Gearx seconds skins

Will probably just try to resurrect my old G3s by removing the gunky glue. They sat unused for a few years and now the glue is really elastic-like and comes off on my hands. I never had any problems with those skins, always worked great, unlike my new G3s :
(gimicky women's G3 Alpinist=Failure).

Thanks,
Mary

Having just spent 5 hours trying to reglue a couple pairs of skins, I highly recommend Larry_R's suggestions about skin regluing. In particular, the iron trick worked well.  Highly dis-recommend removing old glue by ironing on paper bags.  Takes for freaking ever.  Next time I will try the heatgun/paint scraper method.  Hopefully my five hours spent in meditative contemplation of my skins will be heard by Ullr and he will provide for us thirsty skiers.

I do the hot iron and 4" scraper method as well -- works much, much better than the paper bags. I can do a pair of skins plus reglue in a couple of hours, counting time for the applications of glue to dry.

Messy though. Don't do it in your living room.

There have been a few past businesses in the Rockies and the PNW that did the skin re-glue thing... but they don't seem to last. My guess is that it's just not economically feasible. There's a natural limit to what you can charge to refurbish a product that only costs $150 or so to replace, and it is somewhat labor intensive. Better to have some tricks of your own to get the job done with a modicum of grief.
The "resident expert" on the process in our ski gang is “Mad Dog Morrison” (Jeanette). She seems to have it down to a fairly painless process. After much badgering to get her to refurbish the glue on our skins, she finally decided it would be easier if she put her "recipe" to paper for us.

I suspect she’ll be ok with my publishing her "trade secrets" here since she’s currently basking in the sun in Mexico and not likely looking for any “skin re-glue” business.
Jeanette’s method is similar to Marcus’s, only she uses a heat gun with a paint scraper attachment rather than an iron:

"We all know what a pain it is to try to re-touch our skin glue, or find a reliable source to renew our skins. Through trial and error I have developed a fairly efficient process, which I’ll share with you here.
I have a multi-purpose heat gun with an attachable scraper nozzle (Wagner model HT1000) with dual temps 750 degrees and 1000 degrees. I lay the skin, glue side up on the workbench, (lined with newspaper) and clamp it down by the tip end. You really only have to clamp one end since you will work from tip to tale. Attach the scraper to the heat gun, turn the heat to 1000 degrees (750 also works albeit a bit slower). Be careful with the high temperature (don’t direct the heat in any one place for very long) as it could delaminate the skin or melt the cloth backing. Starting at the tip end, strip the glue from tip to tale with the scraper. It does a beautiful job, taking the glue off right down to the fabric backing on the skin (about 5 minute’s maximum for stripping). I then apply a small amount (about three brush fulls) of the Ascension "Gold Label" adhesive for climbing skins, and spread a very thin layer of the glue down the skin with a heavy duty 3" wide metal putty scraper, re-applying a small amount of glue as needed. It is very easy to spread the glue with the scraper at this point, since the skin was is warm.
I strip the other skin while the first skin is drying the 1/2 hour as indicated on the glue directions. Then I apply a second thin coat of glue on the first skin and so on, until I have at least 3 well dried layers of new glue applied.
Using this method the skins come out beautiful, and stick to the ski very well. If you want to protect the nylon or mohair (snow) side of the skin from picking up glue while you are working, I would suggest using some painter’s masking tape (blue color). The painters masking is low adhesive and will remove easily without leaving any sticky residue on the skin.
Allow yourself about 2 ½ to 3 hours time to complete the job.
Good Luck.
-Jeanette”

Thanks for the tips, I printed out Larry's re-gluing instructions over a year ago! Kept dragging my feet until the day before a big trip and ended up buying new at the last minute. Now back to square one. Thanks to Jeanette for the recipe. Fortunately, I recently purchased a heat gun to get the paint off our front stoop....looks like a good day to finish that project before tackling the skins. Found more info on Telemarktalk as well.

Mary

I understand Mary, I've been dragging my feet about coating my Stoke skins with BD Gold so they hold better in the cold and wet conditions. It's diaper change in the making.

oooh that does sound scary, good luck with that. Now that I think about it, I have nothing to lose!