If you don't apply it, you won't go. To tar hunting skis or not How to tar wooden skis

All athletes know that sports equipment must be carefully and regularly maintained, including skis, even if they are used exclusively by amateurs for family or tourist hikes in the winter forest. Every novice skier should know how to tar their skis and learn how to do it correctly before hitting the snowy trails.

Ski resins, paraffin and ointments are used to improve the performance of sports equipment:

1. Improve grip on the snow surface. To check this indicator, you need to lower the lubricated ski into the snow, put a little pressure on the cargo part and lift it up. You can talk about good grip when snow remains stuck to its entire surface.
2. Improve your gliding using special tools that will ensure excellent skating on any type of snow. You can check this indicator by lowering the ski with adhered snow, which was checked for traction, again onto a snowy surface and moving it back and forth several times. There should be no snow left on the slippery surface.
3. Increase the holding properties of plastic and wooden products when they are so slippery that it is not possible to push off normally.

Resining will also protect wooden products from excessive moisture, prevent them from becoming saturated with melt water, and increase the density of the wood and its resistance to external factors.

What products need to be resinized?

Fewer and fewer athletes are faced with lubricating sports equipment with resin. This is due to the fact that only wooden products need to be treated with this product, and they are increasingly used for skiing.

Wooden sports equipment should be resined at the beginning of each season, as well as before its first use. Properly processed and prepared for use, new devices will last much longer than untreated ones, and during storage in the hot season, the material from which they are made will not dry out or crack.

How to tar at home?

In order for skiing to bring joy, you need to consider in advance the question of how to properly resin wooden skis. In order not to waste time looking for workshops that can work with such sports equipment, it is better to immediately use the home processing method.

It is necessary to consistently follow all the steps described in the instructions. Otherwise, the inventory will be poorly processed, and unpleasant memories will remain from the walk.

Choosing a location for the procedure

Ski waxes and resins contain harmful chemicals that will evaporate when heated. It is better to carry out the treatment outdoors or at least on the balcony. If this is not possible, you need to stock up on protective gloves and a respirator.

To position the skis with the bottom surface up, you need to install two or three chairs and place the products on them so that they are positioned level without tilting.

Selecting a Heat Tool

To ensure that the ski resin saturates them evenly, the surface of each wooden ski is heated before applying it. To do this, you can use the following tools:

• gas burner;
• industrial dryer;
• blowtorch.

You can use any of the listed heating tools that are available.

Necessary equipment

To tar wooden skis, you need to prepare:

• special resin (you can use birch tar purchased at a pharmacy as a lubricant);
• a scraper or sandpaper, a brush with brass padding;
• rags, cloths made of synthetic materials;
• lubrication remover;
• brush;
• heating tool;
• gloves;
• spacer;
• silver or ointment for holding, primer.

Process description

Instructions for resinizing wooden products consist of the following steps:

1. In order for the new layer of impregnation to adhere well to the surface, you need to wash off the old lubricant with turpentine or a special remover. You can remove the remnants of the old coating with a scraper, and then walk over the surface with sandpaper.
2. Preheat the container with resin in a glass of warm water. This way the substance will become liquid and be better distributed over the surface being treated.
3. Having placed the ski on chairs in a horizontal position, heat one third of the surface with a gas burner (or other tool), avoiding charring the wood. Apply a layer of resin to the heated part of the ski and spread it with a brush in a thin layer.
4. Heat the tarred ski until the resin begins to bubble, which should be smeared again with a brush. Then process the remaining two-thirds of the ski in the same way.
5. In order for the new lubricant to dry better, it is recommended to leave it for a day. Then reheat the surface and apply a second layer of resin, treating light areas especially well.

Resin stains should be promptly removed with an old rag before it has time to absorb or stain the floor.

After the procedure

If tarring is carried out before the new season, then after the treated surface has dried, a special primer and ointment must be applied to it for holding. If the weather is warm, then to prevent snow from sticking you can cover the sliding surface with silver.

What to pay attention to

If after treatment the skis will be stored until the next season, they should be placed with their tarred surfaces facing each other in a cool, dark place. You can't link them. For storage, special clamps are used, which simultaneously serve as spacers.

Attention! The equipment should not be treated with wax before use, as it will make the surface slippery, making it difficult to move uphill.

