How often to Hot Wax?

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:17:47 -0800 (PST), Jay Pique
wrote this crap:


This is the most unbelievable crap I've seen here in ages. People are
actually agreeing with Hovarth? I absolutely insist on a waxing at
least weekly, and more if I'm really hitting it hard. There's
absolutely nothing like a fresh waxing to really get you moving - and
if it doesn't improve your performance SIGNIFICANTLY then you must be
doing it wrong. Wax, people, can work wonders for skiers of all ages.

I spit on you stoopid story! The wax is rubbed off on the first run.
The P-tex doesn't hold the surface wax. Turtle Wax. Turtle Wax.
You need penetrating wax, not candle wax.




My T-shirt says, "This shirt is the
ultimate power in the universe."

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:01:31 -0500, VtSkier wrote
this crap:


There is also Brazilian wax which does wonders...


Oh God! My fiancee goes Brazilian, which is wonderful! I don't get
rugburn on my tongue!!!!!!!





My T-shirt says, "This shirt is the
ultimate power in the universe."

VtSkier wrote:
Jay Pique wrote:
On Feb 25, 4:53 pm, lal_truckee wrote:
Bob F wrote:

I was at alta once back in the around 1970 in 20+ below zero F. They
had
something called "Alf Engen Black" that was the only way to be able
to slide. It
was horrible, messy, black tar like stuff. In similar conditions at
Big Sky
once, nobody on the mountain sold a wax that would slide. You could
walk up like
you had skins on.
bare p-tex works well in cold conditions, long as you're not racing ...

I really was asking what the "operating temp range" of parraffin
would be. If
anyone knows.
Same as yellow ski wax - quoting from Swix:

Description of Swix CH010 Yellow Hydrocarbon Wax 180g
10¦C to 0¦C (50¦F to 32¦F). For very wet, saturated snow. Also a good
wax for base prep and travel wax. 180 g.


This is the most unbelievable crap I've seen here in ages. People are
actually agreeing with Hovarth? I absolutely insist on a waxing at
least weekly, and more if I'm really hitting it hard. There's
absolutely nothing like a fresh waxing to really get you moving - and
if it doesn't improve your performance SIGNIFICANTLY then you must be
doing it wrong. Wax, people, can work wonders for skiers of all ages.

JP

There is also Brazilian wax which does wonders...

Would bikini wax rip the pine needles off a tree from a distance?

Harry Weiner wrote:

I spit on you stoopid story! The wax is rubbed off on the first run.
The P-tex doesn't hold the surface wax. Turtle Wax. Turtle Wax.
You need penetrating wax, not candle wax.

Horvath old buddy, you're right and wrong (and probably all points
between, but let's focus on extremities.)

Any wax on the surface of the ski base IS "rubbed off on the first run."
Right you are.

However. P-tex DOES hold ski wax - P-tex is porous. Even the original
P-tex was porous - sintered P-tex is a sponge that sucks up melted wax
ironed on, but you've got to iron it in good.
So you're wrong about P-tex not holding wax.

Now to just touch on the in-between:
Those shop waxers that have a roller dipping into a wax melt then
rolling up to deposit a layer of wax on your skis are useless - the wax
is surface wax which you correctly point out is "rubbed off on the first
run." And that's what most shops sell you when you go in for a "wax"
job. Do it yourself, or find an old-fashioned shop, or forget the whole
thing and save the money for beer.

lal_truckee wrote:

However. P-tex DOES hold ski wax - P-tex is porous. Even the original
P-tex was porous - sintered P-tex is a sponge that sucks up melted wax
ironed on, but you've got to iron it in good.
So you're wrong about P-tex not holding wax.

Now to just touch on the in-between:
Those shop waxers that have a roller dipping into a wax melt then
rolling up to deposit a layer of wax on your skis are useless - the wax
is surface wax which you correctly point out is "rubbed off on the first
run." And that's what most shops sell you when you go in for a "wax"
job. Do it yourself, or find an old-fashioned shop, or forget the whole
thing and save the money for beer.

OK, how long (or warm) do you have to keep the iron on the ski+wax for
the stuff to creep into the p-tex? In other words, define "good" as in
"iron it in good".

--
Cheers,
Bev
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
While you can't fool all the people all the time, you can fool
enough of them most of the time to make the rest impotent.

The Real Bev wrote:
lal_truckee wrote:

However. P-tex DOES hold ski wax - P-tex is porous. Even the original
P-tex was porous - sintered P-tex is a sponge that sucks up melted wax
ironed on, but you've got to iron it in good.
So you're wrong about P-tex not holding wax.

Now to just touch on the in-between:
Those shop waxers that have a roller dipping into a wax melt then
rolling up to deposit a layer of wax on your skis are useless - the
wax is surface wax which you correctly point out is "rubbed off on the
first run." And that's what most shops sell you when you go in for a
"wax" job. Do it yourself, or find an old-fashioned shop, or forget
the whole thing and save the money for beer.

OK, how long (or warm) do you have to keep the iron on the ski+wax for
the stuff to creep into the p-tex? In other words, define "good" as in
"iron it in good".

