How to Remove Wax From Cross Country Skis

No matter how skilled you are at cross country skiing, you could be at a disadvantage if your equipment isn't maintained properly. Keeping fresh, clean wax on your skis is one way to ensure that they are performing at the highest possible capacity. Before applying fresh wax, it is usually best to remove the old wax and dirt that have accumulated on the skis. There are two main types of wax for cross country skis -- glide wax, which helps the ski slide smoothly over snow, and kicker wax, which provides the ski with traction.

Things You'll Need

  • Plastic scraper
  • Brass brush
  • Wax iron
  • Soft ski wax
  • Paper towels
  • 150 or 180 grit sandpaper
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Instructions

  1. Removing Glide Wax

    • 1

      Scrape the bottom of the ski with your plastic scraper. Glide wax can be found on the front and back thirds of the ski, but scraping tip to tail is a good way to start. Hold the scraper at a 45 degree angle for best results, and be careful to only use as much pressure as necessary.

    • 2

      Brush the ski thoroughly with the brass brush. Brushing opens up the "pores" of the ski and helps to remove leftover wax and dirt from the surface. Any foreign debris in the glide wax can slow the ski down.

    • 3

      Heat the soft wax up with your wax iron and apply a thin layer of fresh wax to the bottom of the ski from tip to tail. While this wax is still soft, remove it from the ski with your scraper. With the pores open from brushing, the fresh wax will help to remove older wax and dirt that couldn't have been removed with the initial scraping.

    • 4

      Leave the skis to cool for a few hours. As the skis decrease in temperature, the pores will contract, forcing even more old wax and dirt to the surface. When they have cooled, do a final pass with the scraper on the glide wax with your scraper and brush.

    Removing Kick Wax

    • 5

      Scrape as much kick wax as possible off the ski. Kick wax is usually applied to the middle area of the bottom of the ski for traction, and can be much more difficult to remove than glide wax due to its sticky composition.

    • 6

      Place a paper towel over any kick wax you find on the ski but cannot remove with scraping. You should only find kick wax in the kick zone (the arch or middle third) of the ski, however it may have bled into the glide zones depending on how precisely the previous wax job was executed.

    • 7

      Apply light pressure to the paper towel (and the wax below) with the wax iron. As the wax melts, it will be absorbed by the paper towel. Repeat this step for any hard-to-get bits of wax left in the kick zone.

    • 8

      Roughen the kick zone using your sandpaper. This will help prepare the ski for future coats of wax by making it easier for wax to stay on the base of the ski.