Spring Wax Technique

[David]

It will do plenty of applications! Did you not see my video on application?
You apply it just like Butter, but don't worry about smoking fluoros. Even then, Dominator removed PFOA's from their fluoros as they make their own fluoros. They don't but them from China.
Here, look how much I use for an application. Video link.

I did but just didn't realize how small it was going to be until I actually held it in my hand. The good news is it's small enough to carry in my pocket skiing and carry a white fiber pad too.

 

[AmyPJ]

I stand corrected about ironing.

Tognar: https://www.tognar.com/dominator-butter-rub-on-wax-40g/

As I said, I've not personally used butter. In reading Tognar's page in more detail they say to rub butter and use with other hot waxes

I'm going to try this for this weekend. It's supposed to be in the high 50s/low 60s on the mountain, and I have a Very Important Event to participate in that we call the Lodge Crawl. We ski every single lift on the mountain and have a toast at each lodge (if we choose to. I probably won't.)

I know it was mentioned earlier, but I can't find it. What can I carry in my pocket to buff the Butter in on the hill if I find that I need to? I don't have a cork and would rather not buy one.

 

[David]

I'm going to try this for this weekend. It's supposed to be in the high 50s/low 60s on the mountain, and I have a Very Important Event to participate in that we call the Lodge Crawl. We ski every single lift on the mountain and have a toast at each lodge (if we choose to. I probably won't.)

I know it was mentioned earlier, but I can't find it. What can I carry in my pocket to buff the Butter in on the hill if I find that I need to? I don't have a cork and would rather not buy one.

I picked up a white non-abrasive pad but I've heard others just use thier leather glove. I'm curious how it differs from the Dominator Wet.

 

[tomahawkins]

Chevrons vs straight ribs? If the objective is expelling water vs retaining air pockets, one must be better than the other.

 

[Noodler]

Chevrons vs straight ribs? If the objective is expelling water vs retaining air pockets, one must be better than the other.

I think it's different with skiing vs. car tire traction. We just want the structure to break up the suction of the ski to the melt layer. After that we want the skis to slide really well, so I don't think we're trying to "channel" the water to expel it. However, I'll defer to @Doug Briggs for better input on this decision.

 

[cantunamunch]

I think it's different with skiing vs. car tire traction. We just want the structure to break up the suction of the ski to the melt layer. After that we want the skis to slide really well, so I don't think we're trying to "channel" the water to expel it.

And we want the snow granules to be overall-larger than the structure (otherwise we displace the granules and get higher friction), and we want the droplets to be larger than the structure (lower contact area), notice that more hydrophobic wax makes droplets smaller because higher contact angle.

How those variables interact with each other and the skier's speed/ski tipping angle/pressure is not something I want to even try to create simplified rules-of-thumbprint for. The fact that there's more than one way to skin the cat on the wax end (hydrophobic AND hydrophilic - read: Ivory soap) tells me there's more than one way to skin the structure tiger too.

Is the water shed as a sheet or droplets? Does a sheet scatter into droplets and how far up the tipped ski/structure does it do that? Does the direction of structure affect sheet breakup? Do wetted-solids travel along the structure and where are they shed?

 

[Bill Miles]

I rode up the chair at Sun Valley with a guy from Sisters, Or (near Mt Bachelor and Hoodoo) who said he owned and ran a small tuning shop.

I asked him what the secret was to make wax last all day in spring conditions. His answer was "you tell me and we'll both know." He did then mention the fluoro wax is best.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Chevrons vs straight ribs? If the objective is expelling water vs retaining air pockets, one must be better than the other.

The pattern makes some difference but it is more the length and width of the elements of the structure. Depth isn't as important as you might think. You are looking for some coarseness in a spring structure where as a winter structure is finer.

Here is some good info: https://www.racewax.com/base-structure-theory/

 

[Jacques]

I'm going to try this for this weekend. It's supposed to be in the high 50s/low 60s on the mountain, and I have a Very Important Event to participate in that we call the Lodge Crawl. We ski every single lift on the mountain and have a toast at each lodge (if we choose to. I probably won't.)

