Pollen?

I've had only 1 pair deteriorate--after 11 years the ptex got really soft and the wood holding the screws got soft.

Musta been those old Tuas you held onto for so long

No they were me beloved Snowwolfs!

Skiing the Paradise Glacier with Snowwolfs

I still have some of the The Tuas



5th pair from the right: Regine's Tua Excalibur Plus; long gone (sold) my Tua Excalibur, Excalibur Plus, Excalibur Mito [my first really high performance ski, 191 cm, had 2 pair, the original centennial with cracked metal edges at the shovel to facilitate bending but which began to crack the ptex and a warranty replacement pair without the cracks], and Mito [which I did not like!].

While working on my motorcycle,

Andrew, you are a true Renaissance man and my hero.

So, when you get pollen on your skis, do you scrape it off first before you apply the cleaning wax? I guess my question is, if you don't use a chemical cleaner to remove the pollen first, does it just come off when you scrape off the cleaning wax?

Several years ago I had a local ski shop, which will remain unnamed, tune my skis and the results were dreadful. I asked myself "how hard can it be?" So with cheap wax, a DIY vise and several You Tube sessions I plunged in. It's been fun. Just don't track wax into the house from the garage or else...

Silas, thanks for starting this thread. A Mother's Day tour at White Pass left my skis-bases covered in goo and the discussion is very helpful.

...
So, when you get pollen on your skis, do you scrape it off first before you apply the cleaning wax? I guess my question is, if you don't use a chemical cleaner to remove the pollen first, does it just come off when you scrape off the cleaning wax? ...  Several years ago I had a local ski shop, which will remain unnamed, tune my skis and the results were dreadful. ...

Because my bases are rarely truly dry, when I get pollen and gunk on the shovels I carefully wipe it off with a shop towel or fiberlene sheet that I sprayed lightly with Swix base cleaner.  The gunk comes off quickly and easily with 1 or 2 passes--don't need to rub or scrape.  I do this because I don't want the gunk to get on my waxing iron any more than necessary and I don't want to spread it down the ski or force it into the base.  If I ski enough to dry the bases and I get pollen/dirt/gunk down the ski I would use a deep cleaning wax and hot scrape (2X) to prep the ski for a hot wax with universal hydrocarbon or red hydrocarbon or black/graphite/hydrocarbon.

When I first got my BMW F650 motorcycle I quickly learned if I wanted it maintained or modified correctly I was better off (in quality of maintenance, repair, modification, replacement part) if I did it myself and would save money in the long run (tools were an immediate expense).  I would only go to a shop if I really knew the tech who will do the work.  Fortunately my bike had its own user-developed website that provided excellent recommendations and instructions (including videos and CDs).  So I even put a new custom front suspension of my bike rather that go to a shop that hadn't done it before.  Since then I feel the same way about skis.  I sold my bike and my bike shop is now my ski shop I mount my own bindings after having a had a well-known supposedly reputable shop screw up 3 different binding mounts!    But I have had no trouble mounting alpine and AT bindings using templates downloaded from the web and a mounting drill bit.  I have fit my own liners and footbeds too for the same reason, but I hope to go to a bootfitter soon for custom footbeds and liner molding.

Andrew, at the risk of hijacking the thread, don't you have a pair of Voile Vector BC's? If so, how do you wax fish-scale (waxless-base) skis?

Andrew, at the risk of hijacking the thread, don't you have a pair of Voile Vector BC's? If so, how do you wax fish-scale (waxless-base) skis?

Yes, I have a pair of Vector BCs and love them.  I inquired of Voile how they thinkg they should be treated.  They said don't bother changing edge angle.  Treat the ptex shovels and tails as you would any ptex bases.  Leave the  extruded plastic bases alone unless they get dirty (clean them, probably a citrus cleaner would work or even soap and water) and use something like Maxiglide if they are sticking--but do NOT wax (wax can reduce the depth of the fish scales).  These skis climb like magic.  I use them on XC ski patrol (mounted with speed radicals and used with TLT6M lol).  The only downside I've found so far is side slippage traversing steep slopes still pretty frozen in the morning.  Voile Vector BC extended review

I think we have already hijacked Silas' thread, but it is all related to pollen; I haven't seen any pollen sticking to the Vector BC bases, but a little to the rockered shovel.