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I'm new to splitting and was wondering if you can reapply the glue to volie track skins. I have seen kits online was wondering if anyone has any advise.

You might want to PM Shralpmacchio for this question...I'm pretty sure he was riding reglued skins at the east-side split party last weekend.

GL.

over the weekend i gave my skins a rejuvination, no new glue necessary, which may be worth a try before you re-glue with this: http://www.mammothgear.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=17

i read about this technique somewhere on the web, gave it a go and am really happy with the results.

step1: apply your skins upside down to base of splitty (glue facing you)
step2: cut some parchment paper to size and lay it over the glue
step3: iron the bejeezus out of the paper until the glue underneath softens and flattens out
step4: wait until everything cools down, remove paper and admire your handywork.

tips: you'll be able to tell when it's working as you can see it smooth out through the paper. i'd give it a fair bit of heat. that glue is tougher than you think, so don't be afraid of it melting and dripping everywhere (it won't happen). also use some muscle and 'push' the glue to where you want it to go. If you're stressed about heating your base too much maybe lay some sort of protective layer underneath your skin (cardboard perhaps?).

it worked wonders for me. i had lumpy skins with very little tack in places, now they're super smooth and really sticky.

also if you need to re-glue, search the web for 're-gluing climbing skins'. i hear it's all about several thin layers, not 1 thick layer.

good luck.

oh yeah, schralphmaccio is also good for pointers about 3 points of contact and how to shread the BC while slaying each turn with his whippet. krazy kid that scralph...

Short answer: yes you can reglue your skins.

Does it work once it's reglued? Absolutely.

Is it a complete pain in the ass? Depends how thorough you are and how bad your glue is.



If your glue still has tack but is uneven, then I'd recommend the method holbyco quoted above. SAVE YOUR TRANSFER PAPER! This way you can give your skins that kind of touch up any time, and also as a finishing process if doing a total reglue.

If your glue is losing tack then you can also get BD Renew sheets that iron on a new layer of glue. I have not tried them but this process will be very fast.

If your glue is really decomposed (thick, hardened, not tacky, full of rocks and pine needles, etc) then it's time for a reglue. There have been many processes discussed ad nauseum on ttips. Here is what I deem the easiest and best:

1) Get yourself a heat gun and a putty knife if you can. The whole paper bag and iron thing is painstakingly slow and nearly useless.

2) Heat up a section of the upside-down skin with the heat gun and watch for the glue to turn liquidy. Use the putty knife and scrape lengthwise down the skin, removing the old glue in globby sections. Wipe the globby putty knife on a paper bag and repeat until your skins are glueless.

3) Apply masking or other tape down the glueluess strip in the middle of your now deglued skins.

4) Use the BD glue brush and apply a small glob of glue *across* the skin. Transverse (perpendicular) to the long axis of the skin. Then, use the putty knife and run the glob as thinly as possible lengthwise down the skin. What you just did was ensure the glue spreads evenly. I actually found that gluing half of the skin - on one side of the masking tape - allowed me to work most consistently, then I came back and finished the other half. The problem is that the glue can dry fast in warm/dry environments and it becomes more viscous and difficult to spread as it does so. The trick is to apply small, even amounts quickly once you've brushed the glue onto the skin. The thinner the better.

5) Do as the manual says - wait 30 minutes between coats and apply 3 coats. Leave to dry overnight. Do holbyco's final iron touch-up method the next day to really get the skins even.

** Work in a well ventilated area. The toluene solvent is chemically similar to benzene (but not quite as hardcore) and will fuck you up in a not very good brainkilling cancer causing way if you get too friendly with it. I would not advocate letting the skin dry overnight in your living room for example.

Dude, I just finished ironing my BD STS Split skins, and now they seem to have more tack than they did out of the box!!!
Seriously, this is the way to go. I'm sure it can be done multiple times, keeping your skins fresh and you out of the garage. It took about 10 minutes to do both, and now I have fresh skins.

Thanks for the tip.
Do it.

I'll give them a try tomorrow. Stoked

I figure I'll post this appended to an existing thread that covers the same info instead of starting a new topic. Here goes...

Get some baking parchment paper at the supermarket. This stuff has a lot of uses, and here is just one other. Tear off a piece a bit wider than your climbing skin. Lay the skin flat on a CLEAN work surface, plush-side-down and glue-side-up, and pick any obvious twigs/grass/cranberries/Snickers-wrappers out of the glue before proceeding. Preheat your waxing iron to about 1/2 or 3/4 max setting (I set my Swix iron to 120 C). This will be a somewhat cooler setting than you use for waxing. Make sure to wipe the iron clean of wax residue with a paper towel once it warms up. Lay the piece of parchment over one end of the skin, pressing it lightly against the glue, and then use the iron to heat the paper against the glue. Pretend like you are waxing and use mild pressure with circular movements to heat the glue under the paper. Do this for about 20 seconds per parchment paper section.



It's easy to tell where you have worked since the parchment will get semi-translucent as the glue wakes up.



Wait a minute or two and then carefully pull the parchment up. It should come free with no glue adhering.



Lay the parchment over the next section of skin, overlapping maybe half an inch and repeat the process. Do this down the whole length of the skin, reusing the same piece of parchment unless it gets dirty or gummed up. Hang the skin to dry and cool completely. It probably even makes sense to put it in a cold place like outside before applying cheat sheets or sticking it to itself since the glue may be as aggressive as it was when new. You can store your skins with parchment attached or rejuvenate them repeatedly using this technique. Happy ironing.

Just out of curiosity, what is the purpose of the strip of tape down the middle?

It reduces the glue surface area to make the skins easier to remove from the ski or peel apart. It's nice when you have new, aggressive glue.

Thought I'd share some experience based on recent reglue/touch-up/complete stripping/reglue. I'm considering compiling all the information I used prior to doing this and making one big skin glue superpost, but that will have to wait a few days.

+ Using a steel scraper works great to remove old glue, though I can see how the hardware store plastic putty knife would also work well.

+ spot cleaning twigs & dirt - Apply brown paper bag material to glue, iron, peel. Removes the dirt and not much glue.

+ When regluing, apply 2-3 thin coats and iron w/ parchment after each application. You can peel the parchment after 10-15 minutes after the first 1-2 coats. Leave the parchment on for 8 hours after the last coat.

+ Watta Bike Shop in Meyers has a bulk roll of G3 skin glue renew strips, and they sell it at a good price ($1-$2 / foot?) Supplies are limited.

Watta Bike
2933 U.S. 50
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
(530) 544-7700