Well, it has to be hot enough to melt wax but
not p-tex. P-tex is polyethylene which has a
low melting point, but not as low as wax.

If the wax is moderately runny, it is sinking
in. Then you need to scrape it off and if you
are anal or a racer, you need to "texture" it.

This is where the brushes mounted on the end
of a drill come in. You can see a really good
job on racer's skis. The person doing the tune
may run the brush right down the length of
the ski, some may run it diagonally down the
ski, some may do it diagonally in two
different directions. It's an art. I've only
had my skis tuned this way once or twice,
when I was friendly with the guy in the
Rossignol test center at K and I worked in
the adjoining mountain owned shop. It also
helped that I owned Rossi skis at the time.

It looked really neat coming off his tune
bench, but I bed it didn't really help me
a bit. I'm not nor was I ever a racer.

VtSkier wrote:
The Real Bev wrote:
lal_truckee wrote:

However. P-tex DOES hold ski wax - P-tex is porous. Even the original
P-tex was porous - sintered P-tex is a sponge that sucks up melted
wax ironed on, but you've got to iron it in good.
So you're wrong about P-tex not holding wax.

Now to just touch on the in-between:
Those shop waxers that have a roller dipping into a wax melt then
rolling up to deposit a layer of wax on your skis are useless - the
wax is surface wax which you correctly point out is "rubbed off on
the first run." And that's what most shops sell you when you go in
for a "wax" job. Do it yourself, or find an old-fashioned shop, or
forget the whole thing and save the money for beer.

OK, how long (or warm) do you have to keep the iron on the ski+wax for
the stuff to creep into the p-tex? In other words, define "good" as
in "iron it in good".

Well, it has to be hot enough to melt wax but
not p-tex. P-tex is polyethylene which has a
low melting point, but not as low as wax.

This has mostly to do with keeping the iron
moving. If you don't, you may delaminate the
p-tex from the core of the ski.

If the wax is moderately runny, it is sinking
in. Then you need to scrape it off and if you
are anal or a racer, you need to "texture" it.

This is where the brushes mounted on the end
of a drill come in. You can see a really good
job on racer's skis. The person doing the tune
may run the brush right down the length of
the ski, some may run it diagonally down the
ski, some may do it diagonally in two
different directions. It's an art. I've only
had my skis tuned this way once or twice,
when I was friendly with the guy in the
Rossignol test center at K and I worked in
the adjoining mountain owned shop. It also
helped that I owned Rossi skis at the time.

It looked really neat coming off his tune
bench, but I bed it didn't really help me
a bit. I'm not nor was I ever a racer.

VtSkier wrote:

VtSkier wrote:
The Real Bev wrote:
lal_truckee wrote:

However. P-tex DOES hold ski wax - P-tex is porous. Even the original
P-tex was porous - sintered P-tex is a sponge that sucks up melted
wax ironed on, but you've got to iron it in good.
So you're wrong about P-tex not holding wax.

Now to just touch on the in-between:
Those shop waxers that have a roller dipping into a wax melt then
rolling up to deposit a layer of wax on your skis are useless - the
wax is surface wax which you correctly point out is "rubbed off on
the first run." And that's what most shops sell you when you go in
for a "wax" job. Do it yourself, or find an old-fashioned shop, or
forget the whole thing and save the money for beer.

OK, how long (or warm) do you have to keep the iron on the ski+wax for
the stuff to creep into the p-tex? In other words, define "good" as
in "iron it in good".

Well, it has to be hot enough to melt wax but
not p-tex. P-tex is polyethylene which has a
low melting point, but not as low as wax.

This has mostly to do with keeping the iron
moving. If you don't, you may delaminate the
p-tex from the core of the ski.

I touch the wax to the iron and dribble it onto the ski. Then I spread
it all over the ski with the iron, keeping the wax runny for at least 20
seconds and moving the iron around.

Following the "the extra will come off on the first run" theory, that's
all I do. So far, so good.

If the wax is moderately runny, it is sinking
in. Then you need to scrape it off and if you
are anal or a racer, you need to "texture" it.

What is this "scrape" of which you speak?

--
Cheers, Bev
O_________________________________________________ O
"John Wayne toilet paper -- It's rough, it's tough,
and it don't take no crap from nobody."

The Real Bev wrote:

OK, how long (or warm) do you have to keep the iron on the ski+wax for
the stuff to creep into the p-tex? In other words, define "good" as in
"iron it in good".

The base itself has to be warm, not just the wax.

lal_truckee wrote:

The Real Bev wrote:

OK, how long (or warm) do you have to keep the iron on the ski+wax for
the stuff to creep into the p-tex? In other words, define "good" as in
"iron it in good".

The base itself has to be warm, not just the wax.

They sort of warm up together. I suspect I'm doing it more or less
right -- I haven't come to a screeching stop anywhere I didn't want to
and each ski is still only one piece.

--
Cheers,
Bev
================================================== ================
"America is at an awkward stage: it is too late to work within the
system, but it is too early to shoot the *******s." -Claire Wolfe