Gouges
Melted base material run into the gouge, left to set, then scraped flat and waxed over.
€8per gouge
Repairs
Base Repairs
Rocks happen. Most of them are fixable. Routine edges and wax are on the tuning page.
Core shots
Cleaned out, then welded with a base material that bonds, not one that sits in the hole.
€25per repair
Cracked or torn edges
The damaged steel cut out and a new section bonded in. We need to see it first.
from €70priced on sight
Mending a Base, at More Length Than You Asked For
The first thing I do with a damaged base is hold it under the lamp at a low angle and look along it, tip to tail. Light lying flat across a base shows every scratch, and it tells you straight away which marks are only on the surface and which have gone down into the material. A scratch catches the light as a thin bright line. A gouge throws a small shadow on one side. A core shot, where the stone has gone right through, shows something darker underneath, and you can usually feel the edge of the hole with a fingernail.
That difference decides everything after it. A gouge in the base material can be drip filled: you light a stick of base material, let it drip into the cleaned-out gouge, wait for it to cool and then scrape it flat with a sharp steel scraper until you cannot find it with your thumb. It is quick and it is cheap, and for most of the marks that come in, it is the right answer.
A core shot is different, and this is where people are often disappointed by a fill done elsewhere. The drip material does not bond well to the core, so it sits in the hole like a cork and pops out after a few days of skiing. A core shot needs to be cleaned back to sound material and welded with a base material that actually melts into the edges of the hole. It takes longer and costs more, and it lasts.
Then everything goes back on the stone. A repair is not finished until the base is flat again and has a structure, otherwise the patch drags in wet snow and you feel it on every turn. Last comes the wax, which is the part people see, and the part that matters least to whether the repair holds.
If you bring in skis and I look along them and say they are finished, that is not me being difficult. A cracked core will not take a weld, and a long delamination will only open again. I would rather tell you that for free than charge you for a repair that fails in January.
Vreni
Damage, catalogued
Six Kinds of Damage, in Section
From the mark that wax hides to the one we will be honest about.
1 of 6
Scratch Wax will hide it.
Gouge Drip fill, done the same week.
Core shot Needs a weld, not a fill.
Edge crack A new section if it is short.
Sidewall Filled and sealed, cosmetic mostly.
Delamination Over 10 cm, we will tell you honestly.
A Pair From 1987
A pair of 195 cm skis from 1987 came in with a base someone had patched with candle wax, brought by a man who wanted his granddaughter to learn on them. There were eleven gouges and the edges had to be reset from rust. It took most of a Sunday we were meant to be closed, and they came out skiing better than they had any right to. She learned on them that winter.
Cracked Cores and Long Delaminations
A cracked core, delamination over 10 cm or a snapped edge over 15 cm means the skis are finished. A frank answer costs nothing. The full list is under what we turn down.
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