Adjusting ski bindings

[Cujo]

I got a pair of skis and a pair of ski boots from Freecycle - from two different people, so the skis didn't fit the boots. I've had on my to-do list for months to bring them to a ski shop and get the bindings adjusted to fit the boots. Today, just as I was getting ready to finally do it, I thought: This isn't exactly rocket science, how hard can it be? 20 minutes in front of Youtube and Google, and I did it myself. Piece of cake.

Just a little thing, but I saved myself $50 or so and two round trips to the ski shop.

So many things we just automatically default to the position of paying someone else to do the work for us. Such an important habit to break.

[nawhite]

Awesome job!

One thing I've found with ski bindings from craigslist is that if they are older, the springs can be worn out. I always had to go a little tighter than the charts suggest with used skis than with new ones because they would pop off too easily because the previous owner hadn't maintained the springs. Just something to keep in mind if you got an older pair.

Do you wax and sharpen yourself?

[Cujo]

I've never waxed or sharpened skis, nor paid to have it done. I have a feeling I'm going to learn how soon...

[happy]

We usually adjust our own. Once you learn how to do it yourself, you soon learn to distrust the ski shop.   Edges you can do yourself. Filling holes/scrapes you can do. Hot waxing the soles of downhill skis is hard without the shop equipment (maybe someone here can enlighten me).

[nawhite]

Hot waxing the ski bottoms just requires:

- An old clothes iron (the type to get wrinkles out) that will never be used for anything other than skis again
- The wax, bought at a ski shop. Note the temperature range of the wax you buy. If you usually ski at night or in super cold weather (0F - 15F), you probably want cold temperature wax. If you ski during the day in spring, you probably want high temp wax. Otherwise get a mid range.
- A scraper (metal or plastic with a right angle edge) I sometimes use a "pastry knife"
- A cork buffing block. About the size of a dishwashing sponge. Buy at ski shop

Steps:
1. Find a place to work where you can cleanup wax shavings easily.
2. Figure out a way to mount the ski bottoms up. You can buy a ski clamp but I think they are unnecessary.
3. Melt the wax with the iron onto the bottom of the ski. It will dribble like faucet you didn't quite turn off all the way. With a ski you probably need to just go down the length once, maybe down and back. Its a practice thing to know how much wax you need.
4. Place the iron directly onto the ski and slowly iron the ski like you would a shirt. The goal is to melt the big wax drops onto a nice flat even layer on the ski.
5a. Scrape. Once at the start of the season, you'll want to do a "hot wax" where you scrape the wax off the bottom while it is still hot. The goal is to rip all wax and oil and dirt and metal filings out of the bottom of the ski. Think of this like exfoliating your ski. After you remove everything, repeat steps 1-4 and then go to 5b to apply the wax for good.
5b. Wait an hour. You want the wax to be cold and hard when you scrape it.
6. Scrape the bottom to remove "extra" wax and make a nice flat layer that feels fairly smooth to the touch. There will be some wax still on the bottom when you are done, you're just trying to make it smooth.
7. Buff the bottom with the cork block to make it super extra fast and smooth.

Unfortunately its a lot of work to wax skis yourself compared to using the big machines they have in shops. Let me know if you have questions.

[livetogive]

I laughed when I saw step 1.  Ski wax makes a freaking mess so try and get colorless and try to do it outside in a  garage or something.

It's not terribly complicated but it is time consuming and ludicrously messy. 

[Cujo]

FYI, I just noticed that my local REI offers a free workshop on how to wax skis/snowboards. They also have fairly detailed instructions online: http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/glide-waxing-skis-snowboard.html

[aglassman]

There are some pros / cons to waxing your own stuff:

pros:
-cheaper in the long run
-you learn more about different waxes
-you can use more specific waxes for the conditions, which does make a huge difference. Shops only use an all weather wax, and performance is so-so. This is especially true in extreme conditions like very warm, or very cold.


cons:
-its a fricken mess
-it takes a decent amount of time
-wax is expensive

I usually get a wax once a year at a shop, and a tuneup every other year.  I used to do it myself with an awesome old iron i found at goodwill (no holes, and cloth cord!).  I have since lost that iron, and don't get to the slopes as much as I used to, so the shop wax suffices for me these days.

[CommonCents]

I used to race.  I remember the night before the Alaskan State Championships, the coaches waxed and sharpened all of our skis.  I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have because I was used to my dad doing that for us throughout the season (though not on each race day).