Skins - maintenance

[Alisse]

I could google this, but this is more interesting!

Other than completely drying the skins, trying to pick pine needles etc out of the glue, re-cheat-sheeting and rolling them loosely to store, do you do anything else to extend the life of your skins?

Someone once mentioned some washing, but I didn't look into it. My new-in-December BD skins are starting to feel...fuzzy in a certain way. I want them to last!!

 Thanks :-)

[JasonG]

I have old purple ascensions that I've had for 16 years and which are still my main pair of skins.  They've outlasted two splitboards and are now on their third.  I re-glue them ever couple of seasons and don't do much else @Alisse.  They have a few slits from skinning over rocks but otherwise work fine still, fuzzy and all.

[Bronco]

An occasional application of skin wax on the plush and ironing the glue side with a brown paper bag seems to keep them going.  If Jason can put the amount of mileage on his over 16 years, that's pretty solid endorsement.

[Alisse]

@Bronco @JasonG off-topic, but on longer/more committed ski tours, what kinds of tools (if any) do you bring? I guess the question is..what is most likely to break with tech bindings/skis/boots/poles? Or maybe this question is too specific to models... I have a little relatively lighy multitool, but I'm not sure if I could get away with something lighter...

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited April 24, 2018 by Alisse

[genepires]

here is one thing every tour should bring in addition to duct tape, hose clamp, zip ties, first aid and your brain.

 

[Alisse]

58 minutes ago, genepires said:

here is one thing every tour should bring in addition to duct tape, hose clamp, zip ties, first aid and your brain.

 

Funny that you post this; one of my friends had to fashion exactly that on Sunday! I'm thinking I should get a second ski strap for this possibility! Maybe the booty gods will help me out...

Hose clamp? Pardon my lack of imagination, but how have you used that?

Thanks 😊

[Bronco]

I cary one of these: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/ski-bindings/binding-buddy-multi-tool-BD1635000000ALL1.html

 

And Brooks range has another version: https://www.brooks-range.com/ski-binding-tool-p/9608.htm

Make sure you have the correct bits for your bindings.  I added some torx bits.  I also carry several ski straps, 4-5 various binding screws and a multi tool, the leatherman Crunch is my favorite for MTB and Skiing with the vice grip pliers.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Bronco
accuracy

[genepires]

11 hours ago, Alisse said:

Funny that you post this; one of my friends had to fashion exactly that on Sunday! I'm thinking I should get a second ski strap for this possibility! Maybe the booty gods will help me out...

Hose clamp? Pardon my lack of imagination, but how have you used that?

Thanks 😊

I was thinking of broken ski pole.  May not work depending on your pole.  You can always use it picker shut your partners lips if he/she is talking too much smack.

[dberdinka]

If your skin glue is gummy but not filthy it's gotten infiltrated by H2O, use an iron directly on the glue to basically steam it out.  It won't restore it completely but it definitely helps.

I reglue my skins fairly frequently.   Get a heat gun from Harbor Freight (~$10).  On low setting really heat up about a foot of skin at a time and use an old credit card or similar thin, flexible scrapper to scrape the glue right of the skin.  Done right this should remove 99% of the glue on your skins.   Works way better than trying to soak the glue into paper bags.   Get a tube of gold label skin glue, warm it up in a bowl of hot water. The apply to skin, again about a foot at a time,  lay down some wavy lines and spread with an old credit card again.  Use the heat gun again, this time more sparingly, to keep the skin/glue warm while you spread it.  Try to get as thin a consistent layer as possible.   Let dry 24-48hrs.  Always use skin savers. 

[JasonG]

Darin, as usual, is spot on with advice in his post. 

18 minutes ago, dberdinka said:

  lay down some wavy lines and spread with an old credit card again. 

Another technique you can use at the final gluing stage is to put down parchment paper on the new glue and heat up with iron to float it out to a thin consistent layer.  Let cool before pulling off the parchment paper!  The key is to not over-apply glue.  A thin layer is key.

[Alisse]

4 hours ago, dberdinka said:

If your skin glue is gummy but not filthy it's gotten infiltrated by H2O, use an iron directly on the glue to basically steam it out.  It won't restore it completely but it definitely helps.

I reglue my skins fairly frequently.   Get a heat gun from Harbor Freight (~$10).  On low setting really heat up about a foot of skin at a time and use an old credit card or similar thin, flexible scrapper to scrape the glue right of the skin.  Done right this should remove 99% of the glue on your skins.   Works way better than trying to soak the glue into paper bags.   Get a tube of gold label skin glue, warm it up in a bowl of hot water. The apply to skin, again about a foot at a time,  lay down some wavy lines and spread with an old credit card again.  Use the heat gun again, this time more sparingly, to keep the skin/glue warm while you spread it.  Try to get as thin a consistent layer as possible.   Let dry 24-48hrs.  Always use skin savers. 

This is great! My skins are in great shape right now but I'm going to email this to myself for when they need to be reglued.

Any tricks for getting a smattering of pine needles, etc. out of the glue? I've just been using tweezers, often.

[JasonG]

Yeah, there isn't a great way of getting pine needles out without stripping the glue.  Picking them out works fine. And you don't need to worry too much about it.  They'll still stick with a bunch of crap in them.  And ski straps can be used if they are failing while you are in the field (that is a good indication time to re-glue).

To make it simpler I have two primary pairs of skins.  One for mostly winter use (glue that tends to stay pretty clean) and one pair for spring when I get a bunch of garbage in them.  Because I end up using the spring pair less I re-glue on about the same frequency.  Every other season?

[AlpineK]

I've attempted to pick needles and other debris off my skins.  While it seems to work for sometime, I recently put my skins on plywood and under tension and proceeded to scrape the skins bare.  Afterwards new skin glue was applied.  The process seemed to do the trick.

I used glue from a tube, but G3 sells a glue renew product.

https://youtu.be/NGY1KCUC1fI

[Ben Johnson]

Giving this thread a bump...

After a proper coast range adventure, my new Pomoca skins look like this. I was extolling how wonderful they were all trip. Bad idea.

Is there any hope other that a full re-glue? They basically have no stick left. Calling on @JasonG and anyone else!

[Kameron]

1 hour ago, Ben Johnson said:

Giving this thread a bump...

After a proper coast range adventure, my new Pomoca skins look like this. I was extolling how wonderful they were all trip. Bad idea.

Is there any hope other that a full re-glue? They basically have no stick left. Calling on @JasonG and anyone else!

Pick out the needles and bits with tweezers! Painfully slow but I'm guessing your glue is fine. Good motivation not to let that happen to your skins again.

Sounds like you should post a TR of your adventure.

[JasonG]

6 hours ago, Kameron said:

Pick out the needles and bits with tweezers!

You can go this way, but I think it is better to just throw some rags (old t-shirts work great but you need to toss them after use) on them, heat them up with an iron and peel all that crap off.  Some of the glue will come off, but not all of it (depending on how much you heat it).  Then, lay a very thin layer of new glue, let it dry over night, and heat it up again under parchment paper to smooth it out.  Voila! 

I think it is probably a bit faster than picking out bits, but it will cost you a tube of glue.  I've never been patient enough to pick out even half that much crap from my skins after spring misahps.

Of course, you can always go full Darin and strip it all off. He gives some good tips above.

And yes @Ben Johnson we want a full blown TR!!