I'll admit that it looked a bit grim at the outset, but the challenge to see if I could breathe life into a pretty-far-gone ski inspired me to keep going.
So... Karl Stall hooked me up with his old g40s for the cost of shipping (thanks, Karl!). I was super-psyched as I had been looking for a pair for a while but only met with ludicrous ($250+) asking prices.
KS said they needed some work, and I was down with that. He was most concerned with a tail crack/delam.
When I took them out of the box and looked them over, I wasn't too concerned with the tail....I was more worried about this:
And this (dog not included with skis):
The worst of the damage is not pictured, as they were already on the bench at that point.
Stuff to address:
- The *entire* length of the edges were rusted (not light rust, either)
- There were some edge compressions
- There were numerous core shots (with rust in them, too)
- Various base gouges
- Bases weren't flat
- There was tape stuck to the topsheets and bases
- The tail was cracked and delamming
- There were a bunch of chips in the topsheets that needed to be repaired so no moisture would get in.
I wound up putting quite a bit of time in them. The edges, a panzer file, and I got really cozy for a few hours. I was pretty optimistic as I saw (slow) progress....and eventually I was able to shave off enough of the edges so that the rust was gone.
I got to work on the next big problem: the tail. With some cleaning, some 24-hour epoxy, and creative clamping, that problem was solved. It turned out to be one of the least intensive in terms of labor-hours.
Base repairs are always fun; I knew repairing the coreshots would take a bit of time but not pose any significant problems. What took much longer was getting the bases flat. After having to shave away a bunch of the base edges, that resulted in a convex base. I did a ton of hand grinding to get them very close to flat.
Next up was revisiting the edges to set proper base and side edge angles. They are now razor-sharp after hitting them with the panzer, file, and diamond stones. Solid.
[The reason it took as long as it did was that the rust had to be removed and the base had to be flattened, but the two could not be done independent of one another to be properly addressed. I initially did some quick work to get the bases "sort of" flat, then had to go to town on the rust...but the amount of rust removed caused the edges to be "recessed". So...back to work on the bases to get them truly flat...and then yet another pass on the edges.]
I structured the base and gave them a couple coats of wax (with hot scrapes to pull up the old stuff). I never polished the bases (left some on for the summer, to be scraped in the winter), so I don't have a shot that fully shows the bases and edges in all their glory. This shot (with the layer of unscraped wax) will have to do:
They need a scarpe & polish when next season's first snow arrives.
I cleaned the topsheets + removed stickers, epoxied the remaining topsheet chips, filled the old binding holes, and mounted some Fritschis.
Again, I probably should have taken a better picture, but this is the only one I snapped after mounting the bindings last night:
All told, I put quite a bit of work in these. Not including the binding mount, the project took about 10h (maybe more?). I didn't mind the work as I can't be out skiing, climbing, biking, etc., right now (although I probably should have been doing some projects around the house).
Yes, it was a ton of work, for a hardpack, early season ski...but they still have a many turns left in them. Can't wait to ride them.
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