UKH

I decided that Winter was over, here in the Allgäu Alps, after my last tour about two weeks ago and, yesterday, I got some time to repair some gouges in the bottom of my skis and wax them up, ready for rust-free storage over the Summer. Once again, it occurred to me that P-tex repair-strips are little flimsy black-plastic bastards, indeed!

I did seem to work out that getting them properly flaming and dripping the stuff from higher up so that it isn't bubbling but is still properly liquid when it hits the ski surface does seem to result in a smoother, more cohesive repair that can be cut to a flat surface without pulling out or revealing a pattern of little air-bubble holes, when it cools. I also realised that a well sharpened carpenter's chisel does a far better job of cutting it flat than any knife but requires quite some care both to sharpen and to employ.

My touring skis are about five seasons old, now, and they've been rock skis for at least two of those so I'm happy to practice on them. My last repair (which was my first, ever, ski repair) lasted half a dozen touring days before a tiny corner of it ripped out and I created new damage, elsewhere on the surface, besides.

I've never had anyone mentoring me on my P-tex repair technique, though. Any more tips or resources on how to work with the stuff, effectively and efficiently, would be seriously welcome.

I'm also interested in any replies as I've got to do mine this weekend

I always seem to make an ok job but imagine it could be better

One tip: don't buy the cheap p-tex sticks of amazon - they're shite. The Toko ones drip so much more smoothly

https://thepisteoffice.com/index.php/1-tuning-advice/tuning-guide/13-base-r...

There are guides for most other aspects of ski maintenance there too

Not an expert, but:

• Clean off wax thoroughly
• Use a sharp blade to carefully cross hatch the surface to which p-tex is applied.
• Drip in, cool off.
• Use clean metal scraper, scraping longitudinally from inside to edge of repair.

Works for me, but Piste office is great information.

Used to do a fair bit of this in my regular dryslope snowboarding days. The key is getting the damage clean, like CLEAN, first. Even if that means making it worse before you make it better. You might have to scrape more away before you can fill in.

Then get the damaged area fairly hot with your (scrupulously cleaned) waxing iron. Then I always used the tip of a very a hot iron (waxing iron again, now turned up to 11) to force the repair into the gouge.

As you've found, sharp tools are essential. You'll only make things harder using a butter knife.

I never needed to light the ptex stuff on fire, but I suspect the thermostat in my waxing iron might have been the reason I was allowed to use it as a waxing iron.

I've always wondered about whether it could be done better with a soldering iron? The old "burn and drip" always seems crude.

I've got one core-shot and an edge-core shot to fix, but they'll be getting epoxied. Ordered some special flexible epoxy and black pigment so I'm just going to fill 'em up with that and be done with ptex. I'm not racing.

For the ptex bit we use a wee hand held kitchen blowtorch to heat/ melt the ptex into the gouge. One of those ones you refill with lighter fluid. Our iron just gets used for the waxing. 

The big drip candles are shite, get ptex string (about 3mm diameter). Works a lot better. There are two flavours, full ptex (good for shallower gauges), and ptex with ”glue” (great for small coreshots or near edges).

that being said, instead of burning it (still easier than the big candles) get an heat adjustable soldering iron and use that to melt the ptex in. Amazon should serve ya well on that.

aa for flattening the base, sharp exacto knife seems to work the best. Then a steel scraper. Now days I also flatten the base using a Ski Vision basetool, and also use it to do a pattern on the whole base. Not seen them being sold on this side of the pond, so ordered mine from Tognar shop in the US a few years back. Also got that ptex string I was talking about from them. 

Surprisingly, I've no core-shots from this season and even last season's core-shot's repair only pulled out on one small corner which was easy enough to fix. The vast majority of this season's tours were up Kleinwalsertal, though, and the snow was much nicer and kinder up there. When we had bad conditions, it was "Bruchharsch", not rocks, that had us cursing and, while that sucks to ski, it doesn't break your skis, only the rider.

