Crayon On and Torch

[Tom K.]

I can confirm after 8 hours of ski time the bases look great, but that's when one needs to reapply for sure, or sooner is fine too.

I get that for speed.

In terms of just being "kind" to my bases and protecting them, can you go a few days between FFC paste applications?

 

[Tom K.]

I've been out of touch. My son told me about mapp when we had to reform the tuned pipe on his bike. Wow, brazing without oxygen!

I'm going MAPP when my propane torch's cylinder runs out.

Moved it from MN to OR in 85, then OR to MT in 20.......it's gotta die soon, right?!

 

[Jacques]

I get that for speed.

In terms of just being "kind" to my bases and protecting them, can you go a few days between FFC paste applications?

I guess so if you only ski 4 or so hours a day. ( actual ski running time.) I really have not exceeded 8 hours or so. I could have gone another day, but don't want to risk it when reapplication is so easy.

 

[Tony S]

Looking forward to your reports and videos. Please let us know.

In the meantime, I think maybe @James found the Dominator pastes to last quite awhile.

I'm sure sold on the ease of use with spray-on waxes, but kidding myself to think that they last even a full day......

I expect we will learn that with the right two hour and forty-seven minutes of prep over the preceding three days, the paste lasts a really long time.

Anecdote published by Colin Fletcher:
Husband: "I can light a campfire in the rain with only one match!"
Long-suffering wife: "Yeah, and it only takes him an hour and a half to set it up."

 

[KingGrump]

I've been out of touch. My son told me about mapp when we had to reform the tuned pipe on his bike. Wow, brazing without oxygen!

Wait until you try an air acetylene torch. Real sweet.

 

[Zrxman01]

I picked up this little vintage gem off flea-bay over the Summer. It’s an iron you heat with a propane torch. I remember them from the late

‘70s…I bought it for the comedy factor in the race room. “Check out my new cordless iron”!!!!

 

[AlpsSkidad]

I picked up this little vintage gem off flea-bay over the Summer. It’s an iron you heat with a propane torch. I remember them from the late‘70s…I bought it for the comedy factor in the race room. “Check out my new cordless iron”!!!!

does it sync to your phone?

 

[Zrxman01]

Yep syncs right up!!!

 

[Tony S]

Yep syncs right up!!! View attachment 188345

It's a little sobering to consider that the phones I used every day, well into adulthood, had much more in common with this than they do with today's phones.

 

[Zrxman01]

“Heavy is good, heavy is reliable. If it doesn't work you can always hit them with it.”
- Boris the Blade”…..

 

[KingGrump]

It's a little sobering to consider that the phones I used every day, well into adulthood, had much more in common with this than they do with today's phones.

Most people no longer have a phone. What they have is a camera with a phone app.

 

[Primoz]

@Zrxman01 this was "fancy" version. There were also thinner ones, similar to nowadays Swix T70/T71 vs. T73 I probably still have some laying somewhere, but I certainly hope I will never find them again, as these ones are something I definitely don't miss

 

[cantunamunch]

The tar torch came out to play

 

[tomahawkins]

The tar torch came out to play
View attachment 221092

Whatcha doing?

 

[cantunamunch]

Whatcha doing?

Pine tarring woodies

 

[tomahawkins]

Pine tarring woodies

I could have used this information 40 years ago. We used to take the trucks off our skateboard and use them for snowboarding (turned backwards w/ kicktail forward). After a short time the paint would be scratched down to wood and the glide suffered horribly. Basic waxing didn't help much and we didn't have a solution.

 

[NE1]

I could have used this information 40 years ago. We used to take the trucks off our skateboard and use them for snowboarding (turned backwards w/ kicktail forward). After a short time the paint would be scratched down to wood and the glide suffered horribly. Basic waxing didn't help much and we didn't have a solution.

Going back a few years...hand-me-down wooden skis with single-strap bindings (before I was handed down 10th Mountain army surplus skis with bear trap bindings and segmented metal edges). Sears sold a product you could paint onto the bottom of the skis called "Ebonite". It dried smooth and black and worked quite well (as opposed to bare wooden bottoms which required gobs of silver parafin in wet snow).

Would have been just the thing for you.

 

[tomahawkins]

I think it depends what tools you already have available. nobody is going out to buy a propane torch to do this vs getting an iron.

I will say your technique of hot fast melt in thin wax layer perhaps is not that much different than the IR waxer.
The issue is that the propane is both a crude tool with deficiencies for this task. its direct heat is too focused of a very tight and very hot hotspot (meant to melt metals), so a very small margins for error-also considering crayoning does not lay down an even depth of wax, as what is achieved by machines in the IR system.

Also an open flame, and you need to get fuel for it.

A lower risk version, I think there was a thread of people using a heat gun, which addresses those concerns.

That being said I remember back in my early days I've done even more ghetto wax : using a standard butane lighter to melt in rubbed on wax in a motel room, so you do you

Thanks for suggesting the heat gun. Recently had to buy one for a wiring job. I’m going to try this.

Btw, the torch head I’m using casts a dispersed flame, not focused. Temperature control is pretty easy.

 

[BlueGrin]

the torch head I’m using casts a dispersed flame, not focused.

I have one of these laying around for cooking:

Dave Arnold's Searzall Blowtorch Cooks Just About Everything

One writer puts the blowtorch attachment to the test.

www.eater.com

Not sure I feel the need to point it at my bases, but at least seems to mirror yours.