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First time waxing skis; what do I need?

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Joe_Brogan
Posts: 360 - Karma: 11

I used to just have my local ski shop wax my skis maybe once or twice a season, but now I have decided to do it myself and more often.

I plan on getting an iron, wax, and a scraper.  Is there anything I am forgetting?  Do I need to use base cleaner?

Thanks

Jan 17 2011 2:59PM
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Travapple.
Posts: 6787 - Karma: 88
wax
Jan 17 2011 3:00PM
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EmperorKuzco
Posts: 6660 - Karma: 254
a brush
Jan 17 2011 3:02PM
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Lord.Quasimoto
Posts: 958 - Karma: 33
if u arnt using a ski wax iron make sure to turn the temp down and not leave it sit on ur base. thats the only way you could really fuck up
Jan 17 2011 3:04PM
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Brenone
Posts: 4944 - Karma: 296
A scratch pad to use after you scrape the wax off.
Jan 17 2011 3:04PM
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_Jesus_
Posts: 2070 - Karma: 260
+ some hefty rubber bands to keep the breaks down with
+ sawhorses or something to put the skis on top of.
Jan 17 2011 3:06PM
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Joe_Brogan
Posts: 360 - Karma: 11

do i need a brush and a scratch pad or just one?

what is scratch pad ?

Jan 17 2011 3:07PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,123
The bare minimum you will need is an iron and a scraper. If it is warm you also need a brush. a way to clamp your skis will help a lot, and make sure you have rubber bands for the brakes. Also obviously wax (enough to clean the base, and then wax the skis)

You can put together a really good tuning set up for really cheap, there are very few tools you can't buy at a fraction of the cost of tuning companies.

You have inspired me to make a thread now. Budget tuning kit.
Jan 17 2011 3:18PM
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oil.
Posts: 2255 - Karma: 1,254
what i use:
wax
iron
bench with clamps to hold the ski
really heavy duty rubber bands to hold the breaks down
scraper
3 brushes, fine, medium and coarse
really all you need
Jan 17 2011 3:22PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,123
you want to brush differently for different snow. A racer would know more than me, but in my experience I like to use a harder brush in warmer snow and in cold snow just use a light brush or only the scratch pad. You can use like any cloth for that as long as it is not gonna leave shit all over your skis.

Although I might get flamed for this, it's not really rocket science to wax a ski. Seriously I am at college right now and all I usually use to tune my skis is an iron (clothes one will work if it's not a teflon base) two kinds of bulk wax, a scraper, a single brush and a pot scrubber. For my edges all I have is a diamond stone and one of those ice buster edge sharpeners.

It doesn't make much of a difference from my dads garage set up or tuning at ski cellar.
Jan 17 2011 3:28PM
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yeahno
Posts: 4008 - Karma: 3,414
multiple brushes for sheen :)
Jan 17 2011 3:30PM
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rach
Posts: 917 - Karma: 507
https://newschoolers.com/ns/content/viewvideo/id/238444/member_id/107756/hide_header/1/
Jan 17 2011 3:31PM
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Brenone
Posts: 4944 - Karma: 296
I do the same thing except I use the Dakine iron.
I have a wax for cold temps and a wax for early season/spring time. Ill get my skis tuned at the shop maybe once a year.
Jan 17 2011 3:51PM
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Heart
Posts: 6156 - Karma: 3,462
Iron (clothing type is fine, you dont need a special ski one)
Wax
Scraper
Fine bristled brush
Jan 17 2011 5:12PM
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Joe_Brogan
Posts: 360 - Karma: 11
thanks for all the help guys.  i waxed them ealier today and they seem smooth, ill test em out tomorrow!
Jan 17 2011 9:19PM
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Elmo.
Posts: 4317 - Karma: 663
make sure u use wax to the temp ur going to be skiing in. or ur skiis will be slow all day.

and i use a base cleaner and its nice. gets any dirty dust or what evr off before u wax
Jan 17 2011 9:51PM
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Six.0.Tree-ski
Posts: 4059 - Karma: 67
Cant hurt to put this in here

How to Wax skis from Thomas O'Connell on Vimeo.


