Liquid Paraffin Trial

[Tony S]

I'm giving liquid wax a second chance* this season, mostly because there has been good press about a new and improved generation of product. We'll see how it goes.

Yesterday I got out on skate skis very briefly for the first time. Snow was manmade, temps in the upper twenties F. Skis had been hotboxed with some generic prep wax. I decided to put on a top layer of Toko "Base Performance" yellow. This is their non-fluoro liquid. Observations:

1. The carrier is very smelly. Strongly recommend outdoor application. (Note that you probably want to apply to warm dry skis to avoid condensation issues.) Wave around for a few seconds to outgas a bit. Unless you have a warm sunny deck, bring inside to dry.
2. It was easy to get a thin, even coat. Pretend you are spray painting.
3. Follow the instructions and wait a minimum of 30 minutes to dry; surface should be totally matte, not glossy.
4. Brush pretty vigorously with blue nylon. I found it took a bunch of passes to start to get a polish going. Don't skimp on effort here.
5. Glide seemed excellent. I was very happy with the result. Granted I did not do a side by side with hot wax, but you get to have a feeling about whether you have "good skis" or not. These were good.

More to follow as season gets under way. Will be interesting to see how economical the stuff is, for one thing.

+++++

* About ten years ago I bought a set of Swix sponge-on bottles, mostly for use while traveling. They were okay, but I never felt like I wanted to buy the product again.

 

[Noodler]

I use an old Wax WHIZard along with my liquid waxes to improve the uniformity of the application and to use some heat (via elbow grease) to increase penetration. These products used together are a classic "the whole is better than the sum of the parts" situation.

 

[Steve]

I rub wax in and then use the Wax Whizard, which as you say generates heat, melts the wax and moves it into the structure.

A bar of expensive wax last forever this way, and my skis showed no sign of base burn last year done this way. After early season hot wax, I didn't use my iron at all.

 

[Marker]

I bought a new bottle Swix C10 last year and a blue nylon brush to give this a try on trips when we have warm days and the snow gets sticky. Before Toko became a site sponsor. I still hot wax with Dominator Renew, Zoom and Bullet. I have an old bottle of Swix F4 sponge-on for normal days that was just okay.

 

[cantunamunch]

I have an old bottle of Swix F4 sponge-on for normal days that was just okay.

I find that stuff really sensitive to polishing afterwards, more than any of the Tokos.

I did an application just before a semi-cold 10-15F day at Blue Knob and only corked one of the skis. The uncorked one felt like I had used skateboard deck material.

 

[Tony S]

I use an old Wax WHIZard along with my liquid waxes to improve the uniformity of the application and to use some heat (via elbow grease) to increase penetration. These products used together are a classic "the whole is better than the sum of the parts" situation.

Unfortunately (?) the Toko liquid comes pressurized.

 

[Noodler]

Unfortunately (?) the Toko liquid comes pressurized.

Right, spray it on the ski, let it dry, buff it in using the Wax WHIZard. Then brush and it's all good.

 

[Tom K.]

I ran the Swix CH7 and CH8 a fair bit last season. My takeaway was that it worked really well to stretch the time between hot waxes. No science, but it seemed like that was the case. I'd hot wax, ski, the spray wax. I went from my typical 3 days between waxes to 6 IIRC. Success for me, as I dislike hot waxing more with every passing decade.

Note: Alpine only. XC trials begin this year, when we get some snow.

 

[cantunamunch]

I ran the Swix CH7 and CH8 a fair bit last season.

The Briko/Maplus stuff I still have a stash of is centered on the LF5 range. Ideally I would like to find a replacement for that. Durability to fresh manmade snow at 10-15F with some internal lubricity because some of the gun mixes are wetter than others.

 

[Tom K.]

The Briko/Maplus stuff I still have a stash of is centered on the LF5 range. Ideally I would like to find a replacement for that. Durability to fresh manmade snow at 10-15F with some internal lubricity because some of the gun mixes are wetter than others.

I found some CH6, which is cold enough for me. Waiting for a price match on it.......

 

[oldschoolskier]

I’m thinking car wax.......