Waxing irons - dedicated wax iron or just get something from thrift store?

[TBS]

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Searched but didn&#39;t see anything from last ten years.</p>
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My 30yo clothes iron from the thrift store just died about 1/3 of the way thru applying storage wax to the quiver. &nbsp;Trying to decide whether to spend the money on a purpose built iron or just get another one from the thrift store.</p>
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I&#39;m not a waxing fanatic - maybe every 30 days of use during cold times, once a week during corn season. &nbsp;I don&#39;t tune my own skis - neighbor has a Wintersteiger in his garage and gives me a deal.</p>
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So what are the pros and cons of Swix/Toko/etc. irons vs something from the thrift store?</p>
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TIA</p>

[californiagrown]

For the life of me, i just do not understand how a $60 Swix iron will outperform a $10 thriftstore clothes iron for garage waxing in any meaningful way. Heat the iron up so that it melts the wax, and the wax doesnt smoke. spread/iron in the wax. If you can cook food without burning it, you can wax your skis with a clothes iron. I have the iron cranked to cotton/linen and if it starts getting too hot i just move the iron faster or take the iron off the ski/wax... the concept is the same as just taking the pan off the fucking burner if it gets too hot. Its not rocket science... its the same concept as not letting pasta boil over. Maybe im waxing wrong because the dripping/spreading part of the wax takes like 60-90 seconds for me. how bad can your really fuck and burn something in that time period?

IMO, save $50 and the planet, and buy an iron from the thrift store. Spend the saved $50 on some thriftstore art finds if its burning a hole in your pocket.

[XXX-er]

I had the 5$ iron from the 2nd hand store, it even came with some wax on it, IME what happens is the temp goes up and down so fiddle constantly with the dial it was either smoking hot or it was cold so maybe you wreck a base which was more likely when i was waxin delicate XC skis?


the con is the cost of course the pro is that it just works WAY better so i enjoy using its like using a good tool every time i plug it in cuz its always very stable


I got tired of thrift store irons so i got the Toko T-12 digital wax iron when i power it on the digital readout tells me room temp and then it reads 270 pretty quick


or I can max it out to 320 for hot gluing climbing skins

[Going Coastal]

I got a cheap toko iron this year after using the thrift store iron for years. I would say the most noticable difference has been how much smoother it distributes wax across the ski. The temp control is also a lot easier to manage since its labeled for an actual temp instead of some random materials, which makes me feel a little better when using the higher cost waxes that i dont want to waste. Maybe wax companies should put that info on the instructions too, "melt wax at 140deg/cotton"

[Marshal Olson]

Of note, very few irons designed for clothes go low enough in their settings for performance waxes. Spring waxes are generally around 110C and mid-temp waxes are around 130C

According to Wiki:
Acrylic/Lyrcra/Spandex ~135C
Wool/Poly/Silk ~148C
Rayon ~190C
Cotton ~204C
Linen ~230C

Of course, it depends on if you care or not! But melting at the right temp is what you get with a ski-specific iron.

[XXX-er]

yeah i forgot about the temp range ^^ thing bubbling an XC base was pretty easy cuz no edges and there were always dead clothes irons lying around in the XC wax hut basement


I think i paid about 120 - 130 for T-12 which I do not really regret paying for what is essentially the best tool



that iron is now the t-14 and it over 200

[Marshal Olson]

I lust after the Digi waxers! FWIW have great results with the $50-60 analog SVST/Swix/Toko ones no problem and have waxed 1000s of skis with my current SVST iron

[EWG]

Irons can get nicer as you go up, but the biggest bang for the buck is the price jump between a clothes iron and a base level analogue ski iron. Totally worth the cash - and it&#39;s hardly any cash.

