glide wax - myth or magic?

I was just in to my local snowboarding shop, looking for glide (hot) wax for
my waxless skis. In the past I've hand-corked my wax bases and now I'm
ready to prep my new waxless bases. The only thing they had - and which
they use in the shop - looked a lot like a block of plain old paraffin to
me. What's funny is that I've always used paraffin on my 3pin bindings etc
to help keep the snow from sticking.

Naturally the thought occured to me: Can't I just use plain old paraffin wax
on my bases as a glide wax? What's so special about those little $15 squirt
bottles? I'm not racing and I'm not debating fluouro waxes and hi-tech
additives. but for recreational BC waxless ski base prep do I need to buy
special wax?

If you really want to go cheap (which I do not recommend), I know one
skier who uses WD-40 on his "no wax" skis.

"No wax" skis mean that you do not need grip wax. Of course, you may
want to try a steel scraper and then roto-brush with a steel brush if
you have followed the discussion regarding not waxing skis in a
different thread.

On the subject of cheap skiers, a friend points out that given what we
spend on gas and transporation to the mountains, why not spend a few
dimes on some glide wax and really live big.

Edgar

"Edgar" wrote in message
oups.com...
If you really want to go cheap (which I do not recommend), I know one
skier who uses WD-40 on his "no wax" skis.

"No wax" skis mean that you do not need grip wax. Of course, you may
want to try a steel scraper and then roto-brush with a steel brush if
you have followed the discussion regarding not waxing skis in a
different thread.

On the subject of cheap skiers, a friend points out that given what we
spend on gas and transporation to the mountains, why not spend a few
dimes on some glide wax and really live big.

Edgar


More than an issue of $ it's just that my curiosity was aroused. I well
know the need for finely tuned kick wax on waxable skiis. But the past
couple of years I found myself going to a 2 wax method (silver and gold) and
being satisfied most of the time. If anything, I would tweak the kick zone.
So really what I'm asking is how big a deal the glide wax is on no-wax
skiis. I realize that there are important improvements in wax technology
and there are issues regarding structure, hydophobia (of wax product), etc.
But do they make a difference to the recreational skier? And if not, will
paraffin get me there?
a

"a" wrote in message
...
I realize that there are important improvements in wax technology
and there are issues regarding structure, hydophobia (of wax product),
etc. But do they make a difference to the recreational skier? And if not,
will paraffin get me there?
a

If you are happy with parafin then use it. Nothing wrong with that. You may
not realize the benefits of more expenve ski specific products. Those will
however be easier to apply and work better under an iron.

By far it's more important to have a well fitting pair of skis than the
right wax. But once you have skis that fit, and there is some structure in
the base, wax can play a role in enjoyment.

In the 80's we essentially used parafin for glide.

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY

I use to use parafffin for the grooves of my old wooden skis. But
these days. I suspect that household wax would reduce water absorbtion
into the bases, but may be more likely to pick up dirt which would slow
down the glide as a previous thread discusses.

If you don't care about good glide, paraffin would likely be ok. Try
it and decide.

Edgar

"Edgar" wrote in message
oups.com...
I use to use parafffin for the grooves of my old wooden skis. But
these days. I suspect that household wax would reduce water absorbtion
into the bases, but may be more likely to pick up dirt which would slow
down the glide as a previous thread discusses.

If you don't care about good glide, paraffin would likely be ok. Try
it and decide.

Edgar


Yikes! I never meant to imply I don't care about good glide or that I'm a
cheapskate :-]

Really, I'm just new at the waxless-ski wax thing and the mind-numbing
variety of waxes avail made me wonder whether it's really that big a deal.
So if you tell me that some waxes don't pick up dirt like parafin does, then
of course I'm interested. I'm also interested in why that would be the case
if we're comparing apples and apples - i.e. a non flouro glide wax and
paraffin.

I did hot wax some new Karhu's with paraffin and with the 10" of snow we got
tonight, I hope to have an opinion tomorrow. I'm also going to try a little
NotWax. We'll see...

a wrote:
I was just in to my local snowboarding shop, looking for glide (hot) wax for
my waxless skis. In the past I've hand-corked my wax bases and now I'm
ready to prep my new waxless bases. The only thing they had - and which
they use in the shop - looked a lot like a block of plain old paraffin to
me. What's funny is that I've always used paraffin on my 3pin bindings etc
to help keep the snow from sticking.

Naturally the thought occured to me: Can't I just use plain old paraffin wax
on my bases as a glide wax? What's so special about those little $15 squirt
bottles? I'm not racing and I'm not debating fluouro waxes and hi-tech
additives. but for recreational BC waxless ski base prep do I need to buy
special wax?