Preparing sports equipment for the skiing season is mandatory, even for beginner athletes. It is almost impossible to ride untreated products. Correctly carried out preparatory measures will protect equipment from damage and rapid wear.

Tarring skis is an outdated term that is practically not used by modern ski athletes. This is because ski resin is used for wood products that are not used much by skiers. Due to the fact that ski shops do not apply resin, owners of wooden pairs need to know how to make and apply the lubricant. If you know yourself, you can extend the life of the product.

Resin is needed to protect a wooden product from the destructive effects of moisture. When properly impregnated, the density of the wood increases, which increases the durability of the product.

There are several types of lubricant:

1. For better glide. On different types of snow, wooden products glide differently. To improve this indicator, you can use special ointments.
2. To hold. These impregnations are most often used for plastic skis, but can also be used for wooden ones. They are needed in cases where the skis are slippery and this makes it difficult to push off to start moving. This makes it difficult to climb uphill.
3. For protection against moisture. These lubricants include resins and impregnations that protect wood from exposure to liquids. They must be applied before and after each season. They are used for touring and classic ski pairs.

Composition and manufacture of the product

You can make the impregnation composition at home or purchase a ready-made mixture in the store. The classic mixture consists of the following components:

• pine resin;
• turpentine;
• Birch tar;
• kerosene;

Simpler options are made only from pine resin or birch tar. If you can't find these two ingredients, you can use wood stain.

What products need to be resinized?

Only wooden skis can and should be oiled. The plastic itself is resistant to moisture. Wooden fibers gradually become soaked and begin to rot, crack, and delaminate. You need to soak your ski pair not only before the start of the season, but also after it ends. This is due to the fact that when storing skis on a balcony or in a storage room, they may become unusable due to changes in temperature and changes in air humidity.

Do not store wooden skis near heating elements, in direct sunlight or near sources of open flame.

Step-by-step instructions for resinizing

To achieve maximum results from resining a pair of skis, the products must be processed:

1. Before applying homemade or purchased lubricant, it is necessary to prepare the working surface. To do this, using cycle and turpentine, remove the old layer of impregnation and degrease the surface. Then, use fine sandpaper to sand the surface of the product for better adhesion to the new impregnation.
2. The resin must first be heated to make it more liquid. Place the ski so that it is in a horizontal position on two points of support. You can use chairs for this.
3. Imagine that the surface is divided into three zones. Using a gas torch or industrial hair dryer, heat the first part. Pour a small amount of resin onto it and spread it evenly with a brush.
4. Heat the resin-coated surface again until bubbles appear. Go over it with the brush again. After this, wipe off the remaining resin from the edges of the ski and begin the second part. After treating the entire surface, allow the resin to dry completely and absorb. Leave to dry for a day.

Impregnation of wooden skis with resin is one of the most important procedures that must be carried out constantly. This will avoid damage and wear of the product.

It so happened that after reading this article, our readers began to ask me a variety of questions not only about lubricants, but also about skis and ski poles. I try to answer all these questions within my competence. In my search for an answer, sometimes I call the best experts in the country in their field and they help me give you the right answer. If, after reading this article and all the answers, you still have questions, please write to me. skisport@mail. ru , I will definitely answer them.

Ivan Isaev,

Editor-in-chief of the magazine "Skiing"

Master of Sports of the USSR in cross-country skiing

And now, in fact, the letter itself from our reader.

Please consult. I'm going on a ski trip in February. For two weeks. The question arose of how to prepare the skis. Wooden skis, Forest skis. Initially, when I bought them, I impregnated them with Marathon XXI (formerly Visti) paraffin. I warmed it up with a hairdryer and the paraffin was well absorbed. And I treated it to suit the weather with the same series. Didn't resin.

Most likely, this will not be possible during the hike. Old books advise tarring. I'm thinking, what should I do with them? Will the resin lie on top of the paraffin? Or soak them in “cold” paraffin along the entire length to make them glide, and apply them under the cargo area depending on the weather? Or sand it and just tar it?

Sincerely, Glekov Evgeniy.

* * *

Evgeniy, you asked a fantastically interesting question that has puzzled me and many of my skiing friends whom I called in search of an answer. The fact is that I have tarred a lot of wooden skis in my life. And it’s impossible to count how many paraffinized plastic ones there are. But to paraffin wooden ones... This (just don’t be offended, please) is the same as harnessing a horse to a car.

