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Pressing wax into base instead of ironing?

hrstrat57

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SkiMD method is my go to. Rarely hot wax now. The biggest advantage is I can use the skiMD dohickey to apply the correct wax of the day. Most of my skiing sessions are 2/3 hours. The method is fantastic. I alway buff after using the cylinder with a clean terry cloth.
 
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tch

What do I know; I'm just some guy on the internet.
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Following this discussion b/c I'm trying out the SkiMD approach for the first time this year.
So far, it's worked...as long as I wax every day. FWIW, I tend to ski pretty much bell to bell. That said, it's a lot quicker and cleaner than hot waxing; I can go down to the basement, prep skis, and be done in 5-10 minutes. Bases appear to be staying well-fed; I'll see how it all shakes out by the end of the season.

I'd say it's worth a trial myself.
 

hbear

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Just use good liquids and call it a day.
Haven't touched my iron in 2 year now, race skis waxed every session.
 

oldschoolskier

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To be fair I've waxed skis for close to 50 years (maybe a little more). How I've learned to do it is (iron doesn't matter IMHO) is have the iron hot enough to melt the wax plus a bit (smokes after about 10-15 seconds), drip wax onto base and iron out (limit amount for minimum scraping and wastage). Speed of ironing is dependent on heat too hot you can't go fast enough and smoke, too cold and heat is transfer deep into the ski (not good) just to get the wax to melt. My rule is is about a 1 to 3 -1/2"(max) trail behind iron, more too hot or slow, less too cold or fast. You want a little heat in the base for wax to bind to base.

To date never had a base problem.

I have seen some of the skis shops wax and they leave hot wax trails that are significantly longer (like 1/2 a ski length). Too hot IMHO.

A good rub in with cork or soft brush does similar but requires more effort.
 

trailtrimmer

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Hot wax using fiberlene paper for mid to colder temps once or twice a season. Top off with liquids or sprays every other ski day.

All the rubbing, rolling, etc. really aren't needed with the liquids for general skiing. Race skis are a different story.
 

KevinF

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I've been to Mike DeSantis many times and heard him discuss the dangers of hot waxing your skis, how it will break down your skis, etc.

I have tried the various "hand pressure" methods and never had acceptable results, especially with harder waxes. I hot wax my skis every two or three ski days.. Yes, hot waxing makes a mess, but a shop vac takes care of that problem. My skis get retired because the edge is gone rather than the base being "ruined". I'm not waxing for the world cup, so I probably take some waxing shortcuts that some would find "wrong", but they sure still slide easy when I'm done with them, so I assume I'm doing something right.

Has anyone managed to irreparably damage a pair of skis via hot waxing? I just set the iron to the temp listed on the Swix box, crayon some on, and make two or three passes. Cool, scrape, brush, done.
 

Primoz

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I have tried the various "hand pressure" methods and never had acceptable results, especially with harder waxes.
You should probably mumble right spells when doing hand pressure thing. Then I guess it would work :)
Let's say I waxed pair or two in my life, and to be honest, I never damaged a single pair in all this time, with hot waxing. All my skis, even nowadays, but in past it was even more, have probably more wax cycles behind them before they touch snow for the first time, then most of skis normal people use get in whole ski life. So when someone starts telling me how hot waxing with break down your skis, I normally switch discussion to weather, last years beach volley championships or donuts.
 

Henry

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His reasoning was that a hot iron (even a proper wax iron at the lowest setting for the wax) can have a negative effect on the construction of the ski, as the heat could degrade the glue used in the ski's construction.
Show me the damaged skis. I haven't seen such damage from any amateur nor professional waxers. I'm sure someone has ruined skis, but they usually know how they did it. I've waxed my own for many years with the methods described in previous posts with no damage.

How to tell if the ski is too hot? If the other side of the ski gets more than barely warm--remove the iron.
 

snwbrdr

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Some of the rub-on waxes that you can do at a resort parking lot, comes with cork for you to cork in the wax you just applied.

You can probably get regular hot wax, then crayon it on, and then cork it in with a "cork brush", or if you want to keep a cordless drill in the car, rotocork it in. Don't expect it to last too long though.
 

bbbradley

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I've done both "hot" and "cold" waxing, the crayon/cork is a bit easier, though at the expense of wax penetration. If I have time I will use an iron, I also keep a pyrometer handy to check how hot the ski is getting. I shoot the top sheet to see how much heat is making it through the ski. Ideally I see minimal increase in the ski.
 

Tom K.

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Has anyone managed to irreparably damage a pair of skis via hot waxing? I just set the iron to the temp listed on the Swix box, crayon some on, and make two or three passes. Cool, scrape, brush, done.

After over 10 years of frequent hot waxing, I managed to lightly "seal over" the bases on a pair of xc skate skis. A grind would bring them back, so not "irreparable".

An aggressive steel scraper to steel brush to brass brush to fiberlene brought them back ~80%.

Alpine skis, never.
 

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