You should tune your alpine skis once per season, or every 12 to 15 skiing sessions, to ensure they continue to perform well. Tuning your skis involves removing nicks and dents from their surfaces, flattening their bottoms and waxing them. Unless you have the proper tools, you'll have to take them to a ski shop for this treatment. This can get costly if you ski a lot. Waxing your skis is particularly easy to do. Performing the task yourself can save you a few dollars off your ski tuning bill.
Step 1
Turn on your ski wax iron. You can use a clothes iron to wax your skis, but a ski wax iron is preferable.
Step 2
Lay one of your skis upside-down on your work table.
Step 3
Press the block of wax to the bottom of the hot iron while holding it over one end of your ski. Let the wax drizzle onto the center of the ski while you pass it over the length of the ski. Your goal here is to create a line of wax down the center of your ski.
Step 4
Press the iron directly onto the ski and move it all along the ski's surface to spread the wax. Imagine that you are spreading butter on bread. Move the iron up and down the ski's surface until the wax is evenly distributed.
Step 5
Wait a few moments for the wax to dry, then run the straight edge of your plastic scraper several times over the waxed surface. This action removes excess wax that makes the surface uneven.
Step 6
Brush the waxed surface vigorously with your hand brush for about 20 seconds. This further smooths the wax and helps it to conform to the subtleties of the ski's surface.
Things You'll Need
- Ski wax iron
- Block of ski wax
- Plastic scraper
- Hand brush
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