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Waxing skis advice

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Stadtski
Posts: 972 - Karma: 3,349
so i do alot of nordic ski racing so i have lots of waxing equiptment, (irons, brushes, scrapers, lots of kinds of wax) Im wondering if the wax i have will work. how many of you wax your own skis? do you use wax like this?
Jan 19 2014 3:17PM
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Stadtski
Posts: 972 - Karma: 3,349
*if the wax will work for waxing my park skis
Jan 19 2014 3:18PM
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Stadtski
Posts: 972 - Karma: 3,349
k i have that. sweet thanks
Jan 19 2014 3:30PM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
Get an all temp wax, or class it up and get a cold temp wax and a warm temp wax. No need for fluoro unless you're trying to win the Chinese downhill.
Jan 19 2014 3:56PM
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corona
Posts: 12803 - Karma: 32,817
A metric gallon of fluoro per ski should do the trick.
Jan 19 2014 3:58PM
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ggfski42
Posts: 651 - Karma: 700
Swix universal is what i use for all my skis. 21 bucks for a 180gr brick, lasts awhileeee. But any of the shit you have should work. Any wax is better than no wax.

Click for larger image
Jan 19 2014 4:47PM
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skienian
Posts: 17 - Karma: 41
Holmenkol Beta will do a great job on your skis, last a long time, gives great ski performance in a HUGE temperature range, bigger than what they recommend settings are.


Jan 19 2014 5:15PM
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
Naw fuck everything about swix, all these bullshit colored waxes are for chumps. Get a good all temp wax and your good to go. I highly reccommend Hertels Wax, its fucking great, and way god damn cheaper than swix.

http://www.hertelskiwax.com/
Jan 19 2014 5:47PM
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freestyler540
Posts: 13106 - Karma: 18,906
Here are some tips:
-Alpine wax is alpine wax, not cross country wax. The compound is quite different because the uses are different. Use Alpine wax, if your not sure, the employee will give you one.
-Check the temperature of the wax. Although hot application is essential, i was referring to the content of humidity in the snow. My experience tells me there are 3 general kinds; high humidity (-1, 4C) medium (-1,-10C) and low (-10 and below). Make sure you are applying the right wax for the right conditions. Or else, you are going nowhere
-Waxing is super easy and cheap, tuning your edges are not easy and should be done by a shop. There are no perfect hand tool for edges. All you need is a normal Iron, a scrapper (or credit card or air miles card) and a cloth. You can buy a travel iron for 10$, use a card and use a dish towel (clean)
-Dont burn the wax! each wax has a specific temperature of fusion. Too low temperature and your block will spat on the skis. Too hot and you will break the hydrocarbon bond rendering your wax useless.
-When finished the wax job, scrape the edges first, then the rest of the ski.
-Use a cloth for finish. It will smooth out the imperfections of your scrapper and will increase your speed.
Jan 19 2014 7:48PM
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
No one but racers should be using temp/humidity specific wax. Go with a solid all temp wax and youll be fine. He is likely talking park skis so its not like hes pushing to shave a quarter second of a downhill run time. Buy all temp, apply once every 3-5 times you go out, problem solved.

Also if your talking park skis, why would you really need to do shit to your edges, chances are they are probably detuned anyway, keep a file and a couple gummy stones around to remove any real bad burrs and your good.
Jan 19 2014 8:01PM
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freestyler540
Posts: 13106 - Karma: 18,906
On the contrary, perfect wax makes park easier! "The secret to pipe is a perfectly waxed ski" or something like that- Phil Belanger.

There is why: a natural sliding motion will make take off and landings easier. The increased friction causes a drag feeling. this added force has to be compensated by energy of the body. With shitty waxing, park is more exhausting because you have to work harder to set and land.

Also, a correct wax is cheaper in the long run. I ski 100 day season and I wax my skis (I have 3 pairs) 3-5 times a year without notice. With all use wax, the wax peals off quick and sudden weather changes affects the ride.

My last point is all around skiing. Say if you own one pair, a well waxed ski will make you faster...nice to hit a jump with more speed potential than not. It might save you from a agonizing day of rough turns and walking everywhere too.

Experiment is the best way.


