Last fall I decided to grab some Toko Irox - the no-melt spray-on hot wax. On paper it sounded intriguing: you spray it on, you iron it in, you polish it and you brush it. No scrape, no cleanup. Sounds pretty nice, no?
Well, I was confined in a no-scrape zone this weekend. (No power at the house so no tuning bench -gah!- grab the tool box and go where there is some.) What better to use? I didn't really feel like corking 4 pairs of skis, so -hey lookit what I got- this looks genius.
Sure it comes out of the can OK. But it comes out of the can in a cloud of gag-solvents so I had to wear a painting grade mask.
It coats the bases OK. But then when I try to iron, the iron floats -then sticks -then floats - then sticks like trying to iron rubber. Check iron temp - sure enuff 150F as recommended. And yet I simply can't get a flat even coat. Fine, whatever, I decide to polish and brush what I have on there. I let the skis cool to room temperature, polished with an artificial cork (felt thick and gummy) let cool again, brushed with soft nylon, maybe 50-60 tip/tail passes per ski.
Yeah. Saturday am (25F, new snow on top of very wet compressed snow) they - didn't glide worth anything. I could still feel a thick layer of the stuff on the ski, but it has picked up noticeable amounts of dirt/salt/road schmutz. I brushed that off, as much as I could.
Saturday late pm (20F, new snow mixed with spindrift) - minimal glide. By minimal I mean that on trail I had made previously that day, on a downhill marked with a runaway truck hazard sign, I could barely get any forward motion that I didn't generate myself by poling or kicking. Not much dirt this time but I brushed it out again. Sunday am (33F to 36F air temps, compressed snow) - I was able to skate on wider flattened areas but still couldn't get glide glide.
So. I don't know if I even want to put in more effort into trying to make this stuff work. I think it's time for base cleaner and start over with my usual suspects.
Well, I was confined in a no-scrape zone this weekend. (No power at the house so no tuning bench -gah!- grab the tool box and go where there is some.) What better to use? I didn't really feel like corking 4 pairs of skis, so -hey lookit what I got- this looks genius.
Sure it comes out of the can OK. But it comes out of the can in a cloud of gag-solvents so I had to wear a painting grade mask.
It coats the bases OK. But then when I try to iron, the iron floats -then sticks -then floats - then sticks like trying to iron rubber. Check iron temp - sure enuff 150F as recommended. And yet I simply can't get a flat even coat. Fine, whatever, I decide to polish and brush what I have on there. I let the skis cool to room temperature, polished with an artificial cork (felt thick and gummy) let cool again, brushed with soft nylon, maybe 50-60 tip/tail passes per ski.
Yeah. Saturday am (25F, new snow on top of very wet compressed snow) they - didn't glide worth anything. I could still feel a thick layer of the stuff on the ski, but it has picked up noticeable amounts of dirt/salt/road schmutz. I brushed that off, as much as I could.
Saturday late pm (20F, new snow mixed with spindrift) - minimal glide. By minimal I mean that on trail I had made previously that day, on a downhill marked with a runaway truck hazard sign, I could barely get any forward motion that I didn't generate myself by poling or kicking. Not much dirt this time but I brushed it out again. Sunday am (33F to 36F air temps, compressed snow) - I was able to skate on wider flattened areas but still couldn't get glide glide.
So. I don't know if I even want to put in more effort into trying to make this stuff work. I think it's time for base cleaner and start over with my usual suspects.
