Quick fix for a shot set of skins for a few hours use

[BeardMech]

My skins suddenly lost its glue, and even the middle strip that you can pull for extra grip did absolutely nothing. i know I either need to replace the glue or buy new skins. My shop local shop stopped doing it, so Id have to buy the kit and an electric iron, 80 dollars worth of stuff. Apparently the process is quite intensive and time consuming. Im first going to call g3 about some of the issues (store manager recommend this), but I really would like to go out again while I deal with this. Would that glue that is used for quick tail or tip fixes work for a few hours out?

[Peruvian]

Re-gluing skins takes as much time as waxing skis and requires about the same skill level. You can do it.

[OregonDead]

If you have a tailclip you might be fine even with zero glue. I'd check it out at home and see how well things stick together. Seems like you could just lock everything in place with a ski strap if you need to.

Also where did you get the $80 figure? I haven't ever done it but from what I heard you just need a tube of the glue and a regular iron and some paper bags. How much is the glue? You can get a thrift store iron if you really don't have one.

[swissiphic]

R u sure that ALL the glue is gone? If you have even just a a fraction of the glue remaining, just use a heat gun and refresh what's left. Work slowly from tip to tail. That should get you through till you do a full glue renew, especially if you have tail clips. If not, duct tape the tails.

Post some pics of the glue side of skins, let's assess.

[skizix]

duct tape the tails.

If you really mean, "for a few hours use", this is the most obvious and easiest solution. It should also be your always, bc backup solution (i.e. for this and many other reasons, put some fkn duct tape in your bc pack!).

[splat]

^^^^^what he said.

[BeardMech]

Ill take a pic later to night.

Would a electric iron work instead of a heat gun? I need to get one anyway, so if I can clean some of debris off and run a iron over it with some extra glue, do you think that would work?

Im hoping to go out tomorrow morning so Ill try the duct tape. I assume I dont want to stick any duct tape on the skin surface and just doubleside it on the bottom (basically fastening it). Or would zip ties work better? I can also use a blow dryer to heat up the glue abit.

[swissiphic]

Good question about if a hair dryer would work...i guess try it on a test patch and see if the glue melts and runs a bit...indicated by getting shiny and after cooling, tacky to the touch?

An electric iron would work too. Use a full length of parchment paper as a buffer layer between iron and glue. Don't know what heat setting would be optimum, any time i ironed i just eyeballed and turned down the heat if the glue started smoking.

Should be a thread around here somewhere on how to do it right...from what i recall from personal experience...

work in a well ventilated area and if you have one use a gas mask...it's stinky.
lay skins flat glue side up on a surface you don't mind getting sticky glue onto...i've used a full length of cardboard over my work bench
secure tips and tails with C clamps or vice grips after pulling skins slightly snug but not tight.
wear latex or some disposable gloves and work/painting clothes...the process can be messy and the glue tends to somehow get onto hands and clothes and hair and glasses, etc...

[skizix]

Ill take a pic later to night.

Would a electric iron work instead of a heat gun? I need to get one anyway, so if I can clean some of debris off and run a iron over it with some extra glue, do you think that would work?

Im hoping to go out tomorrow morning so Ill try the duct tape. I assume I dont want to stick any duct tape on the skin surface and just doubleside it on the bottom (basically fastening it). Or would zip ties work better? I can also use a blow dryer to heat up the glue abit.

In my limited experience (done the duct tape thing a couple times over the years), duct tape on the skin surface will not contaminate it nor damage it when removing. I mean, I wouldn’t leave it on in a hot garage for a month, but for a day of skiing...no probs. And your skins will definitely stay on - not so sure if you have the slippery side against the skin surface.

[mall walker]

I've voile strapped skins into skis before when the glue failed. Not an ideal long-term solution but it certainly works.

[PNWbrit]

Athletic tape works better than duct tape. (the owner of your local store taught me that)

Just smear on new BD glue with skin attached plush side down to a sheet of scrap plywood. As mentioned take as long as (maybe even less than) a quick wax job.

Use cheat sheets for a while until the new glue has lost some of it's stick.

Why the fuck don't you already own a wax iron?

[BeardMech]

I went from living out of a back pack a few years ago to having a family. I have been acquiring gear since i moved here a bit over a year ago. Skiing is expensive as shit, so Im still gearing up.

