This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web. We have fun here, come on in and be a part of it.
Bear with me I have an old pair of Rossignol XC skis with waxless "AR" bases. They are my early/late season/bad snow ski as I have other, newer skis for decent conditions. I still enjoy skiing them, however the grip section is becoming rather worn and no longer grips well during the kick phase. The last couple of times I've been out I've experimented with putting grip wax on the bases to see if that would save them from getting chucked and it's actually been surprisingly effective! However, because the bases aren't smooth, the wax isn't very even and doesn't bind to the bases well.
Basically, I'm wondering about sanding the bases smooth and turning them into a waxable ski. I'm not after a high performing ski, it will still be reserved for bad snow conditions, but I also don't want to ruin them completely (they are still a good "loaner" ski when friends come to visit).
Has anyone tried this and made a success of it? Any do's and don'ts? Or am I wasting my time thinking about this?
Nice to have a ski friend from Norway come by! Do you know we venerate Norwegians and all thing from the Motherland here?!
Given your Rossi skis are beaters, and I assume here, they do not have metal edges, I would be very tempting to try! Plus, I'm not the biggest fans of scales!
Sanding them down is a good idea, I would go slowly and move progressively into finer, finer and the finest sandpapers. I would finish up with a metal scraper made for ski repairs, to remove the plastic hairs.
Oh, and its okay if the bases is a little rough where the kick wax goes, that will be filled with wax anyways.
Let us know how it goes!
I live for the Telemark arc....The feeeeeeel.....I ski miles to get to a place where there is guaranteed snow to do the deal....TM
Thanks, I think I will give it a go! They don't have metal edges and I have access to some decent tools so can hopefully make a decent job of it. Will try to document what I'm doing and provide details for others who may be thinking about trying the same thing.
However, in the interests of transparency, I must confess I'm not Norwegian. I'm a Brit that moved to Norway for a six month work placement, three years later and I still haven't gone back! Definitely found my spiritual home here, Norway does a lot of things right, especially winter sports!
I would sand in the direction of travel too, so when you inevitably raise the grain it's the in the correct direction. As BGregoire said, use wax to fill in the rest when you get close enough.
I wonder if not sanding perfectly smooth but keeping some valley will help, the wax will fill the valleys, won't wear easily because they are recessed, and only the ridges of the scales will remain somewhat present but minimally after sanding.
Makes sense, the wax I have applied thus far has stayed in the recesses and worn off the ridges, but I've just been putting Swix blue directly on the grip section. After reading Lilcliffy's waxing thread, once they are smooth enough I will iron on some polar wax as a binder, I figure this will smooth out the surface before I put a softer grip wax over the top.
Wait wait wait... grip wax doesn't grip great to glide wax and binder is a pain. I didn't think of this yesterday. Maybe smooth to a degree is the way to go then crayon on and then iron on Swix Polar to fill the valleys-- avoid glide wax altogether in your sanded section where you'll be putting the grip wax. Swallow the cost of using a lot of polar to fill the valleys. It will be the hardest wax and will offer best attachment to subsequent grip wax layers.
I actually have put glide wax on the scales before to prevent icing, however I cleaned it up using wax remover before putting the grip wax on. Cheers for the input everyone, Godt Nytt År from Norway!
Verskis wrote:Woodserson might want to read it again, I can't see anyone talking about glide waxing at all...
WOOPSIE
Yes you are correct, I ended up confusing myself (early morning posting... bad! ) I just didn't want any assumptions to be made and have someone go right to the glide wax, but my panic was misplaced!
Ive got a question along a similar topic, as I am new to backcountry skis.
I got a pair of fischer excursion 88 backcountry skis. Am I supposed to glide wax the tips and tails like you do with waxable skis? The tips and tails look a lot like the base of my waxable skate and classic, and I do have a waxing setup with an iron.
I have an old pair of Rossignol XC skis with waxless "AR" bases. They are my early/late season/bad snow ski as I have other, newer skis for decent conditions. I still enjoy skiing them, however the grip section is becoming rather worn and no longer grips well during the kick phase. The last couple of times I've been out I've experimented with putting grip wax on the bases to see if that would save them from getting chucked and it's actually been surprisingly effective! However, because the bases aren't smooth, the wax isn't very even and doesn't bind to the bases well. 
Definitely found my spiritual home here, Norway does a lot of things right, especially winter sports!
