Ski Wax

I am a pretty new ski owner, and initially had gear shops wax my skis, and then I started doing it, and am getting better and better every time. I have been using general warm and general cold weather wax from backcountry.com ... pretty cheap stuff. I am looking to step up my ski maintenance and tuning skill set. I was wondering what people are doing out there for wax schemes? Are you using special wax, generic temp wax, how many coats, what frequency, etc, etc? Any information would be beneficial.

Thanks!

Dave

Dave, I sure don't want to turn you away from waxing perfection, but for me it's canning wax from Safeway for ski and skin, around here (Wenatchee) it works great about 80% of the time, when it gets cold (in the teens) I'll break down and mix a little cold wax with the canning wax, and when it gets really cold (single digits) I'll go to straight cold wax. I use to do a fair amount of skating, and in the warmer temps. canning wax will hold up against run of the mill yellow and pink, and even some of the more exotic warm waxes. If fast is what you are looking for, a good structured base, and a good brush are also important.

Keeping your skis clean is important....all that pine stuff and moss really slows the skis down. Doing a hot scrape, especially in spring, is a good way to combat the dirt. Also, after I get my skis tuned at a shop, I iron is some warmer wax, scrape and brush after cooling, then put on a layer of cold, blue wax and cool, scrape, and brush. The colder wax hardens the base and creates greater durability.

Hot boxing your skis with some warm wax is great to get ready for the season as it penetrates the base and other waxes will be drawn deeper into the base.

Some good videos on utube by Sagina99, Starthaus, and Toko.  Jacques (S99) goes into detail on new ski prep, hot boxing, and waxing procedures.  Worth watching.  One thing you might discover is the need to tune your edges.  The Starthaus videos are nice and short, you can watch them one at a time.  But you asked about wax.

As TG states,  good base prep wax should be used on new skis and when you put skis in/take them out of storage; the wax is applied hot and immediately (more or less) scraped off; a coat of wax is left on for long-term storage.  This is used to clean the skis; do not use liquid cleaners.  For use, I next apply a Dominator Zoom Universal Hydrocarbon wax.  I use this wax because our air and snow temperatures are so variable (even within a morning).  I apply it hot and I leave it on the ski up to 24 hours if I can.  Then I scrape, and brush with brass, nylon, horsehair and then buff.  I wax my skis usually after every third day of skiing.  If you think this is unnecessary let me relate an anecdote: my wife never waxed her skis before we got married or until I took up waxing.  she skied well.  But if I let her skis go 4 or more days now, she starts complaining about how "dull" her skis are.  As Sagina99 says: if you expect your skis to behave as well as the rave reviews promise, you need to keep them tuned and waxed. Details in the video above.  For backcountry only use a brass/nylon combo brush would be sufficient for brushing.  Also for bc use, I carry a rub on F4 flourocarbon wax, especially spring and summer. It helps to prevent snow/pollen/dirt from sticking to the skis.

p.s. good sources for waxes and tools are Tognar, Racewax, and TheRacePlace. Beast makes some very nice tools for a reasonable price (I have the vise, sidewall planer, side edge guide, and base edge guide). For bc use and 1 degree base edge angle and a 2 degree side edge angle have worked well for me.

As an interesting counterpoint, some people claim good results with NO wax for the spring time and beyond. The observation is that the first run / lap is OK, but then sap and other crap contaminate your base more if you had wax on it than if you didn't have any wax. I have experienced this on a couple of occasions, but I still wax as often as I can. My suspicion is that the people who promote no wax do not scrape off very well.

Cheers
Ivo

While you're at it, tune your edges. You never know when you'll need them and they may save your life.