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VIDEO – “Scraping Wax”
We are going to start with a groove pen which has a nice flat surface (Doug shows small tool, points out flat side). I am going to take that flat surface and run it at a 45 degree angle right across the edges to knock off any excess wax (Doug runs tool from tip to tail on one side, then repeats on opposite edge of ski). Then, we will remove any excess wax in the groove. It is going to be a nice, easy movement this way (Doug uses end of groove pen to lightly dig into the groove working from one end to the other in one motion). It’s better to do a number of different passes that are lighter, rather than one heavy pass where you can potentially damage your skis.
What I have are two plexi-glass scrapers (Doug holds up two Toko scrapers), one is a 5mm scraper, and the other is a thinner 3mm. The 3mm you can actually flex a little (Doug bends the flexible scraper). I am going to start with a 5mm, and I have just sharpened my plexi-glass scraper. It is important that you start with sharpened scrapers because if you are working with a dull scraper you are going to have to push down harder. As I mentioned with the groove, you have the potential to damage your ski by skidding off the base, and also it is possible to flatten or ruin your structure by pushing down too hard. It also is possible even if your scraper is sharp, to push down too hard, and take your structure either completely off or just portions off.
We want to have a sharp scraper, go nice and light, as it is better to do several lighter passes, and you need to know how to hold it. I like to hold it with both hands, with the index finger on top of the scraper, your other fingers on the back, and your thumbs on the front plate. This way you eliminate the risk of the scraper moving to the side which can cut and damage your ski.
We are going to hold it with our middle finger guiding, and run it down the base (Doug makes a smooth pass down the base, scraping off excess wax). It is helpful to have a garbage can at the end of the ski, it won’t eliminate all the mess, but it helps with the cleanup (Doug takes 3 passes down the ski).
You know you are finished when you come down to the end of the ski and you are not picking up much debris and wax. In this particular instance this is what I picked up (Doug shows the scraper with a very small amount of wax left on it). We are finished here, so let’s start brushing.
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