Removing wax from skin glue?

I have wax that peeled off of my skis and is now attached to the adhesive side of my skins. The wax is about a 1/2" thick strip that runs the length of my skins, with a few additional larger spots. I have read online to try boiling water and melt the wax off, paper bags and an iron to try to absorb it, and the blow dryer/heat gun and scraper method. Does anyone have any other suggestions that have worked for them? I bought some of the BD gold label adhesive but I am waiting to figure out what the best way to initially remove the wax is. Thanks for any suggestions in advance!

- Pete

Think I'd go with boiling water first. The wax should release off the glue in just a minute or two and to my knowledge, skin materials and the glue won't be affected. Skim the wax out before pulling the skins back through it though or if it coagulates together, pour it out. You mention some new glue to refresh the skins and using an old muslin sheet, maybe a thrift store special on the sticky-side up skins with an iron's heat should get most or all the adhesive off.

Yeah, rippy's agreement of water may put the trick to get the skins back into top performance.

If it turns out that a reglue is in your future then the "Mad Dog magic" formula could make life a breeze for you.

Way back 2002 our own “Mad Dog” broke the code on the process of regluing skins and became the local "resident expert.  She seemed 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.

Here is a republish of her sage advice:

"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) clamped it down by the tip end. You really only have to clamp one end since all of your work should be from tip to tail. 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 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, took a heavy duty 3" wide metal putty scraper and spread a very thin layer of the glue down the skin, 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 apply a second thin coat of glue on the first skin and so on, until you have at least 3 will 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 snow side nylon, or mohair knap from picking up glue while you are working, I would suggest using some painter’s (blue) masking tape. 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”

Excellent, thanks for the tips. Looks like I have some work to do!

Heat up a knife and carefully cut it out with the hot knife

Here is a republish of her sage advice:

Thanks, Ron!