Hold the scraper in both hands. Starting at the tip of the ski, drag the scraper down the length of the ski to the tail. Apply gentle pressure. You should see a thin shaving of wax come off the ski. Repeat this until you've scraped the entire base of the ski.
Step 5
Saturate a rag with a citrus-based cleaner or a base cleaner. Wipe the base of the ski, concentrating on any areas that seem to have remaining wax. The citrus will dissolve the remaining wax.
Step 6
Wipe down the base of the ski with a soft, dry cloth. Your skis are now ready for a new coat of wax.
Things You'll Need
- Rubber bands
- Ski vise
- Rubbing alcohol
- Rags
- Ski scraper
- Citrus cleaner
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