[XXX-er]

you can sometimes fix glue for awhile by ironing it at a medium heat setting (higher than you wax with ) I use my digital wax iron maxed out at 320F with a layer of parchment paper over the glue

I have also used an iron without parchment and that also works too but you might need a bit more technique

you should count on regluing soon, I use the tubes of gold label cuz its 1/4 the price of the glue sheets which still need to be heated for a proper job, I use a putty knife and heat gun to remove glue as opposed to paper bags and irons, tacking you skin down to work on it is a key thing

what happens is you probably left water to dry on the glue which hydolised, got fcuked up which can happen with any brand of skin glue IME, when they say dry your skins they really mean dry the glue ... the plush side does not give any fucks

[swissiphic]

I went from living out of a back pack a few years ago to having a family. I have been acquiring gear since i moved here a bit over a year ago. Skiing is expensive as shit, so Im still gearing up.

Skiing IS pretty expensive. If you wanna save a few more bucks...maybe double check the glue under the center strip of the skins. If there's any left, heat that up with hot air gun or iron with parchment paper and use a 1 inch wide paint stripper metal spatula thingy and sequentially strip that glue. It'll ball up into a big gunky ball on the spatula. Use it to reglue the missing glue from along the lateral portions of the skins...imo/ime the center strip is useless anyway so stripping it (if there was any left) won't affect performance.

[phallic-menace]

Isn't that what the center strip is for? Emergency stash of useable glue in case of failure.

[XXX-er]

I think the strip is because when skins got super wide there was so much glue surface it was impossible to pull them apart

[BeardMech]

I got some gold label but waiting on my iron, so I derbied the skins, lightly reheated the glue with a blow dryer, and made aure there wasnt a fleck of dust on my bases. I got decent stickage for a little tour yesterday, so didnt need to duct tape.

[XXX-er]

are you also getting much glue migration onto the bases ? Probably because skin tip/tail retention systems are now so good thats what I notice probably more than the skins not sticking, glue residue makes the skis will be slow and then i know its time to re-glue

there are lots of regluing threads to search on when you need info

[BeardMech]

Yeah there is glue migration. I hoping with an iron and the gold label it will get back to being solid.

My bases needed a bit more TLC for the summer conditions as well.

[XXX-er]

The heat was the quick fix, I duno if you can rejuvey the old glue any more cuz at this point you will still likely have glue migration/slow skis if not now pretty soon

IME its time to giturdunright so I would tack that skin down firmly and completely strip off the old glue with a blow dryer & a putty knife

A tube of gold label will be enough to completely reglue a set of skins

spread the glue out, cover with parchment & heat glue on a medium iron setting

[wooley12]

Probably a lot of water in the old glue. I've done it and it worked and I've done it and it didn't. If you want to strip and re glue send me a pm. I have everything except the parchment paper. It's messy. I have space and a board too. Or borrow my waxless ski.

[BeardMech]

Ill send you a PM wooley, I dont have a very good space for maintenance so that would be appreciated.

[XXX-er]

He is probably an asshole like everybody else on this site but I would take him up on the offer ... do it once/do it right

[wooley12]

Everybody is somebody's asshole. Good thing to remember.

[swissiphic]

are you also getting much glue migration onto the bases ? Probably because skin tip/tail retention systems are now so good thats what I notice probably more than the skins not sticking, glue residue makes the skis will be slow and then i know its time to re-glue

there are lots of regluing threads to search on when you need info

IME, new skin glue/old skin glue it don't matter..in really warm conditions yer gonna get some glue migration/tackiness on the ski base....so, after all these years i don't worry about it anymore and just keep adding layers of gold label to areas of skin that needs it, melt the mess of old mans' beard and tree needle contaminents all together with the hot air gun and live with the minor issues of imperfection compared to ideal operating standards.

If the glue really gets fawked, then only do the full strip and reglue in the fall previous to the incoming winter ski season...waste of time to fully strip and glue in the spring cause it's gonna get contaminated one way or the other if you're putting in more than a few big days.

ime, a bit of skin residue has a more subtle effect in winter snow but in spring snow it accelerates the collection of other gunk and goo like tree sap, needle gunk, dust and pollen on snow surface.

Very easy to totally eliminate the skin glue residue by wiping yer base clean with white gas after pulling the hides then rub on some wax and buff with gloved hand if you really need more glide and/or you don't wanna ski with bareback bases.