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Ian Harvey explains Toko's hand brushes for base prep and finish

Philpug

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SkiTalk's tuning partner and lead sponsor for our Fall Contest Giveaway talks about all of Toko's brushes. Many of your questions of "Which brush should I buy?" Will be answered in their informative video.

Check out all of Toko's Brush options here:

**And until 1/20/23, there is a 30% off SkiTalk Holiday discount code: SKITALKHOLIDAYTOKO - yields 30% on everything except for clearance items which are already quite discounted.**​
 

SpeedyKevin

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Good summary! I have heard a few folks now say deburring steel brushes, are there stiff AND soft steel brushes? (like with Nylon). If so, do the soft ones need deburring?
 

Swiss Toni

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Yes, the stiffness depends on the diameter of the wire and the length of the bristles. The Toko steel brush is a relatively stiff brush, it has 25mm long bristles that are 0.2mm in diameter. The Holmenkol oval steel brush is a bit softer, it has 25mm long bristles that are 0.18mm in diameter.

This type of steel brush is used to raise a carpet of nano fibers on the base to help hold the wax in place. To be effective the brushes need to be broken in first, otherwise they are too aggressive. Usually you would do this by using them on your training skis before using them on your racing skis. Rubbing them on concrete seems a bit harsh to me. It takes several waxing / brushing cycles to create the carpet, if you wax at too high a temperature or use a roto brush too aggressively you risk destroying the fibers.

These fibers are not to be confused with the micro hairs that you can get from stone grinding, they are only 100 - 200nm long and can only be seen with a high-resolution electron microscope.
 

Rdp

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For Dominator Universal Zoom wax removal I use Toko brass, then nylon, then horsehair. Am I doing it wrong? He seems to be suggesting we use nylon OR horsehair. Always used both, but now he's got me questioning...
 

snwbrdr

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Skifastwax claims to have a soft-(stainless) steel brush
 

Swiss Toni

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I have never seen the point of a white nylon brush it has Ø0.3mm bristles so won’t go very far down into the structure, the copper brush has Ø0.17mm bristles so will get deeper into the structure.

The soft stainless-steel brushes usually have Ø0.05mm bristles, they are intended for removing the last vestiges wax from the depths of the structure, I think they are mainly used on Nordic skis.
 

Polo

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Been using a stiff steel oval brush for years as my first brush after scraping. The first steel oval I bought was a Toko 8-9 years ago and since I've added a Holmenkol and a Swix. That first Toko seemed like the stiffest of the bunch but I think they've changed them a little because the newer Toko steel feel about the same as the Holmenkol and Swix. When new the tips of the wire are relatively sharp but they quickly lose that sharpness.

Using a steel oval as your first brush after scraping will not only save you lots of time brushing with other brushes but it does an excellent job of removing the bulk of the leftover wax your scraper doesn't get so you aren't brushing as much as well as you get rid of all that excess wax and you aren't clogging up your other brushes with wax.

Stiff steel and the super fine soft steel brushes are vastly different. I use my fine/soft steel brushes as a final pass brush before I roto polish. The fine steel bristles are the finest of any I'm aware of and get down in the structure better than any other brush you can use.
 

Rdp

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For Dominator Universal Zoom wax removal I use Toko brass, then nylon, then horsehair. Am I doing it wrong? He seems to be suggesting we use nylon OR horsehair. Always used both, but now he's got me questioning...
@Jacques What do you think?
 

Tom K.

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I received a very succinct and useful email about brush selection from Toko. Guessing that I'm not the only video-averse Ski Talker I'm posting the text here.

Steel Oval – this is an awesome brush but needs to be detuned before use. Rub it back and forth on concrete or asphalt for 30 seconds and you’re done. At this point, it can be used as a utility brush. If it is not detuned, it will remove a fine layer of base material. This can be useful for reconditioning bases, but this is a different purpose from regular brushing and is an advanced topic.

