Base prep new skis with wax and just use liquid for rest of season?

[Rich_Ease_3051]

Hi All.

Just about to pull the trigger on a shopping cart with waxing materials and tools and need advise on wax.

Basically I have new skis and will be using them for the first time at the start of July. I will be skiing for 12 days this season (4 days at a time, 3 weeks apart).

So 4 days early July, 4 days end of July, 4 days mid-August.

As the average daytime temps for July and August in Perisher in Australia is 0C to 4C, I'm planning on iron prepping the skis with Swix PS8 Red wax the night before my first day.

Then, just use spray-on Swix HS8 Liquid Red every day (or every other day depending on glidability) that I'm on the mountain.

Then at the end of the season, just coat/iron the skis with the same Swix PS8 Red wax for storage.

I guess the idea is to minimise the ironing of the skis to just twice: at the beginning for base prep and at the end for storage.

Please let me know if this is ok. Thank you.

 

[Steve]

Should work fine. I do the same but instead of liquid rub solid wax on and cork or wax whiz it in.

 

[François Pugh]

I'm not a fan of liquid wax. I just iron in hot wax the night before skiing for the appropriate air/snow temperatures expected from the weather forecast. Don't forget to scrape and brush!

While I'm no expert when it comes to preparing virgin bases, I've learned that harder (for colder temperatures) waxes won't stick well if there isn't some softer (for warmer temperatures) wax on the base first.

 

[Zrxman01]

Sounds like a good plan.
I typically like lots of softer (BP88 or Dominator) base wax then a mid layer (wax in CH7 or 8)
Top layers of spray on PS or HS. These typically last most of the day.
If there is a lot of temp variation or the snow I like the way the liquid F4 works. This lasts for a half day.
Brush in after 20 minutes or overnight with a clean nylon brush.
Buff with a white (non abrasive) scotch bright pad.

 

[Dave Marshak]

I hot wax with Purl Purple (my son gave me a lifetime supply a couple of years ago) at the end of the season, then scrape and brush before the next season. Sometimes they glide noticeably better for opening day. Some years I hot wax mid-season. Otherwise it's just liquid F4, mostly on warm days. When my stash of old flouro F4 runs out I'll switch to F4 Premium Warm liquid.
My friends all tell me I'm making a grave mistake by not hot waxing more often, but they all want to borrow my liquid wax on warm days.

dm

 

[KingGrump]

For a 12 days season, that will work.

 

[anders_nor]

after tips form the guys here, after my initial soft layers & base prep I put on a blue / harder one its worked out great! I just top off with vola liquid with vola cloth before skiiing, I prefer that to the sprays now.

 

[Philpug]

I really like the Toko Liquid Paraffins but they are not a complete replacement for iron in...but a complement to them. With a new ski, I will iron wax in for the first wax then use the liquids then every 5-6 times out I will iron in again.

 

[Rich_Ease_3051]

While I'm no expert when it comes to preparing virgin bases, I've learned that harder (for colder temperatures) waxes won't stick well if there isn't some softer (for warmer temperatures) wax on the base first.

I typically like lots of softer (BP88 or Dominator) base wax then a mid layer (wax in CH7 or 8)
Top layers of spray on PS or HS. These typically last most of the day.

after tips form the guys here, after my initial soft layers & base prep I put on a blue / harder one its worked out great! I just top off with vola liquid with vola cloth before skiiing, I prefer that to the sprays now.

Lots of suggestions for starting with a soft layer first followed by a harder/proper-temp 2nd layer.

I read something in one of the threads that the idea to this 2-layer strategy is that the soft layer sticks to the skis and the 2nd layer sticks to the soft layer.

Is there a science to this?

I might just end up doing this anyway as it couldn't hurt to do another round of ironing and scraping a 2nd prep wax to virgin skis, from a time and monetary perspective.

I was also watching the Swix USA presentation on youtube and the presenter mentioned that the idea of a prep wax is to get virgin skis used to the heat of the iron, which the yellow wax has the lowest iron setting for.

I guess for Australian conditions, that would be an initial layer of yellow followed by a 2nd coating of PS8 Red wax as prep to virgin skis. Then use HS8 liquid for the daily glide.

