PSA: Repair you own fucking edge compression

[tuco]

Man, I'm all for resurrection, but holy hell man!
Time to wave the white flag bro!
Buy new flailstick and prosper

[alpinevibes]

Man, I'm all for resurrection, but holy hell man!
Time to wave the white flag bro!
Buy new flailstick and prosper

Thank you for the straight talk. I'll let the dream die!

[singlesline]

I think those were salvageable *before* you completely removed the base.

If you had just cut out a section maybe 1" from the edge and 1" longer than the length of the edge repair on both ends, you could epoxy in a patch after fixing the edge...that's a reasonable size section of base patch to glue in.

But reattaching an entire base sounds like a nightmare without some kind of ski press and a lot of prep-work.

[thefortrees]

Friend of mine hit a stump on his split board, looks like it punched through the base and cracked the core. Slight topsheet lift. I suggested he inject epoxy in there, clamp it tight for a few days and call it good. Thoughts?

[alpinevibes]

I think those were salvageable *before* you completely removed the base.

If you had just cut out a section maybe 1" from the edge and 1" longer than the length of the edge repair on both ends, you could epoxy in a patch after fixing the edge...that's a reasonable size section of base patch to glue in.

But reattaching an entire base sounds like a nightmare without some kind of ski press and a lot of prep-work.

The base "sheet" had come off when I hit something on the hill. When I unclicked from the ski the gap between the sheet and the fiberglass was filled with snow and had pulled the back half off. Oh well

[tuco]

Thank you for the straight talk. I'll let the dream die!

Yeah man, it looks like it already had sidewall issues and skied that way. Looks like an H2O intrusion issue left for too long!. Repair material would be cost prohibitive, I believe.

I think those were salvageable *before* you completely removed the base.

If you had just cut out a section maybe 1" from the edge and 1" longer than the length of the edge repair on both ends, you could epoxy in a patch after fixing the edge...that's a reasonable size section of base patch to glue in.

But reattaching an entire base sounds like a nightmare without some kind of ski press and a lot of prep-work.

Take a lot of clamps but full width strips of plywood w/ perpendicular kerfs of varying space and depth corresponding to ski curvature

Friend of mine hit a stump on his split board, looks like it punched through the base and cracked the core. Slight topsheet lift. I suggested he inject epoxy in there, clamp it tight for a few days and call it good. Thoughts?

Without having it in my hand, I envision fabric composite delammed from core under that base. With epoxy saturation being your friend here, my first instinct is cut out and prepare for base patch so you can properly determine extent of damage and get full wet out

[Lvovsky]

Resurrecting dumpster found skis. Gouge near the edge. The edge is delaminated in the plane of the ski. The plan was to cut out ptex, screw the edge back in place, repair the base.

Well, the edge is solid steel without perforation to slid a screw in.

Two options: 1) say forget this, epoxy, clamps, and let it be; 2) keep going, get carbide drill bit, make tiny hole in the edge, epoxy, clamps, etc.

WWMD?

[singlesline]

Found the photos from a big edge and sidewall repair I did a while back on an old pair of Kendos.

Need to buy a length of edge material, tiny edge screws, and a section of ptex base material. SlideWright or Tognar should have all of this.
Will also need some gflex and various tools, but this is doable in an apartment kitchen over the course of a couple of days. Fairly labor intensive though...I did this during COVID when I had nothing better to do, not sure I'd do it today unless I really loved the skis.

Ripped an edge and completely blew out a couple inch section of sidewall on an early January day at Copper:

Shop chopped off the hanging chunk so I could finish my trip. At home I broke out the sidewall back to where it was still firmly attached:



First things first, cut out a section of base material that extends beyond your repair area. Then predrill and use tiny screws to secure edges somewhere past the failure point.

Not pictured, but after securing both sides, cut out the old edge near the screw and break it loose from the resin. For better results, don't cut at 90 degrees but rather cut at an angle so there will be some overlap between the old and new edge. Probably best to do your angles so the "pointy" exposed end is facing backwards.

Then we need a new sidewall. This thrift store spatula looked like it might be the right kind of plastic? It already has a little bit of the shape we need so let's give it a shot.


Cut to match the missing section and use one of the broken sections to match the original profile. Sandpaper, knives, chisels, whatever works. Just keep removing material until you are near the original profile or slightly oversized.


Flame treat plastic so it will properly bond with G/flex. Just a light touch, you're not trying to melt it.


Epoxy that bad boy into place.


Trim to final fit once in place:


Now it is time to cut a matching piece of new edge material. Start oversize and trim down--don't forget to match the angled ends. Epoxy in place and then add screws for reinforcement once the epoxy has hardened (sorry, no pre-screw pic--or maybe I screwed it in while the epoxy was wet).



Grind the heads off all the screws. I think I just carefully used a dremel cutting disc. Your goal is to get the head flat with the edge, but not go below that so that you still have some of the flare of the head intact.


Not Pictured: use edge tuning guides and a coarse file to bring down new edge material to the same bevel and thickness as the old edge.

Cut a piece of ptex to fit the hole and epoxy in place with G/flex. I believe they sell this stuff pre-flame-treated so it should bond just fine.


Get the excess ooze out and then clamp it good:



Clean it up. I used some mixture of sandpaper on a block and a metal scraper, but some of those SkiVisions tools might be nice here. Want to bring the ptex patch down to the level of the existing ptex/edge and give it a little texture.