When I say utility brush, I mean it is your workhorse. It's the brush you use after you ski/ride before you wax. This cleans the base and opens it up such that it will accept more wax when you hot wax. Then it is the first brush you use after you scrape your hot wax.

Copper Oval – If you're not using the Steel Brush, this is your utility brush. Use the Copper after you ski/ride to clean and base and prep the base for hot waxing. Also this is the first brush you use after you scrape your hot wax regardless of what hardness of wax (yellow, red, or blue)

Horsehair Oval – The Horsehair brush has very fine short bristles. It is very aggressive in that it removes all wax from the surface of the ski and structure which is perfect for cold conditions. Use the Horsehair brush after the Copper or Steel when brushing out cold waxes such as Blue or XCold.

Nylon Oval – The Nylon brush has fat bristles which appear to be aggressive but actually are not at all. It leaves a light sheen of wax on the base which is not a bad thing when there is a bit more moisture in the snow. Use the Nylon brush after the Copper or Steel when brushing out Red or Yellow hot waxes.

Summary
After skiing and before waxing brush base out with Steel or Copper. Then hot wax, let cool, and scrape. Then brush with Steel or Oval as your first brush regardless of the hardness of the hot wax. Then if waxing with Blue (cold hard wax), brush out thoroughly with horsehair. If waxing with red or yellow (wax for around 20f or warmer) brush with the Oval Nylon.

Liquid Paraffin
If using liquid paraffin on top of hot wax, brush the liquid paraffin out with the yellow liquid paraffin polishing brush. This brush should be reserved for just brushing out liquid paraffins. When a hand brush is used to brush out hot waxes the particles collect in the bristles. This would contaminate the liquid paraffin application. Liquid paraffin doesn't have such big particles and it's important that it goes on the ski on a very thin slippery laye
 

Swiss Toni

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There is no mention of using a horsehair brush for bushing out cold waxes and a nylon brush for red and yellow hot waxes in the Toko Wax & Tuning Manual https://www.toko.ch/en/service/downloads/ It says steel / copper – nylon – horsehair / polishing, is there any reason for the different procedures?
 

mdf

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I watched the video and then got the email. The email is a slightly condensed transcript of the video.
 

James

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he super fine soft steel brushes are vastly different. I use my fine/soft steel brushes as a final pass brush before I roto polish. The fine steel bristles are the finest of any I'm aware of and get down in the structure better than any other brush you can use.
Are you talking about the Red Creek?
Red Creek has steel in .2mm, .08mm, and .05mm diameter bristles.
 

Polo

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James, my fine steel brushes are all Swix. I'm not sure Swix still makes the oval fine steel I have. I don't recall if I've ever measured the wire diameter of my fine steel brushes. Kind of curious now so I'll have to look in to doing that.
 

Jacques

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@Jacques What do you think?
I think one should always brush with steel, brass, bronze etc. before and after waxing.
The idea is to clean the base structure of the base. It won't take all night when you use the right brushes.
This season I have been using Dominator's Elite paste wax, so no more waste, no more scraping. I've saved countless hours in the shop, and the performance has been insane! I will make a video on the application of the paste waxes soon, and will do a cost break down in there too.
Here is my long video.
 

Rdp

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I think one should always brush with steel, brass, bronze etc. before and after waxing.
The idea is to clean the base structure of the base. It won't take all night when you use the right brushes.
This season I have been using Dominator's Elite paste wax, so no more waste, no more scraping. I've saved countless hours in the shop, and the performance has been insane! I will make a video on the application of the paste waxes soon, and will do a cost break down in there too.
Here is my long video.
What brushes do you recommend for brushing out Universal Zoom wax? Bronze and then... Nylon? Horsehair? Both?
 

Jacques

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What brushes do you recommend for brushing out Universal Zoom wax? Bronze and then... Nylon? Horsehair? Both?
All of those would be fine. Watch the video. Wax is wax, and brushes are brushes.
 

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