Jan 19 2014 8:29PM
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Stadtski
Posts: 972 - Karma: 3,349
Lol yeah i got skeptical
Jan 19 2014 8:33PM
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Stadtski
Posts: 972 - Karma: 3,349
Well i already have wax made for racing so as long as itll work ill live. I just dont want my bases to die from being too dry
Jan 19 2014 8:35PM
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Paul.
Posts: 1611 - Karma: 11,191
I recommend using these

Click for larger image
Jan 19 2014 9:11PM
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Evan.A
Posts: 89 - Karma: 349
If you have vices which are really useful then don't tighten them to much. You can end up breaking the vice and delaminating your skis which I learned the hard way
Jan 20 2014 8:55AM
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
Vices? Why? Two saw horses and rubber bands to pin the breaks.
Jan 20 2014 9:06AM
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Evan.A
Posts: 89 - Karma: 349
I got mine for cheap and it's annoying if your waxing alone without help if u just use horses
Jan 20 2014 10:06AM
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
I never had an issue, hold ski with one hand rub wax with other hand. Scraping is not an issue as long as you place the binding against one of the saw horses and pull towards it.
Jan 20 2014 10:28AM
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blazer258
Posts: 1102 - Karma: 655
i just use rubberbands to hold down the bindings and put the ski's on an ironing board, it works perfectly fine, as for wax i just use some basic all temp or some new cold to moderate wax i just got, it came in a pack with arctic, cold, moderate, and warm wax

what would happen if i used warm temp wax on a freezing cold day or the arctic wax in spring conditions?
Jan 20 2014 1:07PM
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The_Polock
Posts: 345 - Karma: 1,280
No need for expensive florowax in the park.  Unless you are trying to shave time off your laps!!!!  just a good layer off regular hydrocarbon wax works fine.  any wax is better than no wax at all but the floro shit is hard to work with/expensive/and unnecessary unless you race.

Jan 20 2014 1:52PM
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skienian
Posts: 17 - Karma: 41
Hey NH_Operator you never want to pull the scraper towards you, it is likely to catch and then it chatters on the ski and now you have some horrible chatter marks on your base that now need to be ground on out at s shop. A Hyrdo-carbon wax like Holmenkol Beta will make your bases last a long time, give you a great temperature range and lots of speed for the biggest airs.
Jan 26 2014 9:29PM
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NH_OPERATOR
Posts: 1070 - Karma: 2,883
You must not have very much upper body strength if you are getting chatter marks by pulling the scraper to you, I have never gotten any that last, not to mention the guys at my pro-shop taught me to pull towards me. Just keep some heavy down pressure and you wont get the chatter. Even if you do get slight chatter marks (which I usually end up with if I am pushing away), by the time I am done brushing and polishing they are gone. I dont know how you are doing anything to your skis while scraping with a plastic scraper that would involve a base grind. It sounds to me like your local shop is fucking you over charging you for base grinds when you dont need them.
Jan 27 2014 7:14AM
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Dr.Dickless
Posts: 2620 - Karma: 1,392
the CH6 with a MF overlay is sweet for park and all mountain
Jan 27 2014 1:37PM
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6673 - Karma: 10,971
Glide wax is glide wax, even Swix will tell you that. Base prep, low flouro, high flouro, powders, pure flouronated carbons are all made for gliding, regardless of nordic or alpine purposes.
Feb 2 2014 6:53AM
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skienian
Posts: 17 - Karma: 41
NH, I think you need to look at what the top level of ski tuners do, pulling a scraper is a big no no. push the scraper with the scraping edge behind the top of the scraper so angled away from base if you lead with the scraping edge you are digging the edge into the base material and actually the harder you push the more likely you are to chadder on the base. Just because a guy in a ski shop says so doesn't make it right, lots of ships have been doing wrong for years and passing that on wrong for years. I have been lucky enough to spend time in many World-Cup service rooms and they all do it the same way regardless of brand and yet I have been into may shops that don't do it right but have been doing that way for years. What would you rely on World-Cup technicians from the ski companies or some shop?

Feb 3 2014 6:12PM
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J_Berg
Posts: 562 - Karma: 2,031
bsd wax is by far the most bang for your buck wax, they ship you a huge brick and scraper for half the price of swix
Feb 9 2014 4:50PM
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