 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all. Does anyone know if its OK to use a normal iron instead of a proper ski wax iron? I want to start waxing my skis and have been adding up the costs and getting a non ski iron would save me quite a bit of money, but I'm not sure whether it's a good idea or not. What do you guys think?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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bendiddley, Yes as long as it is NON STEAM - Travel Irons with temp controls tend to do the job quite well
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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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bendiddley, You can if you want but be careful as the temperature can vary hugely from one area of the plate to another, dedicated wax irons hold their temperature more consistently and hold it for longer, most domestic irons cool down quickly as soon as you touch the ski with it.
Imv, wax irons do the job much quicker, safer & are worth the extra cash if you have invested a lot of money on your 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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I used an old steam iron for a couple of years too. It worked ok, without any water in it obviously. Replaced it when it packed in with an economy one from Sainsburys. Picking up a proper waxing job from spyderjon next week though.
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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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Yes it's ok. Just don't iron your clothes with it once you started to use it for skis 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Any tips for using a non ski iron, ie slower, faster, position of iron on ski etc?
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bendiddley, it it's melting the wax then you're doing okay. 
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bendiddley, this point has been done to death here. Many SH think it's OK, some of us think that the lack of a refined temp setting means that you can either 'fry' the wax or not melt it enough. Claude B, talk to spyderjon and tell him what you plan to do later with his extra specially imported wax and pristine job - tell us what happens.
IMHO it's better to get the right tool for the job. You can hammer in an upholstery tack into an antique chair with a sledgehammer IF you have enough strength/skill and are willing to take the risk of the whole exercise going horribly, horribly wrong. 99/100 prob not worth the risk.
In order to forestall your next question about using Tesco value candles as p-tex wax - see the response above and subsitute in an argument about how diff waxes work at different temps instead of the 'lack of a refined temp setting' point.
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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primoz,
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You can hammer in an upholstery tack into an antique chair with a sledgehammer IF you have enough strength/SKILL and are willing to take the risk
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and I use Toko
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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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| primoz wrote: |
| I have been using old iron used for clothes many times when I was still tech in WC. At that time Swix made really really bad wax irons, so once my trusted Toko iron died, and wasn't able to get new one right away, I actually rather used old cloth iron, then Swix "special" one. |
Ahh....but let's not forget them old clothes irons were far superior to today's shoite! Them were the days where they had proper amounts of metal in them and everything! 
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You know it makes sense.
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I used an old travel iron for ages without a problem, have now got a proper one and it's a great advance. Best not to use it on a good short after doing your skis 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I use an old £5 value pack steam iron from a supermarket. I don't see how the steam function makes any difference because i don't think anyone would be daft enough to fill it with water. It's just a warm plate to melt the wax after all so it isn't exactly rocket science. If it's not melting the wax, turn the heat up, if its smoking like mad, turn the heat down. Bosh.
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Poster: A snowHead
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monkey, the argument's about what it does to the wax if it's not applied at the correct temp - it almost always smokes a bit anyway so that's not really a guide to frying wax. IF you do cook it then you might as well use Tesco value candles to go with your Tesco value iron and then you'll have to do the job again really soon as well. In which case, why bother hot waxing and just use rub-on wax and a buff up??
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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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bendiddley, Are you waxing for snow or plastic ? If snow then you'll be fine - although a dedicated wax iron will do a quicker and easier job. If you are waxing for plastic, then a travel iron will struggle to melt CH4 or Polar X.
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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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If you care enough about the performance of your skis to wax them, I would suggest that you get a real ski wax iron. Both Swix and Toko make good ones. The principle advantages of ski irons are their more accurate thermostats and thicker plates. A thicker plate works to reduce the temperature fluctuations that occur as the iron moves over the length of the ski.
If you decide to stick with the home/travel iron alternative use the lowest possible setting to melt the wax. If you are applying cold waxes that setting will necessarily be higher so be careful. Keep the iron continuously moving over the ski. If the ski’s top skin starts to become warm to the touch, stop ironing in your wax. You can always let the skis cool and iron over the wax again if it needs to be distributed more evenly.
That is my short response. If you have further interest in the subject feel free to read on.
Today virtually all performance skis have sintered P-Tex bases while lower-end skis use less expensive extruded P-Tex bases. Sintered P-Tex is manufactured differently than extruded-P-Tex resulting in long molecule strings which add impact strength to the P-Tex and result in more space between molecules. It is in these spaces that most of the applied wax resides until released by the friction-generated heat as the ski moves over the snow.
If your sintered base becomes overheated while ironing in wax it will change from sintered to extruded P-Tex. If overheating is dramatic you will know it because the P-Tex will delaminate from the core usually manifesting itself in bubbles, large or small, in your bases or a melted look. However, much more common is the progressive, often visually undetectable change from a sintered to extruded base chiefly evidenced by your realizing over time that your skis don’t seem to hold wax like they used to when skiing in similar conditions.
Happily, having the skis stone-ground will in most cases remove the now extruded P-Tex that may have formed. A competent ski tech can often repair dramatic damage by cutting out the damaged area and replacing it with a P-Tex patch of sintered material or, in less serious cases, removing the damage and filling the voids left with a repair candle, string, tape or powder (because of the heat needed to melt such P-Tex alternatives, they are all extruded P-Tex formulations).
If excess heat has damaged the core itself the entire ski can become weakened. This happens when the epoxy bonding the various layers becomes softened exceeding the epoxy’s glass transition point (Tg) after which its bonding properties can become unpredictable. The Tg value varies somewhat depending on the brand of epoxy used by the ski manufacturer. In all cases it is quite low even lower than the melting point of soft ski wax. Since the ski wax and base itself dissipates much of the iron’s heat, core damage is not something that happens a lot. When it does, it is usually also progressive resulting from repeatedly overheating the core and the epoxy’s bonding properties becoming compromised over time (this can also occur from storing your skis in the attic during the summer). The skis will become “dead” well before their time or a binding screw will pop out or a delamination among the skis components can occur. The owner will often ascribe this to the ski company’s making a low quality product when the owner may have been the culprit.
My own bias is that if you are going to spend the money to buy a performance ski, it is worthwhile to be able to extract the maximum performance the ski is capable of consistent with your abilities. For that reason I would buy a real ski wax iron to better mitigate potential problems.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sat 2-03-13 18:05; edited 4 times in total
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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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Or just sign up to Ellis Brigham mailing list, every year they send you a voucher for a free wax and edge. Most times when I go into collect they let me keep the voucher for next time. Far easier than arsing about doing it yourself.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Lostboy, You LOST me with that.
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Kel, this:
"if you are going to spend the money to buy a performance ski, it is worthwhile to be able to extract the maximum performance the ski is capable of consistent with your abilities. For that reason I would buy a real ski wax iron to better mitigate potential problems."
is all you really need to focus on, IMHO.
Dypcdiver, the one's with horse in def make you go faster. I assume they use old race horses.
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FAQ
But really... unless you go for 1/100sec difference on races, it really doesn't matter if you wax at 110c or 130c, especially if you don't do HF powders. Those things are more sensitive, and it actually makes difference if you wax at 180 or at 185c (iron temperature depends which snow temperature you want to wax for etc.). But I guess we are talking about recreational, once every few days (most likely few months) waxing and not WC racing 
