 Poster: A snowHead
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Should your iron be at a higher temp. when you are using the harder wax for dryslopes? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ickabodblue, set the iron's temperature to melt the wax but not so hot as to cause smoke. Harder wax for v.cold temps or dryslope use (ie PolarX) will require a higher temp to melt it. If you just drip on the wax it's likely to harden & then chip off when the iron hits it so it's best to crayon on the wax first. Problem is the wax is usually too hard to crayon on so touch the wax on the base of the iron first to soften it & then crayon it on. The drip & iron as usual. Hard wax willl need to be scraped off before it's fully cooler & hardened otherwise you'll need a hammer & chisel to shift it.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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spyderjon, Great,spyderjon, thanks a million. I was finding it harder to use than the normal stuff I use on the snow skis.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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ickabodblue, I shove on a (thin) coat of softer first, then hot scrape before applying the CH4. Woks best with a proper wax iron, domestic one doesn't get hot enough.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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mission accomplished and I haven't done too bad a job, though I say so myself.
He skiis on them for 4 hours a week, how often will I need to do them?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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ickabodblue, See how dry they get. I do mine about monthly in the winter, more often in the summer. I don't ski so much tho, cos I have to do the coaching 
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| ski wrote: |
| I do mine about monthly in the winter, more often in the summer. |
 I wax mine every time I sharpen them, i.e. about twice a week! The only time I sharpened and didn't wax was when I went over to that  meet in Gloucester last October (I'd already waxed them the night before, and then skied on them for <2 hours) - when I burnt the bases so badly the skis were essentially destroyed (i.e. useful for little more than free-skiing practice).
As for temperature, be careful with the hard waxes - get it to the absolute minimum you need to melt it. If you mix in Notwax with it as well (for extra slippyness) you still get smoking even then, so that's not a particularly good test - apart from anything else the problem is to avoid melting the bases and not the smoking point of what you're putting on them. I always use PolarX and used to use a temperature of nearly 130degrees (well, that's what's marked on the dial), and that resulted in a series of raised bubbles (about the size of 10p pieces) on the base. I now use a temp of 110-120, which seems to avoid that bubbling. This is on some Dynamics. It means you have to move the iron a bit slower to get the wax melted, but that's no big deal. I do also make sure that I iron each base for at least 5 minutes to ensure the wax gets properly into the base. That actually works prettty well, as once you've finished ironing the second base the first is just about the right temperature to scrape.
However, I know that one ex-WC skier of my (and rob@rar's) acquiantance leaves even this kind of hard wax on for at least an hour before scraping (with a chisel maybe  ), as she thinks the wax gets into the base better that way. Far be it for me to disagree with her, but I'm not sure I believe that - so I carry on doing it my way.
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I sharpen and wax my skis each time before I use them. The wax when training is more of a protective layer for the bases rather than to improve sliding and in any event gets rubbed off well before the end of a 1 1/2 hour training session. I use Polar X and a domestic iron and drip the wax along the length of the ski, probably about 2 cm between drips or maybe a little less. The wax hardens quickly so to avoid popping the drops off the bases I lift the leading edge of the iron to make sure the droplets are first flattened. After this I iron the skis until the wax is fully distributed and the skis have warmed a little. This can take a few minutes. I use a temperature at which the wax doesn't smoke. I then scrape the warm bases simply to ensure the wax has no significant lumps and bumps and I clean the edges.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| ickabodblue wrote: |
| GrahamN, You mix Notwax in as well? |
Only really when preparing for a race (although I do do the same for my snowskis as well): put on a layer of Notwax before dripping on the hot wax. The Notwax then bubbles up into the melted wax layer. Leaves a much more slippery feel to the base, but whether the skis then actually go faster or not I can't say for sure, but it does feel like they do.
To avoid chipping off the hardened wax dots I do the same as Derek Jackson
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