Downhill Ski ORIF

This is a guide to fixing a broken pair of downhill skis

I noticed a piece of my edge broke free from my skis after my most recent yard sale. Initially only a small bit was loose. I went down to the bottom and the edge was getting worse. I switched the foot the ski was on so the spur was on my outside edge and basically rode the inside edge of the downhill boot.

While exploring the extent of the damage, the spur of rail broke free from the side.

I searched for edge material and didn't have much luck. I found The Holy Grail of Ski Building Info and wallowed my eyes on their shop for a few days. I was referred to Tognar and got a decent deal on a small piece of repair edge. Googleing snowboard and ski building supplies will get you other dealers but one wanted close to 20 dollars just to ship a 5 dollar piece of steel. The one I ended up getting had a deeper backing insert and was coated in a black paint to keep it from rusting.

I trimmed the edges to get a good matching surface. The socket was chiseled clean to get a good interface for epoxy. The edges were left longer than the socket because I originally intended to solder it in. That didn't work out.

Cut it longer than the gap. You want this tight.

I used a fine bit and drilled pilots in the ski core along the replacement rail. The fine screw pictured is from the same place I got the rail.

The video I found showed grinding off the screw heads to prevent them from sticking through your PTEX. I didn't like the idea of cutting the screw heads off after gluing but it proved necessary. Realistically I will never have to take them out so I cut off enough to keep them below the base but left enough to keep the replacement rail trapped.

I tried a variety of ways. One source said to blow torch it. I one saw a wizard make a bow out of PVC pipe with a blowtorch so I gave it a try. I could not keep it hot enough to repair a defect of my size. I also set it on fire a lot. The sticks of PTEX are called candles I believe, and typically you light them and they drip molten plastic into small gouges on your base. I settled on the oven because it would let me melt a whole stick. I melted it on parchment paper at about 450f/230c. If you don't bake, this is not wax paper.

Coat everything in epoxy again. I had to take the binding off to get it right. Just enough to squish it but not enough to pervert it's camber.

Your rail will probably stick out and require grinding.

I used a kitchen santoku to plane the base more or less flush.

I used coarse sandpaper. They make coarse files that supposedly do this very well.

Get back on the slopes. Someone once told me repair is the highest form of recycling.