I know it was mentioned earlier, but I can't find it. What can I carry in my pocket to buff the Butter in on the hill if I find that I need to? I don't have a cork and would rather not buy one.

Yes, a non-abrasive fiber pad will work fine.
See this video of application of Dominator Elite W

 

[Jacques]

I just received my Dominator Wet. There's a lot less of it than I expected for the price but I read somewhere it should be good for about 20 pair of skis. I guess we'll see how it goes! View attachment 129767

Here you can see how much Dominator W I used on a pair. The bar was new.
See this W application video.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I'll be testing this structure tomorrow at the final day of racing at Cooper. These are on my RD Bad Dogs. I'm dressing up in appropriate costume to match the skis.

I put the same structure on my Pinnacles and Rangers as well. They will be more realistic and long term tests. The wax I'll be using is Vola's Universal which covers 18° to 60° F.

 

[Sibhusky]

DIY from Slidewright:

Prepping a Course Base Structure to Harvest Spring Corn in 10-15 minutes - SlideWright Ski & Snowboard Tools, Wares & Tips

Adding an aggressive base structure for spring, wet snows reduces suction and vastly increases glide. On the bench prepping a course base structure to harvest spring corn in 10-15 minutes:

www.slidewright.com

 

[anders_nor]

I have interesting one for you guys, @GregK did allready give me pointers so I think we got it solved , but here is some info.

I started skiiing rossi ST for first 3-4 hours yesterday, then I took out my freshly stone ground & waxed m-free 108 .If I had the bases flat ski would just stop and get "stuck" if decent edge angle you could actually feel them speed up, but nowhere near what it should feel like. With rossi ST I was doing an easy 90kmh even with turns at the bottom of hill, and I had to do speedchecks to get speeds low enough to where I wanted to be for practicing my l turns, glide was good!

Now on the m-free 108 I straightlined the entire black run just to see, max was 73kmh, both where wax by shop with a 7 (their default after a stone grind) and it had that super sketchy Im falling forward on old dirty wet summer snow feeling, without it beeing conditons like that.

 

[Noodler]

DIY from Slidewright:

Prepping a Course Base Structure to Harvest Spring Corn in 10-15 minutes - SlideWright Ski & Snowboard Tools, Wares & Tips

Adding an aggressive base structure for spring, wet snows reduces suction and vastly increases glide. On the bench prepping a course base structure to harvest spring corn in 10-15 minutes:

www.slidewright.com

That poor ski base...

 

[Sibhusky]

That poor ski base...

It's not "pretty". The question really is, tho, is it EFFECTIVE?

 

[David]

I just ordered some Dominator Wet and can't wait to try it. I will be in Colorado in April when it is usually pretty warm & sloppy but looking at the forecast it's going to be 50's in town so probably high temps up high in the low to mid 30's. My impression was to rub it on my spring wax but with this forecast I may hot wax with my all temp wax. If it does get warmer than expected can it be used over an all temp wax successfully? I won't be able to redo a hot wax while traveling.

Well I finally had a chance to try the Dominator Wet today. I think I wasted $60. Very disappointed with how sticky my skis still were. And it seemed like most others were having much less of an issue than I was.

 

[cantunamunch]

Well I finally had a chance to try the Dominator Wet today. I think I wasted $60. Very disappointed with how sticky my skis still were. And it seemed like most others were having much less of an issue than I was.

That's odd. What exactly did you do?

 

[David]

That's odd. What exactly did you do?

Watched the video several times and think I followed it exactly. Very lightly rubbed on over clean skis. Buffed with non abrasive white pad then brushed out with a clean nylon brush. Tried again at lunch thinking the icy morning took it off but no better. Called the day at 2 it was so bad.

 

[Noodler]

Watched the video several times and think I followed it exactly. Very lightly rubbed on over clean skis. Buffed with non abrasive white pad then brushed out with a clean nylon brush. Tried again at lunch thinking the icy morning took it off but no better. Called the day at 2 it was so bad.

When it comes to Spring "glop", structure rules over wax. No wax is going to completely rescue a ski that has insufficient structure.

 

[Doug Briggs]

That poor ski base...

Really. Or get a new base grind.