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You need wax and an iron to wax your skis. You can buy a cheap clothes iron but be careful it doesn't get too hot. It's too hot if the wax is smoking.
Don't mess with your edges unless you don't care about your skis or you have the right tools. Go to a shop....they'll teach you how to do it properly. Don't rely on youtube...you need someone to show you how much pressure to use and how far to go depending on how sharp you want them. Eg. My race skis have cut my fingers when I picked them up. My park skis dont have sharp edges at all...I just get rid of burrs.
does a regular clothes iron work? what temp? what wax?
it works. if you're using temperature-specific wax though, you want precise melting temperature, so an accurate iron is a must. temperature specific wax is really only a race thing though; it makes minute differences in non-race scenarios. in terms of keeping your base hydrated, all temperature wax will do fine.
if you're using all-temperature wax, you just need to melt it on so it isn't smoking off the iron. don't make it to hot because when you iron the wax into the base and your iron is too hot, your base will burn and it will never be able to soak in wax.
do the plastic hand held edge sharpeners really work? should i sharpen my skis?
i assume you're talking about a gummy stone. gummy stone simply smooth over any section of the edge that has a ding/nick/burr in it. it doesnt actually sharpen. sharpening is done with a file, then smoothed over with diamond stones of different grades. you should only sharpen your skis if you are confident in what you are doing and have the right tools. with edges, if you mess something up, its usually permanent.
can you fix broken edges?
define broken...
advice: go to seminars, if your mountian has a race program these usually are held at the beginning of the year for the 'new' families who want to learn. otherwise, im sure there are a lot of good videos on the internet, or you could ask your local shop tech for advice/how-to's.
I wouldn't say these are secrets by any means. Just things any self respecting skier should know.
Does a regular clothes dryer work? and what temp? what wax?
Sure, it works. Does it work well? Not really. IMO you're better getting a waxing iron with a temp control. They're fairly cheap ($30-50) and will last forever.
Iron temperature depends on what kind of wax you're using. You could get picky and wax according the exact temperature, but lets be real, we're not racers here. You could also just do an all-temp, but you'll hate your life on a cold pow day or a warm spring day.
I recommend getting a cold for frigid/pow days (0-15F), a warm for spring days(40-50F) and an all-temp for everything else. Most waxes are color-coded now, so it shouldn't be too hard figuring out which is which.
whats the best way to apply wax? and do you scrape?
I wax every 5 days on snow or so. Don't let your bases get white, that means they're oxidized and won't accept any wax.
As for technique, I keep it pretty simple. One ski at a time to allow cooling between applications. First, make sure your skis are room-temp before waxing. Next, wipe down the bases with a damp cloth to get rid of any dirt, then dry them completely. Run the iron down the ski to warm them up and pull the old wax out a bit. Do a quick scrape to get the old stuff out, and wipe them down again. Hold your wax to your iron and drip a good line all the way down the ski, then spread the wax across the base being careful not to hold the iron in one spot for too long. After you get good coverage (edge to edge, tip to tail, not too thick), set that ski aside to cool and work on the next one. Once they're both waxed, go back to ski #1 and give it a good scrape with a plastic wax scraper, keeping it flat against your bases.
You can call it good here, or go one more step and buff/brush to really even things out.
These guys are awesome for the job:
Check Youtube if you have any other questions, there's a bunch of stuff on there.
paste wax....yes or no?
Im assuming you mean a fluoro or rub on? Doesn't hurt to have. Just give your bases a quick coat and buff to help if you're getting sticky on the hill.
whats up with ptex? can you fix your own bases?
do the plastic hand held edge sharpeners really work? should i sharpen my skis?
Its nice to have a edge sharpener on hand to keep things maintained, however, Id go to a shop if you want to fuck with beveling at all. For park skiing you'll want to detune you're edges underfoot to prevent catching on rails. I just go over the edges lightly with a file, then de-burr with a gummy stone. If you live somewhere icy, you'll probably want to keep your skis fairly sharp everywhere else.
i really can't tell if this is a serious post or not.
as stated above, lots of local shops or race programs have clinics at their mountains, go and ask around and they will help you have a basic understanding of how to tune and wax. google is also a very effective place to find step by step answers but don't be so willing to take the first "How To" page you find as infallible gospel, do some research. if you want to buy your own stuff once you have a general idea of what you are doing, anything from swix, holmenkol, or toko is your wax of choice. for tools etc, reliable racing, the race place, artech, and Sun Valley Ski Tools all have websites with anything you need. Also plastic file guides are crap, use the all metal ones.
I remember once, when I was like 14, my dad and I waxed my skis with Parawax, a cooking wax. Hahaha, needless to say, it didn't work too good. Took a couple days to wear off so it wasn't ridiculously sticky, but I guess in the end, it did the trick.
Ski tuner here. been tuning skis for a living the past few years.
everything you need to know about properly tuning your skis can be found at swixschool.com
plz buy a ski iron. they are cheap and last a lifetime if you take care of them.
If you can spend 700 on your gear, you can spend $70 on an iron, wax, gum stone/diamond stone and pocket edger.
pocket edgers work. just replace to files every season.
broken edges can be fixed, but its fairly complicated and easy to fuck up.
if you live near a ski shop that has a montana snow curiser, or any tuning robot by winterstieger, GO ThERE. pay the money to have your skis tuned twice a year by this thing. wintersteiger robots tune skis better then any human on the planet can (except for hand filed base edges mmmmmmm)
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1440&bih=809&tbm=isch&tbnid=7ChwNoSaZOV9YM:&imgrefurl=http://www.montana-skiservis.cz/servisni-stroje-montana/snow-cruiser/snow-cruiser.php&docid=twXOjwujaTgaEM&imgurl=http://www.montana-skiservis.cz/servisni-stroje-montana/snow-cruiser/snow-cruiser.jpg&w=420&h=221&ei=A_24UKqwL6qmiQKN4YDwBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=237&vpy=138&dur=1568&hovh=163&hovw=310&tx=172&ty=90&sig=102936701389278565768&page=1&tbnh=130&tbnw=247&start=0&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:87 for reference. i get to work on one of these bad boys!
Wintersteiger make great machines but I don't like a machine doing all the work. I like being able to run my skis over the stone myself. But the texture that machine puts in is great.
To op. there is a multi page thread on this in GT. swixschool is a great choice a well as tognar.com they had some informational videos at one time. Buy the cheaper irons. I have used high End to the low end we buy for the shop. They both last the same amount of time.
ryan, i understand what you mean. but having come from doing hand belt tunes, to using a wintersteiger, there really is no comparison. the robot just does such a superior job and the range of settings you can use and apply makes it a dream to work with. i def still use belts for super gnar'd up skis and other random stuff but the robot is just an amazing piece of equipment.
it was a serious thread. i did act dumb cause i didnt want to come off as a know it all, because every tech knows a little secret tidbit. i felt the need for a thread to talk about it.
i do all my own tuning and dont trust the task to anyone but myself, i love tuning my skis. i llove making my skis last one more day... not because im poor but i bond with my planks and am always sad when there is no sidewall left under foot, and become unrideable. i have tried pretty much every technique of waxing, patching, ptexing, re-edging and basing.... any repair may last, but honestly once a ski starts falling apart, its not even worth waxing anymore. at that rate i would need 4 pairs of skis per year. i guess i am poor. so poor i cant aford to ski anymore
