What do I all need to wax my skis?

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

Thanks Balto!

So what kind of skis do you need to sharpen?

Scraper, maybe a buffer rag for the bases once your done waxing and rubber bands to hold the brakes up

if you don't want to shell out the 20-30 bucks for brushes, you'll be fine without them.

things to buy other than an iron:
scraper
different temp rated wax
brush
vice? (expensive and not altogether necessary, just makes it easier)
something to tie to the brakes and strap over the heelpiece
a place you don't mind getting dirty

dont get base cleaner. it removes wax that has seeped into your base, which is good. its actually worst to use base cleaner. if you want to clean your bases, do a hot scrape, where you wax your skis and immediately remove the wax when it is still hot.

other than that,
Iron (you will have)
wax (all temp or multiple different temp ones)
scraper
wire brushes are really nice but not essential (i actually just use wire brushes that were like $5 from a hardware store)
cork block to buff the bases after you're done (maybe not entirely essential but it helps a lot. you need either this or the brushes)
to hold the brakes back, you can either get straps or just use a bunch of rubberbands from newspapers (i do and it works fine, just takes like 10 at a time)
thats to give it a good wax. if you really dont have the money, the only true essentials are the iron, wax and scraper.

if you are getting into that though, i would recommend buying some ptex sticks to fix deep scratches/gouges in the base. they are dirt cheap so its not a big deal. if you get that, a razor blade is nice to help with removing excess ptex that drips

pm me if you have any more questions

this. if you are serious about tuning your skis yourself, not just waxing, get a gummi stone and some files for taking care of teh edges and base. gummi stones are good for deburring the edges and making small detune adjustments, files are good for making more major changes to the edges, such as detuning right when you get them (i wouldnt recommend using files unless you have a good idea of what you are doing, just because you can take too much off pretty easily if you arent smart about it) if you are smart about it and only make minor changes with it at a time, it can be a bit more efficient than gummistones. i also like to use files for when you get a edge crack, and completely round out around a 1 inch section where the crack is so it doesnt pull out.

if you are unsure about using a file and how much to do, make small adjustments and toss a gummistone in your pocket when you go up, that way if you still want to dull them a bit more during the day you can.

also i know everybody here wont agree with my opinions for this. i have been tuning my skis myself for a number of years, and have found what works for me and what i like. once you are doing it yourself, it is up to you to figure out what methods work best for you

For p-texing you don't just use the razorblade/Stanley blade to scrape the excess p-tex. if you're going to do it, do it properly. For p-texing you need to make it worse to get better, for gouges deeper than 1/2-1mm (depending on how much you love your skis/access that you have got to a grinder) what you need to do to get a proper hold with the p-tex is to straighten the edges, cut any base material sitting above the line of the base off, turn the gouges from \__/ to /__\ this way when you drip the p-tex in its less likely to tear out straight away. The less carbon you get in the p-tex the better the bond you will get so melting the p-tex with a blue-flame wind proof lighter is best for doing p-texing with the candles. Once you've dripped the p-tex to fill the gouge let it start to set and when it is still warm but not liquid, cut away the excess to be flush to the base, clean, smooth, single movement cuts/scrapes are far better than taking of the excess in bits. It's far less likely to pull out when you're scraping this way. For wider gouges aswell as altering the edges of the gouge, put some small scrapes across the valley floor of the gouge this way there will be a little more for the p-tex to grip to. I say 1/2-1mm deep because if you get your bases ground it's likely that some of the scrapes you think might need p-ted will be simply superficial and will be gone after the grinding, not to say you should get them ground to get rid of scratches, the more base material you have the more wax it can hold meaning it will run faster for longer.

i use a razor because ive found it more effective than a scraper. i started when i only had a shitty plastic scraper that had trouble removing. im not literally cutting it, just dragging it along like / -->, with even lateral pressure so it doesnt create any new scratches

also filling in scrateches 1/2-1 mm is completely useless. it will make no difference in performance, and those are so frequent that even if you fill them, new ones will appear the next time you ski

I wasnt disagreeing with you more expanding on what you said, also i dont diagree with what you just said. Stanley/razor blade >> metal scraper. And i was saying not to bother with anything less than 1/2-1mm deep as its superficial and will come out in a base grind and you will just be removing more wax holding base material than needs be, to get p-tex to hold.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm just tired of spending all the money getting my skis waxed and figured it would be a cool thing to learn to do it myself