(Following compliments of Missy Allemang, mma@aol.com)

When it comes to repairing gouges and "dings" in bases the correct process depends on how the base was originally made; there are two different methods of manufacturing the polyethylene used for bases.

Extruded bases are made by melting pellets and forcing the material through a nozzle of the required size to form sheets of the desired thickness. The resulting base material is very easy to repair, but equally easy to damage. Very few boards are made with extruded bases. Maybe some of the cheap KMart type boards, etc.

Sintered bases are made by slowly heating powdered polyethylene under great pressure. The result is a block (sort of like a big wheel of cheese) that is then skived (cut) to form the base material. This method costs about three times as much as producing extruded bases. Sintered bases are much higher in molecular weight; with increasing molecular weight, abrasion resistance and wax absorption is increased. While its great to have a base that won't get gouged as much, it is _a lot_ harder to fix.

Repair candles contain a whole bunch of stuff other than polyethylene, like wax and things to make it able to burn at a low temperature. It won't stick to sintered bases. Snow, especially granular snow, can be very abrasive (how 'bout that last bloody face plant you/I did!). You can scrape out a drip repair with your fingernail.

Depending on the size, depth and location of the damage there are three repair methods, using pure polyethylene, that can restore the base to as good as new (or almost): using an extruder, a plastic welder or putting in a base patch. For each of these methods to work right it is important to heat the surrounding (good, clean) base material also so it will bond securely to the repair material. It is also more difficult (than with drip candles) to remove the extra material that is left above the surface of the base.