$38 on amazon. It&#39;s worth the $28 over thrift store.
https://www.amazon.com/XCMAN-Snowboa...s%2C143&sr=8-7

[Flounder]

After many years of using old clothes irons I broke down and got a basic Swix iron. Much nicer to set a temp and not have to guess if I’ll end up smoking the wax as I get the dial adjusted on the clothes iron. Biggest improvement is a nice beefy solid metal base. Last clothes iron I was using, what ever the non stick coating on the bottom was started failing after years of waxing and stated leaving flakes in my freshly waxed skis.

[::: :::]

amazon has a bunch of options (all likely just the same re-branded iron)

having a dial to tune heat and a smooth base is worth the marginal expense over a thrift store iron

[gaijin]

Use what Marshall uses because his tune on my skis was the best of my life. Oh— you should probably use whatever wax he recommends, too.

[nickwm21]

There’s good taco shops near the thrift store. Plus you get to check if they have any old Klipsch bookshelf’s for a garage stereo upgrade…


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[fleaches]

I had one of the Amazon specials for years and then just decided to get one of the toko ones with the digital display this year. Wow what an upgrade, it really holds the temp instead of surfing up and down and it's way easier to dial in for harder waxes. Probably cut my waxing time in half.

It's probably overkill but sure is nice. If anyone wants my old analog iron I'd be happy to send it for shipping.

[singlesline]

If you can find a vintage iron with no steam holes and a heavy metal base, that’s pretty killer.

But most irons you see at the thrift store are cheapo shit with Teflon coating and thin metal base that won’t hold temp. Dedicated wax iron is definitely better than those.

[XXX-er]

Yeah i heard that ^^ tip and my 5$ thrift store unit was a very old non-steam AND the temp range was still not right and it still temp surfed


Yeah paying 200 for a Toko T14 seems excessive but its like the best tool for the job you can buy


Check out the price of tools some of the TGR resident tool junkies buy

[gregL]

Best bang for the buck right now is probably the Swix T77, not often you see a thick base on an entry level iron. Just bought one for my son: https://www.evo.com/tools/swix-t77-1...-t77-110v-.jpg

[XXX-er]

IME IMO you wana go for a real wax iron not necesarily digital just cuz of the temp range and temp surfing thing especialy if you are doing a lot of XC skis


I never fubared an alpine cuz the P-tex is pretty thick but I did wank up a classic xc ski by slightly bubbling the ptex right behind the wax pocket

[Dantheman]

...dripping...

Unless it's super hard wax for really cold temps, don't drip, just crayon it on then iron. Don't even need to scrape, zero mess. I was skeptical when I read about doing this but it works. Puts the perfect amount of wax on the ski and nothing else.

[mcski]

Q&DT all day

[half-fast]

I recently bought some wax online and their video instructions said to heat the wax quickly on the iron, crayon it on, then iron. They claim you’ll use less wax that way

[TBS]

Thanks for all the input
Great point Marshall about the temps of clothes irons
Just pulled the trigger on the Swix iron that GregL posted. Better price than Amazon. Now I can put storage wax on the remaining 3.5 pairs.

And yeah, warming and crayoning the wax onto the base is the way. Much less effort - just iron in and rotobrush - and way less wax used

Thanks again

[El Chupacabra]

The real ski wax irons have a much thicker base than any clothes iron, and that really helps them maintain a steady temp.

I've been using a simple Toko iron for years. I wouldn't go back to a clothes iron.

[singlesline]

On the flip side, an old clothes iron is more likely to be flat.

I had a ski wax iron that was intentionally concave to spread the molten wax towards the center or something. Sucked. Just wasted wax leaving thick spots so I sanded it down to flat.

Then I got a toko iron and while I think the base is supposed to be flat…it wasn’t really and you could feel it going metal on metal on the edges sometimes. Out comes the sand paper again.

[XXX-er]

When I hot glue skins with goldlabel I max the iron to 320F and it maintains the temp really well of course some people just smear a little glue and don't use any heat

[Huskier]

and while I think the base is supposed to be flat…it wasn’t really and you could feel it going metal on metal on the edges sometimes. Out comes the sand paper again.

Nails on chalkboard = iron on edges. Ergghhhh

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