Poster: A snowHead
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After looking for ages I have found a cheap ski iron for waxing my skis.
It's a travel iron from M&S for £5, yes five golden nuggetts.
It is super tiny, but has a flat plate base, I couldn't find any others without holes.
It works ok as well.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I thought you could just fill the holes with wax
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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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I use a £5 tesco value one. it has holes but i don't think it makes any difference. obviously i turned the steam off and didn't fill the water reservoir. also i think it could be argued that the holes in the iron help distribute the wax when you're ironing it in?
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I use an Argos ppecial that cost £5 - Its just a generic steam iron. I cant see how it makes any difference either if its got holes are not.
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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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I wax about 4 pairs of skis a week currently for training on the dry slope then for snow at the weekend , started off with the £5 iron , but found that the temp fluctuated enormously and the wax would often smoke and the ski would sometimes get very warm/hot. Maybe it was dodgy , but in the interetsts of my health and the skis I bought a £35 Toko one , excellent results, no smoking and the ski's stay very cool , so hopefully not inhaling too many fumes or damaging the skis.
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Scot_Ski wrote: |
I wax about 4 pairs of skis a week currently for training on the dry slope then for snow at the weekend , started off with the £5 iron , but found that the temp fluctuated enormously and the wax would often smoke and the ski would sometimes get very warm/hot. Maybe it was dodgy , but in the interetsts of my health and the skis I bought a £35 Toko one , excellent results, no smoking and the ski's stay very cool , so hopefully not inhaling too many fumes or damaging the skis. |
Having done a ski tuning course with Spyderjon, he advised that the ski's need to get some heat into them to get good penetration of the wax into the base. Should feel warm to the touch on the top side.
Might be worth rigging up some extraction or at least having a fan blowing the fumes away if you're doing quite a few skis.
I'm no expert but I'm sure someone that knows what they are talking about will be along shortly to help
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Gadge, I would bow to spyderjons expertise, but I use a cheap travel iron and the one thing that concerns me, that I am very cautious about, is not getting the base too hot and ruining the ski!
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Jon is my mentor and has taught me everything I know (well topped up by you tube)
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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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jbob, you don't want to overheat the bases but getting a decent amount of heat in them (so the top sheet feels hot) is pretty much essential for good wax adsorption.
A travel iron is fine for doing your bases as long as you're aware that the thermostat isn't as good as on a dedicated wax iron so the temperature will fluctuate more and there will be hotspots on the iron. A good workaround is to have some cloth over the iron, however, to be certain of avoiding any problems related to this then a dedicated wax iron is the answer. They do cost quite a bit more though so I can appreciate why people decide to use travel irons instead. That said a wax iron is cheaper than new skis cos you burnt your base!
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I wouldn't trust a travel iron my my ski bases, proper wax irons also have temp scales on them.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Quote: |
Having done a ski tuning course with Spyderjon, he advised that the ski's need to get some heat into them to get good penetration of the wax into the base. Should feel warm to the touch on the top side.
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Totally agree , our ski's live most of the time before waxing in the boiler room so are pretty warm then are put back in overnight in the warmth so the wax absorbs ,(not quite a hot box) but better than a cold garage. Agree that the top side of the skis should be warm to touch after ironing the wax in but I dont want them hot. Finally on extraction , I keep the side garage door open near the bench , but the main reason for the Toko Iron was that it has a thermostat that controls the iron base temp and ensure that the wax does not smoke and I breath it in.
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