How do I take rust off used snow skis?

Question

I bought some used skis and they have some minor rust on the edges. Are ski's "sharpened" like ice skates? How do i get it off?

Answer 1

Your skis are sharpened like skates, in a way. There are a variety of edge sharpeners on the market. The diamond sharpeners are the best as you don't have to worry about running the sharpener in a specific direction along the edge like you do with a file. With these you just clamp your ski down and run the sharpener over the edge. Use your finger nail to judge the sharpness of the edge. If you can shave a little off the nail with the edge, its pretty decently sharp. Also, after sharpening you need to detune the tips and tails. You don't want the first or last 8 or 12 inches of the edge to be so sharp. This will cause you to catch edges a lot easier. If you knock the edge off and make that part of the edge a little duller then you will glide in and out of your turns easier. Be careful to not over sharpen your edges. After a point it isn't all that useful and you are just wearing your edges down for no reason.

The rust will also come off through use. After several runs you will see it go away. It isn't necessary to REALLY sharpen all the rust off. It will be polished off, in a sense, through skiing. To avoid rusting in the future wipe your edges down before putting your skis away.

Answer 2

Yes skis need to be sharpened like ice skates. If they have rust you should take them into a shop and they will sharpen them which will most likely get the rust off. If you want to do it at home, I've found that running an eraser along the edge takes off dirt that sometimes you can;t even see, and lots of rust with it. If you want a better way to get the rust off, you can buy a gummi stone which is a hard block of rubber with a grit like sandpaper. Usually, they are used to polish the edge after sharpening, but they are also useful in getting rust off.

Answer 3

A plastic scourer, or steel wool, will take the rust off.

You should get the edges sharpened as well. A basic tuneup should mean edges sharpened and bases waxed. You can also get gouges repaired.

Answer 4

if you get a scraper used to scrape wax off skis, that usually works. if you don't have a stand used to place skis on when waxing them, you either get a friend to prop up the ski, or you you lean the ski against the wall. the brakes can be tied back with shoe laces or w/e in order to make it easer. slide the metal edge of the scraper down the ski's edges. only go in one direction- don't go up-down-up-down.
good luck!

Answer 5

You probably have stored your board in an area with high humidity. Move it somewhere where the humidity is low. You can prevent this from happening by keeping it dry and in a dry area for storage. Just take a gummy stone to the edge and it will remove the rust.

Answer 6

Steel wool works great.