Skip to content

Waxing cross-country skis - Cleaning existing skis

If you want to clean your existing skis, you can follow these steps.

    Cleaning the glide surfaces of existing skis:

    1. Start by brushing a few times back and forth with a fine steel brush or brass brush to open up the base.
    2. Melt in a soft glide wax or a cleaning & saturation paraffin with the waxing iron on low heat (max 120°C). Don't skimp!
    3. Scrape off everything while the glide wax is lukewarm with a plastic or acrylic scraper. Old wax and dirt in the ski now come off in this scraping, which you should see on the scraped-off glide wax. Then brush out the base with a brass brush.
    4. Repeat steps 2 and 3, until the scraped-off glide wax looks clean.
    5. Melt in a soft glide wax or a cleaning & saturation paraffin. Let it cool properly indoors for about 15 minutes, scrape off and brush out with a nylon brush. If you are not going to apply glide wax and ski immediately after this cleaning, leave this last layer unscraped until you apply glide wax and go skiing.

    Cleaning the grip zone of existing skis:

    KLISTER REMOVAL:

    Place fiberlene over the klister. Use a warm iron to gently heat the klister on the skis through the fiberlene paper. This softens the klister and makes it easier to remove. Once the klister has softened, use a scraper to carefully scrape off both the fiberlene paper and the klister. Be careful not to damage the base. Clean the grip zone with a suitable ski cleaner to remove any klister residues. This step is important to ensure the skis are completely clean. Use a clean cloth or fiberlene to wipe off the grip zone. Roughen the grip surface with fibertex or sandpaper. This will remove any cleaner residues and prepare the surface for new wax.

    GRIP WAX REMOVAL:

    Use a scraper to carefully scrape off as much grip wax as you can. Clean the grip zone with a suitable ski cleaner to remove any grip wax residues. This step is important to ensure the skis are completely clean. Use a clean cloth or fiberlene to wipe off the grip zone. Roughen the grip surface with fibertex or sandpaper. This will remove any cleaner residues and prepare the surface for new wax.

     

    Tip!

    Repeat this treatment a few times during the season to achieve optimal glide and a ski that holds up for many training miles and the Vasaloppet.

      Back to how to wax cross-country skis