Are you a ski tune master of waxing off?

[Alpinord]

Don't brush vs brush on a powder day = beaten to the goods.

EDIT: If you don't believe or care if waxing and brushing well makes a difference, a simple test is to wax and brush one ski and not the other. Report back findings.

Higher grade/high melt waxes = more durable = wax much less often

Hot touch wax to the iron and spread the wax with the iron to minimize use. Work it in and then up and down a minimum of three times. More if there's time.

If they are new or freshly ground, I'll do this with prep wax, let cool, come back, reheat/liquefy/cool and repeat a few times to saturate the bases further.

After last pass on each ski, lightly hot scrape (especially with harder waxes) to 'squeegee' off excess wax. This saves scraping after it cools. Run iron over one or two more passes.

Sharpen scrapers and scrape a few passes, brass roto brush to 'scrape' the rest (think Tim the Tool Man: 'more power'), roto hard horsehair then nylon. Sometimes instead of the roto brass, I'll use the soft brass oval after scraping.

[Johnny Deep]

Liquid wax, brush off.

Pledge?

[Mofro261]

has this been posted here yet? too lazy to click all the way through.

[~mikey b]

Melting dripping smearing ironing scraping corking family pow skis tonight.

[~mikey b]

It's been a good winter.

[lepistoir]

I'm going to try out the no scrape theory on my alpine skis next time I go resort. (Luckily this year, it's been good enough in Tahoe I feel like I can be choosy about conditions ). Scrape the bc skis though and gave them a good brushing. Took about 8 minutes per ski. Got to work on that...

[livanh tuvoi]

ok. waxing is all nice and really the most important thing for uber performance,

but how the fuck do i make these stupid ptex sticks work?

a) it always looks like crap when i do it

b) it never holds more than a few days

pls halp

[powdrhound]

but how the fuck do i make these stupid ptex sticks work?

a) it always looks like crap when i do it

b) it never holds more than a few days

pls halp

Get one of these:
Tognar P-Tex Base Repair Iron - 120v (US,CAN) &39.95

Weld this to the fiberglass core and metal edges as a base layer (This is really tough to file/scrape):
Metalgrip Repair String (copolymer) $6.95

Finish with regular p-Tex. Weld or drip.

The base weld will outlast the ski.

[lepistoir]

Get one of these:
Tognar P-Tex Base Repair Iron - 120v (US,CAN) &39.95

Weld this to the fiberglass core and metal edges as a base layer (This is really tough to file/scrape):
Metalgrip Repair String (copolymer) $6.95

Finish with regular p-Tex. Weld or drip.

The base weld will outlast the ski.

That is a good wisdom.

[MMP]

ok. waxing is all nice and really the most important thing for uber performance,

but how the fuck do i make these stupid ptex sticks work?

a) it always looks like crap when i do it

b) it never holds more than a few days

pls halp

you aren't getting it hot enough. let it burn until when you hold it close to the ski runs into the ski, not drips. also, when you re-light a ptex stick you have to let the impurities (from being lit before) burn off before you can use the ptex, or it wont stick.

[galibier_numero_un]

Good advice above, sounds like you need a basic tutorial like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40tNp7K_GJ8

I prefer a Sureform instead of scraper for the first leveling step.

Of course, the ideal tool for the filling step is a Ski Mender RP 360 from our buddy Terry at Slidewright: http://www.slidewright.com/ski-and-s...-repair-tools/

Having said that, I got by with the lit P-tex candle for 35 years. If on a budget, I'd talk to him about the RP105 at 1/4 the price.

If you you have a core shot and or have a significant percentage of the gouge right up against the edge, pay attention to the comments above about base welding material - the metal grip repair string which is P-tex plus glue.

Cheers,
Thom

[Jack Burton]

time 1 beer per pair. i'm trying the tognar stuff thanks for posting, i treat my bc setup a bit better but for lift served I'm only concerned about how well they slide when I'm done with the fun part so if i wax i don't scrape as a rule and i dont wax often. skate gear gets scrape and brush ever week or so as I need all the help i can get.

[Lvovsky]

Chugging and or shot gunning beer tends to result in an inferior wax and tune.

This thread deserves a bump for the wisdom about taking time for yourself and ski waxing

[RShea]

How fast can you wax a pair of skis?

No edge fiddling. Just drip, melt, iron, scrape, brush (minus the time it takes to let the wax cool).

Post your FKT and technique.

Roto brush allowed for the brushing?

[SnowMachine]

I like the swix guy's method of softening the wax against the iron and crayoning it on and then iron with the fiberlene nonwoven cloth underneath.

Another way to distribute the super hard cold waxes for ironing is to grind them into powder form with a citrus zester or sure form planer:


I saw this done by a ski tech (on a nordic skate ski) and it melted out in a one pass process after the powder was applied. Because the powder is so fine and fluffy it looks to be pretty efficient in terms of wax consumption too. I'm guessing that the "arctic" waxes would be troublesome if you tried to crayon them on even with the help of the iron to soften 'em up.

You guys are teaching this old dog new tricks. I can't lie, I brush clean, drip on and iron, then scrape. Final brushing is done by the snow.