In general, you have asked a problem... But the general verdict (after consultation with friends) is as follows:

1. The best solution for you would still be to “go broke” and buy plastic skis intended for hiking in virgin lands. They will not swell, as will inevitably happen with wooden skis, especially if there is a thaw. They have metal edges, which means they will not have rolled edges. Finally, they won’t break in the most inopportune place, as can easily happen with wooden skis. Buy, for example, these:

2. However, it is clear that you may not have the money to buy skis, but you still want to go hiking. Therefore, if we return directly to your question, it seems to us that it is possible to wax wooden skis. But something tells me that the resin will still stick to the ski better (in fact, forever - I know from my own experience), but the paraffin will “leave” from the ski over time. Although, it is possible that from the point of view of hydrophobic (water-repellent) properties, paraffin will still be more effective than resin for some period of time (we are talking, apparently, not about years, months and weeks, but about days). But, in general, I honestly admitted to you that my own experience in this area, both for me and for all my skiing friends, turned out to be zero, don’t blame me.

So, the options for solving the problem in order of preference:

A) buy new plastic skis;

B) paraffin the ends and coat the block with ointment;

C) sand the skis with fine sandpaper and then thoroughly impregnate them with resin. After this, the ski can be lubricated with ointment along its entire length: in the middle (under the block) with weather-appropriate ointment, at the ends with colder ointment.

I will modestly voice my opinion on whether hunting skis need to be tarred.

Sure. No need. Those skis that appear, those with a quality mark - they were produced in 1978, and now it’s 2011. They no longer have sharp edges, and the surface is a little scratched, but it’s scratched with the slag that was sprinkled on the roads, because it’s difficult to climb onto the pass of the car on ice they couldn’t, and we, hunters, were lazy not only to crush the powder along the way for 10 kilometers, but also to descend from the hill on foot. I put on my skis and zip down, only to feel how the slag under the ski sometimes gnaws wood from it. Back then I didn’t even think that skis could last so long. Please note they are not resinous.

I recently discussed this topic with colleagues and they gave me one of the YouTube videos about tarring skis as a clear example. There a guy grinds his skis and says - I read it on the internet, it needs to be grinded, I don’t understand why they don’t do it at the factory. Here, according to Freud, he hit the nail on the head. This is not done at the factory since this procedure is not necessary on modern VENEER skis. Which disintegrate only in one case, in case of IMPROPER STORAGE. Store them out of season in a fabric cover in the shade, not in the sun (or without a cover, but in the shade, not near a heat source (on a stove or radiator) and do not allow the backs of the skis to stand where water periodically appears, for example , rain. That's all, they will never dry out or get wet and nothing will happen to them. People burn leaves, not understanding the stupidity, but having gotten used to it from childhood, from school, from their yard, knowing that “that’s how they do it” - so do it themselves. And looking at them, their children, etc. The circle is closed. And so it is here. Everyone has forgotten the origins, where it came from. And this masturbation goes back to the time when skis were not veneered, but were simply wooden. I also found these. So that they would not dry out (and we are talking about cross-country racers and this procedure was then carried over from them to hunting by analogy), they were tarred. And then many did not understand why and thought “so that they would ride and glide better,” so athletes tar. And athletes tarred in order to apply “paraffins" - less consumption of paraffins and lay down more evenly. I’ll say right away that paraffins are not paraffins as such, but ointments based on them with the addition of temperature additives - i.e. ski waxes. And people will grab the candle and “refine” the skis - well, now they’ll just carry it, hold on. And they are very surprised that they go to one temperature, but not to another. Heating, cork and hot iron, all to ensure that the layer is not just thin, but even - the glide depends on this, all the unevenness of the ski is leveled out. Now swimmers shave and use smooth suits for the same purpose (they seem to have decided to cancel suits). But look how far we have gone towards sports and how far we have gone from hunting skis. But ski wax is a good thing (if you guess the temperature, otherwise: either the skis will give back, or vice versa, you will scratch them like slag). But if you have a piece lying around in your backpack for above-zero temperatures, that’s a plus (forgive the tautology), in case of a thaw and a potential scam. Although, when we have a podlip, the season is closed for a month and a half. But they also ski in other areas, and a piece of ointment is not large or heavy. Once you use it, you don’t even need to rub it; after 10 minutes, nature will do everything itself. She's such a magician.

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