Waxing With Fiberlene

[L&AirC]

It would have been a bit of a thread drift so I started another one. From the roto or no roto thread :

The key to making scraping easier is not to over-wax in the first place. Crayon the wax and use Fiberlene sheets to absorb excess wax immediately after waxng. One sheet does one PAIR of skis. https://www.amazon.com/Swix-Fiberle...pID=41bIidYC5PL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

So this box will do 100 pair of skis.

It also helps prevent overheating the bases. Leaves an extremely even thin coat of wax that is much easier to scrape.

OK. Gave it a wing. Super easy. So much so I'm sure I'm doing it wrong.

I brushed the bases and wiped them down to make sure they're clean(ish).
Crayoned on the wax covering the entire ski base (I didn't heat the bar and crayon - just crayoned)
Ran the iron across the base to melt the wax
Ran the iron again with fiberlene to wick the wax away
Let cure
Scrape and brush like normal - except there was hardly any wax to scrape.

The part in bold is where I think I went wrong. The method I used is the same when you're using the Ray's Way WaxWhizard. I made sure to be quick with the iron as there wasn't a lot of wax on the base, but the base was completely covered.

Just crayoning without heating the bar seems awfully risky to the base.

Could someone please break it down Barney Style for me.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[Wade]

I’m sure there are a few schools of thought on this, and there are probably a few “right” ways to do it.

I crayon wax on to my bases using a hot touch approach (heating the wax on the iron so that it’s softer and easier to crayon). Touching the wax to the iron long enough to make it as soft as I prefer also creates a few wax drips (maybe 10 to 20 on each ski).

The amount of wax I’m purring on to the ski using this approach is significantly more than with cold crayoning, but not nearly as much as just dripping wax on to the base. I find it much quicker to fully cover the base with molten wax using my method than with cold crayoning.

After I’ve made enough passes with the iron, I make one pass with fiberlene to absorb the excess and leave the ski to cure.

 

[Philpug]

We have talked about this method HERE. It is fast, easy and little mess to clean up. Use a roto to finish and you have a ski that is ready for almost anything

 

[nemesis256]

My method closely resembles what you describe. I crayon with no wax drips (other than the accidental ones). The big difference is I let cure before using fiberlene paper. After curing, I warm the wax again on the ski and then use the paper to remove the bulk of the excess. Don't bother with scraping and brushing.

 

[Scrundy]

I generally touch up edges first. Then brush base with brass brush followed by wax. After wax is ironed in I let sit then scrape off most of the wax. Then fiberlene to get off any left over, then to brass brush followed by shoe polish brush. Easy and end product is a nice shinny structured ski

 

[mdf]

Another thing fiberlene is great for is moving wax. If you put too much wax on one end, trying to move it to the other end with the iron is an exercise in frustration.
Soak it up with fiberlene, hold the iron on it, and run them to the other.

 

[Brad J]

I always hot waxed until I was told by a ski tech that heat and the epoxy that is used to bond skies together is bad for ski life, so I stopped and crayon wax and use the wax wizard with good results with less effort and much less wax used

 

[raytseng]

Just experiment and find your own way. It is like goldilocks and the 3bears, and eventually you will find what optimizes your constraints, whether that is saving materials, or time, or elbowgrease/physical labor, or $.

I've been there and found what works for me.
There's a downside of getting too miserly and putting on too little wax. Maybe you see the molten wax trail, but if you get really close, you see the layer of liquid wax is not fully filling in the valleys of your structure, and the "peaks" are exposed. If you've got scratches and gouges, the thin crayon layer definitely won't fill it. Wax is relatively cheap compared to your time of doing a wax job that only half-waxed the ski. A lot of this depends on how often you wax and how much wax is left on the ski already, and if this is an on-the-slopes touchup job or if you're back home.
Light crayon only is never going to put down enough wax to fill my gouges. I prefer hottouch and crayon to ensure enough wax is laid down evenly with a lot less physical labor than the cold crayon-only method. If you have a harder wax, and not really bearing down with your crayoning it is not going to put down a lot of wax. You should feel like you are shredding carrots and almost bending the flex in the ski with your crayoning. When I spend the time to wax, it's at least 4ski days apart, and I want it fully loaded with wax for my time and effort. I've done the super thin layer, and it ended up feeling like a half-wax job that wasn't saving time. I've done the cold crayon and corking when I'm on a long trip. and you should to really bear down to get significant wax on to make it worth your time.

Similarly, you don't be shy with the fiberlene. Just because others get by with 1sheet, doesn't mean you have to achieve that same goal.
If you've used excess of wax, maybe that 1sheet of fiberlene is getting completely soaked through and dripping extra wax off the tail, so just use a 2nd or 3rd piece for final passes. If you're using a shop towel, they will hold more wax but harder to dial in the right temp to keep things molten.
Racewax sells the svst fiberline roll, and that what I use.

