P-tex Melting

Minor gouges in ski bases are repaired by melting p-tex strips or strings using a special gas or electric powered repair (soldering) iron. The gouge is cleaned and deburred at first.
A deeper gouge or a core shot will be filled with finer p-tex ribbons made of stuff which is similar to the sintered bases and is capable of wax absorption. Before melting p-tex with a soldering iron a piece of fabrics such as linen sheet is glued into the gouge by an epoxy adhesive. It will assure stronger bond.
If the gouge is somewhere near a steel edge of a ski or a snowboard, we will melt copolymer (metal grip string) into it first. This material is made of polyethylene with rubber-like admixture and bonds to steel. The classic p-tex is melted atop it.
Because we always overfill a gouge with p-tex a little, after cooling it down we must shave off the excess. Here comes in a Versaplane tool with surform blade. Unlike a steel (metal) scraper it’s sharp enough to shave off just the excess not to grab it and yank it out the gouge. The steel (metal) scraper is used afterwards to make the repaired spot flush with the rest of the base. Then procedures like ski base cleaning, flattening, structuring, edge tuning and waxing follow.

 

Dripping P-tex

Temporary ski or snowboard repairs could be made with P-tex repair candles which are lit and dripped into a gouge. The esxcess is then removed and made flush with a base using glasspaper or silicon carbide or aluminum oxide type of sandpaper. This repair is the least complicated, but the least durable as well. On top of it, once burnt p-tex is no longer able to absorb wax.

 

Ironing Graphite Powder

It’s fast, easy but durable way to repair a larger but shallow gouged area on a ski or a snowboard base. Graphite powder is simply shaken out of the container into a gouge overfilling it a little and then a wax iron set to an appropriate temperature is set on top of it for 15 to 20 seconds. To avoid burning a base orruining your waxer there is put a special foil underneathe the iron. The base is then made flush the same way like with previously mentioned kinds of repair. Unlike dripping this repair is more durable and the graphite powdered p-tex is finer material able to absorb wax after melting.

 

Base Patches Gluing

If the repaired area is larger the spot could be replaced by ski base patches made of the same high-quality sintered p-tex as well as the ski bases itself. It’s glued into a spot by an adhesive based on epoxy resin. The patch is cut out by a special steel template in order to fit precisely the opening in a base which is cut out by the template as well overlaying the repaired spot. The base must be then flattened by alu-oxide stone and steel blade.