For me it seems to make a difference if the wax is tooo far off from the
intended temperature (a warm/wet wax will be slow in cold conditions,
the opposite may or may not be true).
The liquid stuff is most useful for the scales to prevent icing.
I have in emergencies used Turtle Wax successfully on the whole waxless ski.
My routine use is to hot wax wit something close to the temp intended,
scrape, brush (including brushing the scales (helps keep them cleaner),
then wipe on Not Wax to glide and scale areas.
gr

Sorry about my post that implied that you were a cheapskate. A lot of
my ski mates are cheap and there are times that I lose skiing time
while the mess around with broken equipment or trying to free up iced
up "no-wax" skis.

While universal type waxes work, they are compromises. The "right" wax
will glide better than the wrong wax, but as Gary notes, the "wrong"
ski will kill your glide more than being off on your wax choice.

Edgar

In response to your question:

Noel Charonnat, former owner of Sierra Nordic, wrote a web tech article
titled " Understanding Glide Waxing" (Tech Tip #2) that explains
the make-up of glide waxes. Noel wrote:
"The performance of cross country skis is directly and significantly
influenced by the glide wax applied to the bases. Properly waxed skis
will have an enhanced glide that not only allows for faster skiing with
less effort, but also yields skis that turn and descend with increased
control."
See the full article at:
http://www.fwpages.com/home/index.ph..._selection=729


Toko's web site also has technical explanations about what goes into
their glide waxes than most skiers will want to know. See:
http://www.tokous.com/InfoCenter.htm
Toko's Nordic Manual 2005-2006 says:
"The different racing glide wax categories include paraffins,
synthetic waxes/hardeners, molybdenum (or graphite) waxes, fluorinated
waxes, and fluorocarbons. Each has its special properties which offer
advantages in certain conditions and disadvantages in other conditions.

"Paraffins (System3 Waxes) are the waxes of the good old days which
resembled candle wax., except in the Blue range where they are hard and
brittle. Paraffins generally are utility waxes by themselves and are
good for base cleaning, saturating bases with wax, storage and travel
waxing, and preserving the ski bases during training. Pure paraffins
offer no performance edge over the other waxes in their respective
category strengths.

Lastly, you may want to read Noel's explanation why "no-wax" skis
need to be waxes. See Tech Tip #9:
http://www.fwpages.com/home/index.ph..._selection=736


Again, my apologies for not taking your question about paraffin waxes
seriously.

Edgar

"Edgar" wrote in message
oups.com...
In response to your question:

Noel Charonnat, former owner of Sierra Nordic, wrote a web tech article
titled " Understanding Glide Waxing" (Tech Tip #2) that explains
the make-up of glide waxes. Noel wrote:
"The performance of cross country skis is directly and significantly
influenced by the glide wax applied to the bases. Properly waxed skis
will have an enhanced glide that not only allows for faster skiing with
less effort, but also yields skis that turn and descend with increased
control."
See the full article at:
http://www.fwpages.com/home/index.ph..._selection=729


Toko's web site also has technical explanations about what goes into
their glide waxes than most skiers will want to know. See:
http://www.tokous.com/InfoCenter.htm
Toko's Nordic Manual 2005-2006 says:
"The different racing glide wax categories include paraffins,
synthetic waxes/hardeners, molybdenum (or graphite) waxes, fluorinated
waxes, and fluorocarbons. Each has its special properties which offer
advantages in certain conditions and disadvantages in other conditions.

"Paraffins (System3 Waxes) are the waxes of the good old days which
resembled candle wax., except in the Blue range where they are hard and
brittle. Paraffins generally are utility waxes by themselves and are
good for base cleaning, saturating bases with wax, storage and travel
waxing, and preserving the ski bases during training. Pure paraffins
offer no performance edge over the other waxes in their respective
category strengths.

Lastly, you may want to read Noel's explanation why "no-wax" skis
need to be waxes. See Tech Tip #9:
http://www.fwpages.com/home/index.ph..._selection=736


Again, my apologies for not taking your question about paraffin waxes
seriously.

Edgar


No need to apologize! I realize most on this forum take their striding very
seriously (and competitively) and a question like that might seem like a
troll. Most of my skiing - limited by definition as I live in the
mid-atlantic - is marginal snow and along relatively poor trails. Canaan
valley is the exception, where if snow is good, I can actually try to
tele-turn in powder. So I guess i'm a "BC lite" skier. This year I bought
and old pair of Karhu Lookouts (presumably an inexpensive way to tele in the
powder) and a new pair of Pinnacles (new ski for Karhu with a weird shovel
tip and almost straight tail) - both waxless of course. So naturally I was
shopping for waxing tips etc.

I did get out on the Pinnacles this past weekend (8-10" of great new snow!).
So far they are a winner. I hot waxed with paraffin mostly because I didn't
have time to mail-order and there's nothing nearby avail! I also used some
Notwax. In truth, they worked great. Of course compared to my old woodies
there's no comparison! But breaking trail or following my wife, they were
fine. When I get out to Whitegrass later this season (think snow...) I'll
try some perfomance waxes in prepared tracks.

Great links. thanks much...
a