The minimal amount of wax is like people who wash their car with 1 bucket of suds and only 1 bucket of water/no rinse. Yes it can be done, but there is no point in put these artificial constraints on yourself.

 

[Tony S]

Don't bother with scraping and brushing.

 

[Tony S]

I also finally bailed on the rolls and only splurge on the thicker pre-cut sheets now. They just work better.

 

[jzmtl]

I don't bother scrape and brush either, thought that was the point of fiberlene method so I don't have to. Snow does a great job of brushing after one run.

I use brown paper towel, easy to dial in heat level (10° higher than waxing temp) since it's thin, and dirty cheap so I'm not stingy with them.

 

[Scruffy]

Here's my variation of this method:
Cold crayon a light layer of wax.
Drip a small amount of wax the length of the ski. Not too much, not too little.
Iron in thoroughly - take your time, but keep the iron moving. get it nice and melty the entire length of ski.
Using Bounty paper towels soak up wax with iron on top of paper towel and dragging slowly then length of the ski.
As paper towel under iron gets saturated, move to clean section of paper towel.
Only need a very light scrap and then brush.

 

[nemesis256]

I don't bother scrape and brush either, thought that was the point of fiberlene method so I don't have to. Snow does a great job of brushing after one run.

Exactly!

 

[Max Capacity]

Another one for, just lightly scrape and ski them. Few weeks back, I scraped off the summer wax, which is Dominator Hyperzoom, so the ski ready for whatever snow temp, The snow will brush off the rest of the wax just fine.

FWIW, I have never used the fiberlene, been doing this for almost 20 years now.

 

[jzmtl]

Another one for, just lightly scrape and ski them. Few weeks back, I scraped off the summer wax, which is Dominator Hyperzoom, so the ski ready for whatever snow temp, The snow will brush off the rest of the wax just fine.

FWIW, I have never used the fiberlene, been doing this for almost 20 years now.

I used to do this too, but found fiberlene/paper towel leaves less wax and no waxy dust to deal with. Plus no need to wait for wax to set.

The way I use brown paper towel is rip off a two feet section, move iron with one hand while drag paper towel with another at slightly faster speed, so there's always a fresh section to absorb wax.

 

[Tom K.]

I used to use the "cold crayon, then drip a little, then iron" approach, and found one improvement I can share:

I now lightly clamp my heat gun in my second vise, and use it to pre-warm the wax bar.

This makes crayoning astoundingly uniform and effective.

 

[Jacques]

I used to do this too, but found fiberlene/paper towel leaves less wax and no waxy dust to deal with. Plus no need to wait for wax to set.

The way I use brown paper towel is rip off a two feet section, move iron with one hand while drag paper towel with another at slightly faster speed, so there's always a fresh section to absorb wax.

I still feel you will be best served no matter fiberlene or whatever to let the waxes cure to cold at room temp.
Softer waxes require at least three hours at a minimum.

 

[Jacques]

Another one for, just lightly scrape and ski them. Few weeks back, I scraped off the summer wax, which is Dominator Hyperzoom, so the ski ready for whatever snow temp, The snow will brush off the rest of the wax just fine.

FWIW, I have never used the fiberlene, been doing this for almost 20 years now.

As long as you are happy.
Really though, snow can not replace proper brushing.
If you wax goes away from skiing a few runs, you should look at your wax, and how well you are waxing.
Do you ever clean your bases? Are you waxing over dirt, pollutants, and grease? These are good questions to ask yourself.

 

[Jacques]

It would have been a bit of a thread drift so I started another one. From the roto or no roto thread :




OK. Gave it a wing. Super easy. So much so I'm sure I'm doing it wrong.

I brushed the bases and wiped them down to make sure they're clean(ish).
Crayoned on the wax covering the entire ski base (I didn't heat the bar and crayon - just crayoned)
Ran the iron across the base to melt the wax
Ran the iron again with fiberlene to wick the wax away
Let cure
Scrape and brush like normal - except there was hardly any wax to scrape.

The part in bold is where I think I went wrong. The method I used is the same when you're using the Ray's Way WaxWhizard. I made sure to be quick with the iron as there wasn't a lot of wax on the base, but the base was completely covered.

Just crayoning without heating the bar seems awfully risky to the base.

Could someone please break it down Barney Style for me.

Thanks,
Ken

Cold wax rubbing (crayoning) is fine. Just rub the waxes until they build up.
This can be done with a hard wax, just needs a bit more rubbing time and passes.
After a while you will get used to how much to use.
You may not see a lot of wax moving on the first few passes, but once the ski gets warmed up you should see a small wave in front of the iron.
Less iron heat, more time, is always better in my book.

 

[Started at 53]

DPS Phantom wax is your friend


Apply once and done