1) Begin by scraping a brushing out your base as thoroughly as possible. Use metal brushes if you have them.

2) Clean your entire base with a liquid base cleaner or wax remover. Wipe as much dirt and dust off with Fiberlene or a shop towel.

3) Using a piece of Fibertex, energetically rub down the entire glide zone to remove any microscopic hairs or burrs in the base. Pink paper is also great for this. Then, repeat step 2 with a liquid base cleaner or wax remover and wipe away the dirt & dust. Let the solvents dry before continuing.

4) Next, apply a base preparation wax. You can use a hot box for this, or use a base preparation oil. Most people melt a thick layer of the softest yellow paraffin wax they can find with an iron set to the temperature recommended by the wax manufacturer.

5) Optionally, before the yellow wax has had a chance to cool, you can gently scrape and observe how much dust/dirt comes up with the not-quite-solid wax. This is called hot-scraping and it's a way to clean even more dirt or dust from your ski bases. If a lot of dirt comes up, melt and hot-scrape another layer of yellow wax. No need to brush.

6) Once, the yellow wax comes off clean, apply another layer of yellow wax and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Scrape off the wax. There's no need to brush yet.

7) Harden the base: Iron on a layer of a harder melt wax. A blue, green, graphite or base wax is ideal for this. Some folks sandwich a layer of violet wax between the yellow and blue/green/base or graphite wax. Let the layer of wax cool for 10 minutes then scrape and brush with a metal brush.

8) Repeat step 7 up to two more times. The more layers of hard blue, green, graphite or base wax you get into the ski base the better. Returns diminish after the third layer of hard melt wax. Finish the process with a nylon brush.