End result is pretty good.


You can see where the topsheet was pushed up a bit, but that's all filled with epoxy and the new sidewall now. Bottom of the ski was straight.


Held on to them for a couple years with zero issues. Used them not just as rock skis but any time conditions warranted a narrower full metal ski. Eventually stopped skiing them for other reasons (got some true carving skis and other skis I liked better made it to rock ski status) but the repair was still going strong.

Someone bought them for $35 at the local ski swap this year. I'd love to see if they make it back on the hill or if they end up on shot ski or arts & crafts duty.

[QuickLime]

Awesome result singlesline, that plastic spatula handle as a sidewall is seriously nice work.

I'm looking at fixing a couple skis I have, one I bought with some light edge compression, and just want to make sure I get all the right materials before I start cutting it up. The p-tex base is starting to separate from the core, so I'm not sure if I should just hammer the edge back straight and then stick the base down with epoxy, or if I should cut it out and replace a section, and inspect for any water damage to the core in there too. What do the expert mags think?

[Stuntmonkey]

Thrift store spatula is cracking me up. That's some solid craftsmanship there.

[sb]

Amazing work SL

[QuickLime]

Another related question for the repair gurus: Can a small crack in the core hold long term with some G-flex and new base material slapped on? This is right under the center mount line.

[thurmondmb]

Does anyone have an opinion on this edge compression?

I wasn't able to upload an image so I created a sharable google link. Any opinions are much appreciated.
Thanks.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-bA...ew?usp=sharing

[QuickLime]

Just got done smoothing out the base after putting a patch in above my cracked core. Used G-flex and tognar base, hopefully it'll hold.

[altacoup]

I’m about to try a similar repair. Just ordered some base material from tognar. Let me know how yours works.


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[QuickLime]

Bit late, but the repair worked out pretty well overall, the seam between the old and new base isn't perfect, and I haven't been able to get p-tex to stick nicely in there (maybe base weld first would help?) but it's held up well. Probably have 7 days on it, mostly resort but a couple tours and it's holding nicely. Still using it as my outside edge when I remember, but probably not a big deal either way.

[Cocximus]

My BMTs took a nasty hit today. The edge was compressed and got pushed out a bit, the sidewall cracked, and the top sheet has a small dimple. I have the first reverse BMT It’s not too bad—the edge did not pull out or separate. I think I have enough edge to grind it down. Should I just try to grind it, or should I try to hammer it in a bit? How would I go about sharpening it to give it the proper shape again? Is the sidewall crack a major structural issue? Will I die?

[Kirkwood]

My BMTs took a nasty hit today. The edge was compressed and got pushed out a bit, the sidewall cracked, and the top sheet has a small dimple. I have the first reverse BMT It’s not too bad—the edge did not pull out or separate. I think I have enough edge to grind it down. Should I just try to grind it, or should I try to hammer it in a bit? How would I go about sharpening it to give it the proper shape again? Is the sidewall crack a major structural issue? Will I die?

If you don't want to die, you'll need a sledge hammer, a ball-peen hammer, a belt sander, a box of ball bearings, some duct tape, and a heavy flow tampon.

[J. Barron DeJong]

If I want to fix this so that it doesn’t continue getting worse, but don’t care about bringing it to ‘like-new’ condition, what’s the best course of action? Or is bringing it to like-new the best course?







Edge is separated from the sidewall and separated from the base.

I have basic repair materials (G-Flex, metal grip, P-Tex), don’t have base patch or edge, but guess I can get some if that’s what’s needed.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

In that last picture it looks like the whole ski is deformed from the hit. The core might be damaged. If you don’t fix the edge blowout it’s going to get wet in there


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[J. Barron DeJong]

In that last picture it looks like the whole ski is deformed from the hit. The core might be damaged. If you don’t fix the edge blowout it’s going to get wet in there


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Yeah, getting wet in there was my concern. What I’m a wondering is if I can get away with just working some epoxy in there to seal it (or some other relatively simple fix), or if need to start doing surgery.

[stealurface831]

if these are new or just skis you really like, i'd probably do surgery.

but if not, i'd pry things open a bit, jam some toothpicks in to keep things open, apply epoxy, give some local heat to get it moving, hit it with some compressed air to really get it in there, then give it some love with a hammer to get things back in shape a bit, then clamp. 3 way edge clamps if you got em. file work to cut down more of the edge wave.

or just epoxy and clamp and relegate to outside edge.

edited for clarity and additional details

[J. Barron DeJong]

if these are new or just skis you really like, i'd probably do surgery.

but if not, i'd give it a little hammer work to get things straightened out as best you can, then g flex and compressed air to get it in there, then clamp. 3 way edge clamps if you got em. file work to cut down more of the edge wave.

or just epoxy and clamp and relegate to outside edge.

Pretty new. Blade Optics bought late last season. A dozen days on them at most.

[stealurface831]

Pretty new. Blade Optics bought late last season. A dozen days on them at most.

with the durability issues of those, i'd just epoxy and clamp. and look forward to unrelated delam repairs in the near future.

[tuco]

Your repair is similar to the op.
Get base material.
Bend edge back to shape, no need to cut. Cutting is last resort imo because there is no way to seal the edge to edge interface.