 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone know where i can buy natural ski wax in the UK, online is fine
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Very interesting, the microscope pics show how useless waxing seems to be, do you use this method?
If so how does it fair on alpine skiing for 35+ days a year as the demo of the file shows it taking a lot of base away, and im not after the best glide possible, how often does it need doing.
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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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seem to be aimed at cross country skis, not downhill.....
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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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No, I don't use this method - yet. But I can see a lot of sense in it and intend to do a bit of experimenting.
I think these are aimed at nordic skiers because that's the author's background. This is possibly because nordic is more about self-sufficiency and less about branding and marketing. Besides, all bases are UHMWPE and snow is snow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHMWPE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I really cant be bothered to read the whole 165 pages, but I would assume the idea of scraping to replace waxing is in the giving a smother base to your skis? In which case sure skimming would give you a nice smooth base and reduce friction, but surely this could only be carried out a couple of times before your skis were rendered useless!
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altis, You really are hooked on this not waxing lark!!! didnt we discuss this recently?
I'm gonna keep waxing, I have asked a few pro's and base researchers, they said it sounds like a conspiracy theory and that the lattice structure of UHMWPE means it becomes impregnated with wax very nicely and does make a difference. Maybe we could wait until you've run your skis without wax for a season then have another crack at this one.
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altis, do you ski alpine without wax then?
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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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Mmm, interesting. Sure, it's for nordic skiing but would translate across just fine if it is true. The argument that water doesn't soak in to UHMWPE bases therefore wax certainly can't (as it has a much larger molecular size than water) is absolutely fine, but they didn't carry out a test at hot (i.e. iron) temperatures as far as I can make out. Is the molecular structure of the base modified when it is heated, reverting when it cools again?
However I'll be spending the afternoon of the start of our holiday waxing mine and Mrs mfj197's skis ...
[/thread hijack]
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The "Myths" on this page http://www.escnordic.org.uk/ simply do not add up, it mentions proof of wax absorbtion on one section, then on another says that they don't absorb wax, added to that the writer makes himself like a fool with his not serious but not funny writing style, I would be inclined to ignore this site....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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The argument that water doesn't soak in to UHMWPE bases therefore wax certainly can't (as it has a much larger molecular size than water) is absolutely fine, but they didn't carry out a test at hot (i.e. iron) temperatures as far as I can make out. Is the molecular structure of the base modified when it is heated, reverting when it cools again?
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mfj197, there's no way you'll EVER get water to soak into UHMWPE - water and polyethylene are (exactly) like water and oil. The wiki article quoted above puts it differently, but the message is the same. The idea that just cos water won't soak into polyethylene, neither willl wax, is a specious argument put forward by http://epubl.luth.se/1402-1757/2006/03/LTU-LIC-0603-SE.pdf's author.
Wax is a different matter - many waxes are chemically very similar to polyethylene (but much lower molecular weight), and so can get absorbed quite nicely, especially when you apply heat to melt the wax, and probably soften the top surface of the base as well ( that is, mobilise the polymer chains ) Effectively, what you're doing is welding the wax to the surface of the ski base, filling in all the imperfections. Then, you scrape the wax off to give you a nice smooth surface to glide on
I would guess that if you don't wax and scrape, then your ski bases will get rougher and rougher. If you scrape them smooth, without waxing, then you've just taken off a good thick layer of base, and you will eventually wear through the bases
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geoff10, exactly what I thought.
But trying to get back to the OP geeo, check out spyderjon's website at, www.jonsskituning.co.uk if its not on his site, its worth dropping him a PM to see if he can get hold of any.
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You know it makes sense.
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geeo, yep ski base researcher, exciting stuff........  , its a lad doing his Phd in ski base design, better than my dergree so i won't mock him
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FAQ
seriously give the 1'st pdf a read with an open mind it's only about 20 pages, the science seems to back up the fastest glide is with the scraping not waxing, but i'm not after that either.