mrstskier's video
Jan 17 2011 9:59PM
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Ilovewhitestuff
Posts: 726 - Karma: 25
one of these: [img]http://www.sundayriver.com/ResortServices/images/tuning_header.jpg[\img]
Jan 17 2011 10:01PM
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Ilovewhitestuff
Posts: 726 - Karma: 25
^ fail Click for larger image
Jan 17 2011 10:02PM
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ds.181.3
Posts: 437 - Karma: 29
I used to be very meticulous about my wax selection but have become very lazy as of late. I just use strait BP88 (base prep) and im still faster than 95% of the others out there.
Jan 17 2011 10:03PM
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Davy.Crockett
Posts: 5373 - Karma: 324
nice dude for some reason i really enjoy waxing my skis. it also makes them last way longer and just perform better in general
Jan 17 2011 10:05PM
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the.cheat
Posts: 2859 - Karma: 171
if the wax starts smoking when you melt it, make sure you turn it down cause you're burning it.
Jan 17 2011 10:05PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,549
Well, you need something to scrape it off with, something plastic and fat with a sharp edge, a cheap iron (walmart is a good source) and wax. hairbands are good to have to keep the brakes out of the way, also two paint cans or something to prop your ski up and keep level.
Jan 17 2011 10:08PM
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andreweckels
Posts: 594 - Karma: -4
base cleaner dries out your skis, which is kinda the opposite of what waxing does, so if you do use it be sure to wax well after. I think the best way to clean skis is to wax and scrape immediatly while its still hot.

also you should let the wax sit for at least an hour, preferably more, and the more wax that you scrape off the better,

the point is to get the wax into the ski not onto it, thus using a ton of wax isn't necesary at all. only use enough to cover your entire ski when ironed in.
Jan 17 2011 10:13PM
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ztiski360
Posts: 32 - Karma: 19
a couple things the vid did wrong... you should never scrape one side of a ski at a time you should always scrape the whole thing at once, so ur base stays even. also brushes not needed of ur racer yes for general skiing and park u will never see the difference so not worth ur time .. another thing i would never go that slow with the iron on a ski its better to go faster and make more passes on a ski than to go slow. older skis the glue will brake down and if u heat it that much it will let go and u will bubble the base and ur fucked. and last never gummy stone ur edge yeah it will take out burrs and rust but it dulls the edge...edges are the one things thats kinda hard to do u can really mess a ski up if you dont know what ur doing..

as for me i raced for ten years and have been to almost a dozen ski tuning sessions with people who work on the us ski teams skis

so long story short wax scrape shred all the other stuff is just a waste of money
Jan 17 2011 10:35PM
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the.cheat
Posts: 2859 - Karma: 171
as long as you're not going at a foot a minute, youre bases will be fine. the glue wont break down, its all good. and as for edges, we know it dulls them. thats what we want. oh and if you have to do the whole thing at once, well how the hell doyou scrape a snowboard nicely?
Jan 18 2011 12:49AM
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Casey
Posts: 7849 - Karma: 24,317
you use a wider scraper
Jan 18 2011 1:00AM
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D4VE.BC
Posts: 244 - Karma: 92
I noticed that some people said they are using heavy duty rubber bands to keep their brakes out of the way but that seems like it would be a bit of a hassle. All I do is pop my boot into my binding, flip the ski over and put it on top of a couple saw horses. This also makes it easier if your garage is like mine and always has a mess on the workbench. Other than that it's pretty straight forward like everyone said
Jan 18 2011 1:08AM
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4FRNT
Posts: 436 - Karma: 6,164
Dakine makes a tuning kit for snowboards that comes with a couple different scrapers, edge tools, p-tex and even a bit of wax. It all works exactly the same as the ski tuning kits you can buy, but it's about half the price of the Swix one.

Then get a cheap iron from Walmart and you're set.

Backcountry.com wrote a good blog a couple years ago about the whole process. http://www.backcountry.com/store/newsletter/a702/Backcountry-Ski-Tuning-Guide-now-with-video.html?sssdmh=dm10.107569&cmp_id=EM_CON1031a3&mv_pc=r202

Or just watch our Tech Talk from last year.
Jan 18 2011 2:03AM
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ztiski360
Posts: 32 - Karma: 19
if you want dull edges why would u even bother to gummy stone them... your not gonna get hung up on a rail from little nic's and burrs... the only thing a gummy stone would help with
Jan 18 2011 2:03AM
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Lord.Quasimoto
Posts: 958 - Karma: 33

. this is what im saying. u only need cheap $10 iron, wax, and scraper. u can even skip the scrape part if ur really lazy or wont be skiing right away. like for summer, wax and leave it on all summer, dont scrape.

Jan 18 2011 11:30AM
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Joe_Brogan
Posts: 360 - Karma: 11
thanks again to you all.  maybe this thread will come in handy for someone else?!
Jan 18 2011 3:14PM
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yeahitsdave
Posts: 1315 - Karma: 10
http://www.swixschool.com/

greatest videos of all time for base work.
Jan 18 2011 3:25PM
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leahey
Posts: 2548 - Karma: 32
There's this thing, it's called punctuation. It really helps people read what you are trying to say.
Jan 18 2011 3:53PM
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