Could you build a foundation with epoxy to which a layer of P-tex would stick -- just enough to take a texture on the surface? Of course, I'm not racing, either, and frankly wouldn't know whether my skis were faster or slower.

If it's not a secret, please post links to the special epoxy you're using and the pigment.

i would counter that. maybe it works better for the melting technique rather than the lighting technique, but for the latter i could just not get it to burn consistently at all! it would go from burning uncontrollably to going out. i found it impossible to work with. if you are going to use the lighting technique then 5mm sticks are the sweet spot. 4mm is ok and 6mm is too fat, but 3mm 'string' is a definite no for me!

To the OP, as for holding the stick higher from the ski to get a bigger flame, this may appear easier to do, but if the flame is burning orange then you are getting a load of impurities into the repair job. this is less apparent when using black ptex, but becomes really obvious if you are using 'clear' ptex. again there is  sweet spot that you need to find in terms of height, just before the flame changes colour. you will inevitably end up with a bit of orange flickering as you move the stick through the air, but you are aiming for a good blue flame. 

Well… here the big sticks are around 8mm or so… and that is shite. Where as the string (comes from a spool) I have works with a lighter or with a soldering iron.

I have also had strips, but those were as bad as the big candles.

that being said, all will work with a solder (adjustable temp), but burning and lighter, well the string seems to work out the best.

oh, and in case you have a small core shot, but no glue-ptex, then a drop or two of instant CA glue at the bottom seems to hold the melted ptex in place better. Best done in two steps, first the glue and a coating of ptex, then a bit later fill all the way with ptex.

I've just done mine now, with West System G-Flex  (thickened):  https://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/655-k-g-flex-thickened-epoxy-adhesiv...

Which I'd read online was pretty good for this, being slower curing and more flexible and thick, it's easy to work with and then shave back down. Having used it, I'd agree! Unlike 5-min epoxy, you can shave thin layers with a good chisel and it doesn't "chip out".  

The place I bought it from had run out of the west system powder pigment, so they sent some liquid "epoxy pigment" instead. https://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/super-black-epoxy-pigment  Blends very well with black bases. I think I'll just go for waxing them rather than dripping in ptex, but I'll see how it goes.

I'll have to withdraw that comment. Yesterday used one of the amazon ones I'd tried before and crap as ever: uneven drops, flame going out, etc

So before binning the lot, I tried one more: steady blue flame and smooth drip rate. It appears they are very variable despite looking identical

IMHO that is the definition of crap.

Well... ok, perhaps not absolutely crap as you can get good ones. But still, what you want is to all for them to work properly. For trips, I only generally carry one or max two. I would not want to pick two "bad ones", when I really need them.

That being said, they might work OK with a properly adjusted soldering iron (or hot glue gun ).

Agreed. I won't buy them again but at least I don't have to bin them

Must get hold of a heat adjustable soldering iron and stop the burning/dripping

The cheapest ones I saw on Amazon go for a whoppin' 9 quid. And they can also be used for real soldering stuff (so fixing frayed cam cables with tin etc.).

I drove past that place a couple of years ago and had to double take at the name. A tiny village outside of Nottingham seemed an unlikely place for a ski repair shop. 

Great name for a converted Post Office tho! 

Once watched a mate of mine try to repair a gouge in the bottom of his snowboard by attempting to melt an old carrier bag into it with a normal domestic iron, claiming it was the same type of plastic!

Didn't go well, as you'd expect.

Life is too short to faff about with non-deterministic bastard drippy flaming plastic strips in the hopes that one might chance upon a good one.

Although I will test mine out with a soldering iron before binning them. Next season, unless someone's passing through Kempten, here in Allgäu, and wants to stop by with their not-yet-repaired skis for a beer and a try with my ski-repair outfit. (Beer's on me.)

I wish I'd known about the soldering iron trick before kitting up, though -- I'd have bought one of those instead of buying the cheap-'o Creme-brulee torch I got under recommendation of all the videos I watched as research into the subject. I don't even like Creme-brulee!