I've never raced I've just always liked to get back to the lift line on flat runnouts.

[EWG]

Roto brush allowed for the brushing?

Rotobrush FTW. Man it makes things faster, especially when you are doing a bunch of skis.

I'm gonna say maybe 2 minutes to melt, drip wax on and iron it. The let it cool.

Assuming you are working with a sharp scraper (psa - sharpen your damn scraper), it probably takes me a couple minutes per ski to scrape. I hate scraping.

Then maybe 3 minutes total to rotobrush? If that?

So that's 9 minutes per pair?

I think in practice it's actually a little quicker than that. It takes me about 10 minutes to set up, heat the iron, and wax 4pairs of skis, then maybe another 30 minutes to set up for scraping and brushing, do the skis, then clean up. So 10 minutes per pair of skis including set up and clean up. Eh - that 9 minutes is actually sounding about right now.

Have I mentioned rotobrush FTMFW?

EDIT: is this an appropriate place to complain about how much I hate waxing my wife's nordic skis? So fucking annoying.

[mrkbrnblm]

Allow me to be that guy, and apologies for the thread drift.... if you are one of the people saying you don't bother scraping and just let it come off on the first lap, you're dumping a shit ton of wax into the ecosystem every time you go skiing. Maybe you should just spend 3 minutes scraping? Perhaps the "100% plant based and biodegradable" shit is really 100% safe and biodegradable, but I would be surprised. Not saying you have to go crazy and brush and remove every last extra bit, but a quick scrape will remove 90%+.

[XXX-er]

I left a lump of blue on the base towards the tail of a ski and it was visibly there a month later so it did not wear off, I had to scrape it off

A lot of actual racers ski here at HBM, I watch them prep to be the fastest for bragging rights every year at the local DH race and they take every bit of wax off with the rotary brush

One year I was top side go-for at the canadian ski-cross champs so I'm waiting for a go round i was talking to the ski prep guy who was getting paid for it, buddy told me the night before he waxed in town for -5 , between races crayon a little piece of high floro on the bases, cork it in and rotary brush every bit of it off to clean that base pattern

I am far from a wax nazi or a racer but what I've seen the alpine or XC racers do is wax-on and take every bit of it off

[stuckathuntermtn]

Don't roto brushes fling wax particles everywhere? Aren't you supposed to wear some kind of PPE with them?

[dcpnz]

Don't roto brushes fling wax particles everywhere? Aren't you supposed to wear some kind of PPE with them?

Yes they do
But swix has a nifty roto handle with shop vac attachment. Helps but certainly doesn’t catch everything

[EWG]

Yes they do
But swix has a nifty roto handle with shop vac attachment. Helps but certainly doesn’t catch everything

I just roto outside with one of the 6,000 covid masks we have. If you are concerned about wax you can just sweep it up when you are done.

[hoarhey]

Are you guys Roth-brushing as a substitute for scraping? Wouldnt that plug up the bristles?

Scraper and manual brush here

The more I scrape, the less I have to brush

And yes, regularly use a scraper sharpener, one that I can have laying on the bench




Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[EWG]

Are you guys Roth-brushing as a substitute for scraping? Wouldnt that plug up the bristles?

Scraper and manual brush here

The more I scrape, the less I have to brush

And yes, regularly use a scraper sharpener, one that I can have laying on the bench




Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Scrape first, then roto

[Alpinord]

Scrape first, then roto

After you iron out the wax, if you hot scrape off the excess and re-iron. Your time, cold scraping and shavings are vastly reduced. Shown at 2:05 below.

(Interestingly, the 2nd video in my post #76 (and re shown in #90) was switched somehow. WTF? I switched it back.)

[Djongo Unchained]

Just one opinion on wax finishing:

Skiing fast is a big part of my ski day.

Sticky skis are unacceptable, with exceptions of particularly finicky snow to deal with. Ultra cold rough surface crystals, etc.

I want my skis to be pulling away from me. The other morning, I was so slippery I could hardly stand still in the lift maze. That's best case for me.

Any drag is a no no here.

And there's the finishing part.
What XXX said upthread about race tuners scraping all of the wax off is correct.

A flat base is key. A flawless scraper on a flat ski should take off a majority in a few swipes, depending on wax hardness. Yellow=easy, green=pita.

An unflat ski will leave pockets of wax in the concavities. This is what the flexible scraper is for; a slight flex will arc the scraper enough to get into those valleys.

Get as much off without digging hard into the base.
I pre brush all of the existing wax shards and dust off with a workshop brush. Then a hard bristle hand brush to push/pull wax off, that a scraper won't get without many more swipes.
I'm shooting for a micro thin wax coating on the baseface as well as keeping it full of wax into structure.
Then a softer hand brush to meld the remaining wax.
I sweep off wax dust at every opportunity so as not to just put it right back onto the base.
Finally I roto the base with a double rig. Shorter nylon bristles to really burnish that surface, then a slightly longer one to give the structure some relief.
Final sweep and a hand down the base a few times to feel and see if it's anything less than a mirror.

From application, cooling, scraping and brushing I'd say it takes me about 10 minutes per ski.
Depends a lot on who I'm sharing the bowl with.

For your consideration: