curious about people's ptex techniques

The collective agreement in a related thread is that candles have some wax in them and arre only temporary fixes to get you by till you have access to better equipment and materials. Candles will crack after a few days on snow. Stay in. But do crack.

Sintered is best filled by the ptex string according to tognar.

Btw I use an air welder from Chicago electric or somewhere as well as an iron with adjustable temp. I've found this to be the best combo for flexibility in damage of varying sizes.

Also I'm finally willing to admit that clear ptex just doesn't cut it.

all the time for my budds.... im runnin the montana right now for some budds ;).... a recon buffer goes for about 1500 or so...

Best method ive found so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suk5...tu.be&t=30m51s

Temperature regulated wood burner, few chisels, ptex/metal grip wire. You get strong holds and its packed tight because of the wood burner tip used.

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Originally Posted by Dunners

Best method ive found so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suk5...tu.be&t=30m51s

Temperature regulated wood burner, few chisels, ptex/metal grip wire. You get strong holds and its packed tight because of the wood burner tip used.

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Weird dude, good video. I like the emphasis on heating the edge before the metal grip. Also scratching the metal first. Good ideas!

Years ago I bought a used gun on flea bay. But that wood burner is cheaper and easier to use.

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Originally Posted by Dave Marshack

OHHHH BTW if anyone wants a reconditioned buff waxer for their home (dopest thing ever) I have like 6 kickin around right now...

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What's a buff waxer?

Work at a shop and have to do a lot of ptexing on the fleet of rental skis. My procedures that seem to work pretty good are as follows.

equipment list:

black and clear KUUsport ptex 'quik stix'
KUUsport ptex gun and black and clear (harder material) ptex sticks
propane torch
assortment of various stainless steel dental picks (pick up old 'discarded' ones from local dentists after they've been sterilized)
waxing iron, various waxes
sharp metal scraper
panzer file
wax remover
sharp utility knife/spare blades
metal strand file brush

for shallow, non core shot gouges
-use dental pick to scrap out remaining rock debris
-clean gouge and surrounding area with wax remover
-score the gouge area with sharp dental pick in a cross hatch pattern
-drip 'quik stix' ptex into gouge using careful technique with butane torch
-allow to cool
-carefully file down the ptex bump with panzer file to 'almost flush' with base surface
-crayon the entire area or entire ski with appropriate temp wax
-drip a bit of extra wax on ptex repair area
-iron on the wax and give a coupla extra passes to repair area with iron on a bit hotter of a setting. This will melt the ptex a bit so it's flush with base surface and blends in the repair nicely, sets the ptex repair well.
-immediately clean the hot iron with paper towel to remove ptex/wax melt residue
-allow ski to cool, scrape carefully with sharp metal scraper. any 'spilled over' ptex that melted with the passes of the iron will be removed with the scraper. perhaps ski racer techs would roll over in their graves with this technique and claim blasphemy, but my fleet of skis ain't for racers and I'm not too concerned with a hypothetical contamination of wax/base with a few microns of extra ptex.
-buff base with scrotchbrite pad or base buffer (preferably...but more 'cause it's fun to use a power tool. ;) )

For core shots/and/or along the edge deep gouges

Do all of the above substituting the ptex gun instead of the torch and 'quick stix' equipment aside from the following;
- I try to cut an inverted V shape into the gouge sidewalls with sharp utility knife so that the hardened ptex has and extra bit of structural reinforcement for longetivity.
- the ptex sometimes bubbles and air pockets form...so sometimes i start by ptexing a layer of 'containment' berm ptex on the outer rim of the gouge, allow to cool, then slowly, incrementally fill the inner tub from one end to the other with ptex
- that seems to work for repairs along the steel edges as well after a bit of heating with the edge of the ptex gun hot pad.

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Originally Posted by swissiphic

Work at a shop and have to do a lot of ptexing on the fleet of rental skis.


for shallow, non core shot gouges
-
-clean gouge and surrounding area with wax remover
-score the gouge area with sharp dental pick in a cross hatch pattern
-
.

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Great tips. I still have problems with shallow gouges. Core shots are easy for me, but the minor patches tend to peel when I scrape.
Love the cross hatching. Was just roughing with sandpaper until now.

I don't bother with minor scratches any more, there are no crowds up here and nothing to hit so the one ski ( jj ) taht might get a core shots early season I could give a fuck about, but I am trying to be more proactive on waxing,

I think waxing more often is good and i have rationalized them shallow gouges .. .are just base structure

it is possible I have become the lazy ski bum

or as bro described us ... lazy skiing gentlemen

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

I don't bother with minor scratches any more, there are no crowds up here and nothing to hit so the one ski ( jj ) taht might get a core shots early season I could give a fuck about, but I am trying to be more proactive on waxing...

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agreed. my quiver of personal skis is a mess of base scratches and gouges...like u the only ones i repair are core shots and any gouges along the edges.

With the crayon on the wax waxing technique and no scraping required, pretty easy to keep on top of waxing and keep those base pores happy.

And no, not lazy at all; I think there's something to the structure thing especially as spring hits and you ski a lot of water saturated snow. My thrashed to shit JJ bases run pretty damn fast.

Also, ime after waxing a fleet continuously over the seasons, the little minor scrapes and scratches mysteriously 'heal' with repeated waxing/passing of the iron. Truly a wonder of nature.

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Originally Posted by swissiphic

agreed.

Also, ime after waxing a fleet continuously over the seasons, the little minor scrapes and scratches mysteriously 'heal' with repeated waxing/passing of the iron. Truly a wonder of nature.

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Interesting
Maybe the smaller lines are compression of base, not removal of material. The heat of the iron fluffs and expands the ptex back to normal

Does that make you a ski fluffer?

Ps, dry skis core shot more than slippery waxed ones.
Wonder if phantom glide and the other long term waxes will reduce core shots? Intuitively I think yes.

yeah I have found the same thing to some degree, if I wax alot the scratches seem to heal a bit and are less apparent

there are a number of phantom glide test cases around and we shall see