Are you a ski tune master of waxing off?

[lepistoir]

https://media2.giphy.com/media/GVK5Cn6tnqnUk/200_s.gif

[Damian Sanders]

Yawn. Here's toko guy explaining many good reasons to drip on plenty of wax:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=0F0ZDkxALLg

[lepistoir]

I'm just using NF and HC wax so I'm really not that concerned with the marginal difference in wax consumption between dripping and crayoning. Just speed. Well, efficiency. What's the technique that gives the ski good glide with minimal time input.

[LiveLarger]

Keep in mind he's also using fiberlene paper (to help spread the wax...?), which most people don't use. So whomever came up with this, it's totally a new thing. I do rub on wax cold then iron if I only need a bit of wax and the iron is already hot from another pair of skis.

The fiberlene paper is key here. But it's not new, I have seen people doing this for a long time. I do agree that you shouldn't try to saturate your base this way. The good thing about waxing this way, is that you use less wax and it creates very little residue. So you will be waxing, scraping and brushing in about ten minutes. Not a lot of work.

[LiveLarger]

I'm just using NF and HC wax so I'm really not that concerned with the marginal difference in wax consumption between dripping and crayoning. Just speed. Well, efficiency. What's the technique that gives the ski good glide with minimal time input.

Liquid wax, brush off.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Look you little twat, it's certainly not common practice, and any advantages are marginal and only applicable in certain situations. I doubt you can tune your way out of a paper bag.

Tuning isn't rocket surgery unless you're so stupid you work waxing skis for ten years.

[carey]

Learned the crayon/fiberlene method back in the early 90s waxing Nordic race skis.
Toko LF waxes also used to come pre-impregnated into a sheet of fiberlene......

If you aren't using the fiberlene, you should use the drip method. Less chance of burning the base.

[lepistoir]

Liquid wax, brush off.

How long does that last? Cost per application?

[LiveLarger]

How long does that last? Cost per application?

Don't know about durability to be honest. The cost can be from fairly cheap to wickedly expensive, depending on the product.

[Damian Sanders]

Learned the crayon/fiberlene method back in the early 90s waxing Nordic race skis.
Toko LF waxes also used to come pre-impregnated into a sheet of fiberlene......

If you aren't using the fiberlene, you should use the drip method. Less chance of burning the base.

Maybe its a east coast vs. west coast thing? In the east, it's typically abrasive icy hard pack and it's important to get as much wax in the base as possible every time you wax.

[MMP]

one of those videos that recommends flooding the ski says he does so because of the thermal layer it provides that protects the ski from iron stalling, cooking the base, and rendering it incapable of accepting wax.

[lepistoir]

I just don't understand the utility of the argument of crayon versus drip. Seems to me as long as you're using the inexpensive waxes this is gonna make maybe a couple dollars difference in a season. I've tried both and it seems there's no real timesaving . You also gain better protection of the bases and maybe can go longer between waxing if you drip. As far as maximizing glide while minimizing time and money, I haven't heard any arguments that convince me to crayon.

The amount of time some of you spend waxing makes me think you like getting high off the fumes. And that makes me wonder, why hasn't anyone come up with a pot-impregnated wax yet?

[wyeaster]

i use as little wax as i can. when i first started i would go through one of those big bricks in 4 waxings because i had no idea what i was doing. and of course scraping took forever. fortunately, i got a good deal on the wax. it still killed me later to realize how long all that wax would have lasted.

i cold crayon the entire board rigorously. i drip as little as possible. the crayoned on stuff protects the board while i'm melting the drips and i definitely find it faster to crayon a lot and drip a little. i started heating the wax on the iron then crayoning a year or two ago after i heard about it. i do it because it seems like it should work but what i tend to find is that because the wax is soft, most of it comes off within the first few inches of the crayon stroke and it puts on more than i need. i'm probably not trying very hard to extend it. but in any case, after the first few inches, it's basically a cold crayon again. i drip more/warm crayon more in the little nooks and crannies.

the thing that terrified me when i first started was melting the board. my first board was a used salomon with clicker bindings and the based had dimples under the binding inserts. they weren't huge but got worse as i had the board and i assumed they were because i was heating the board too much, though i don't think that was the case now.

i went to a tuning class at rei years ago and they basically said if you can feel more than just a little warmth through the board you were risking delamination. i never heated the board up that hot other than in a spot or two momentarily on occasion by accident, but i think subconsciously not knowing about materials and temperatures (and the thermostat on my iron broken) i overcompensated by using tons of wax. honestly, considering how long it took to wax my board and my wife's skis, i'm surprised i kept it up.

anyway, i guess i shouldn't be surprised this discussion turned south.

[mnflyfish]

I never thought about it before but I was running late this afternoon for a race and had to wax both my daughters skis. Knocked out two pair in 30 mins. Not my best job but they both crushed it.

[Damian Sanders]

So, I waxed some freshly tuned and flattened skis last night, using the drip style. I put on about half the wax shown in the vids above and have no problem not using an excessive amount of wax. Tried the iron / wipe method a bit but it seemed very time consuming.

[SILENCER]

Not sure. I enjoy my time in my garage sipping a beer, listening to tunes and waxing. It's a reset for me so not a race.

This.

In fact I'll intentionally slow myself down by upping my beer consumption.

[wyeaster]

I don't cold crayon to save wax. I wouldn't use any more only dripping. I do it to protect the board while I'm melting the drips. If I could only crayon and not drip I would just because the wax is spread evenly and therefore will heat/melt more easily/evenly. The only reason I'm ever in a hurry is on back to back days. Otherwise I will do it over an entire day or whatever suits my schedule or fancy

[~mikey b]

I wax a lot of skis. I have a few I use for work. Mommy has two in rotation. Young Owen has a couple pairs of race skis and free skis going. Drip on scrape off universal wax seems to work for all of us in most conditions. I use temp specific wax for Owen's race skis when it's very cold or very warm.

You don't have to wax. Some people don't and they are fine. That's not how I roll. I like wax.

Crayon works.

[powdrhound]

After the first several dozen core shot/scrape repair welds, does it really matter if you don't scrape it all off? And if I filed the stone grinds off every time, I would run out of steel. NAS proves that they don't have to be straight.
Powder does not care if your base is perfect.

[MMP]

I wax a lot of skis. I have a few I use for work. Mommy has two in rotation. Young Owen has a couple pairs of race skis and free skis going. Drip on scrape off universal wax seems to work for all of us in most conditions. I use temp specific wax for Owen's race skis when it's very cold or very warm.

You don't have to wax. Some people don't and they are fine. That's not how I roll. I like wax.

Crayon works.

Race skis? Wasn't he just born 15 minutes ago?? Wtf? Race skis?

[sb]

Haha

I like to crayon my low fluro stuff followed by a quick cork rub down when conditions call fourit.

[sweetdaddy]

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.

[~mikey b]

Yeah race skis. Kid is ripping new GS boards this weekend. Big ups to NHguy and his friend.




you can learn a lot about wax from Nordic nerds

[galibier_numero_un]

you can learn a lot about wax from Nordic nerds

The evolution of crayoning ...

Cheers,
Thom

[skiJ]

... interesting thread : Thank you --

Unless I am Race prep.ing skis, ( and If I believe I am doing it Right ) I rarely Scrape nor feel the need to scrape ;
for cold snow, I do brush-out the wax.
To me, just the right amount of wax(,) does not require scrape-ing ...


... your religious beliefs may vary . . .

finally(,) some Good new Snow. ... the waves rolling in off Lake Superior are big. ... I'm gonna run the 191Mantras this morning ... (!)


yahoo ... tj