 

[jt10000]

I read something in one of the threads that the idea to this 2-layer strategy is that the soft layer sticks to the skis and the 2nd layer sticks to the soft layer.

Is there a science to this?

I don't know about science, but there's a lot of experience on this from serious nordic skiing. Wax durability is important, and a bunch of soft glide wax followed by harder waxes followed by the wax of the day (plus topcoats if racing) is common and works well.

 

[Rich_Ease_3051]

I don't know about science, but there's a lot of experience on this from serious nordic skiing. Wax durability is important, and a bunch of soft glide wax followed by harder waxes followed by the wax of the day (plus topcoats if racing) is common and works well.

Perisher alpine skiing is similar to nordic skiing in the sense that we have a lot of flat areas to traverse lol.

So I guess I really have to get those soft waxes.

 

[cantunamunch]

after tips form the guys here, after my initial soft layers & base prep I put on a blue / harder one its worked out great! I just top off with vola liquid with vola cloth before skiiing, I prefer that to the sprays now.

I was going to start a separate Vola thread. If I ski next season, that is going to be my solution also.

 

[Rich_Ease_3051]

Sounds like a good plan.
I typically like lots of softer (BP88 or Dominator) base wax then a mid layer (wax in CH7 or 8)
Top layers of spray on PS or HS. These typically last most of the day.
If there is a lot of temp variation or the snow I like the way the liquid F4 works. This lasts for a half day.
Brush in after 20 minutes or overnight with a clean nylon brush.
Buff with a white (non abrasive) scotch bright pad.

View attachment 135996

Order placed. A mix of Swix and Toko tools.

My desk will be looking like your work bench soon.

Just kept in under a grand to avoid the overseas purchase tax.

For some reason, Snowinn won't let me place an order for the HS8 liquid (won't ship it to Australia for some reason). So just went with the TS8, which they do ship weirdly enough. A bit pricey, but what can I do? Local shops aren't stocking the new Swix SKU's yet. In fact, most of the local stores still sell the fluoro stock. They're chock full of them.

 

[Sibhusky]

! Buying a complete set up in one go. Ouch. So glad I learned in stages. And there's not even a bench in that list.

I guess I better not add up all the stuff I've accumulated..

 

[Rich_Ease_3051]

Removed the cork from the order. I think I need felt cork. Hope the order gets updated.

 

[anders_nor]

shopping list is looking good. Doing it proper on new skis will reward you.

 

[Zrxman01]

Congrats on your tuning purchases and welcome
To the “dork” side.

 

[Rich_Ease_3051]

I guess I better not add up all the stuff I've accumulated..

No I wouldn't recommend that at all lol. The damage looks worse that way.

Might get the tuning bench locally.

Congrats on your tuning purchases and welcome
To the “dork” side.

Got the accent down pat! Almost (should be "soide").

Unless you're calling me a dork, in which case you're right! Been one all my life.

 

[jt10000]

Sounds like a good plan.
I typically like lots of softer (BP88 or Dominator) base wax then a mid layer (wax in CH7 or 8)
Top layers of spray on PS or HS. These typically last most of the day.
If there is a lot of temp variation or the snow I like the way the liquid F4 works. This lasts for a half day.
Brush in after 20 minutes or overnight with a clean nylon brush.
Buff with a white (non abrasive) scotch bright pad.

This interesting and I might try sometting simimilar. I have to say, CH8 is quite soft - in nordic skiing I rarely skied on anything softer, at any temperature (though used softer waxes for base prep). In fact, I think CH8 and BP88 are very close in softness.

 

[Rich_Ease_3051]

Received all the items just in time for what was going to be my first trip of the season this weeked. So lucky.

But last Saturday, the whole country decided to lockdown for two weeks and Sydney residents are barred from going up to Perisher. Not so lucky.

On waxing:

Bought rolls of butcher's paper that I will lay on the floor and bench to catch wax drips and shavings. That way I don't have to keep a waxy tarp or clean the bench and I can just chuck away the paper once I'm done waxing.

Decided that I will use base cleaner to remove factory wax, instead of hotwaxing, based on what I read about Ptex 4504 having a melting point above 100C.

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