First home board WAXing. Did I do anything wrong here? ...

I've read all the posts here and a few online guides.
Here's what I did...

- sharpened edges
- cleaned with citrus cleaner, let sit, wiped dry (board still smelled orange)
- let board sit. (board still smelled like oranges)
- dripped All Temp flouro induced wax over entire board (half a bar)
- ironed wax in, kept iron moving.
- let sit in cold garage for 10 minutes or so.
- scraped until no more wax came off
- brushed base with nylon brush (looked nice after this!)


Well, i got on the slopes expecting great results and ya know, it wasn't so fast.
In fact, it felt faster before i messed with it. I mainly noticed it on flat
areas where others would glide much further/faster than me. On slope incline
it seemed fine. I was on it a full day and it was an extremely cold day...
5 degrees F.

Board has a semi-recent base grind so its in pretty good shape other than
some nicks and scratches. I could see where I could have used cold weather
wax, which would make sense, but what do board shops use? They must throw
all-temp at you since they don't know when you'll use it. right?

I had such high expectations of my first home waxing but it didn't seem
to deliver. Any advice appreciated.

Next up is to try some home ptex repairs...

-todd

toddjb wrote:
- dripped All Temp flouro induced wax over entire board (half a bar)
it was an extremely cold day... 5 degrees F.

I think 5 (-15C) is out of the useful range for "all-temperature" wax.
I never use the stuff, I have 3 flavours of wax at home. Got lazy this
last trip and let the shop wax it, as a result I had really bad glide
and it was around the same temperature as you were in.

In short, "all-temperature" wax is like "all-season" tires - not so good
if you want performance, OK if you're not fussy.

Neil

"toddjb" wrote in message
om...
I've read all the posts here and a few online guides.
Here's what I did...

- sharpened edges
- cleaned with citrus cleaner, let sit, wiped dry (board still smelled
orange)
- let board sit. (board still smelled like oranges)
- dripped All Temp flouro induced wax over entire board (half a bar)
- ironed wax in, kept iron moving.
- let sit in cold garage for 10 minutes or so.
- scraped until no more wax came off
- brushed base with nylon brush (looked nice after this!)


Well, i got on the slopes expecting great results and ya know, it wasn't
so fast.
In fact, it felt faster before i messed with it. I mainly noticed it on
flat
areas where others would glide much further/faster than me. On slope
incline
it seemed fine. I was on it a full day and it was an extremely cold
day...
5 degrees F.

Board has a semi-recent base grind so its in pretty good shape other than
some nicks and scratches. I could see where I could have used cold
weather
wax, which would make sense, but what do board shops use? They must throw
all-temp at you since they don't know when you'll use it. right?

I had such high expectations of my first home waxing but it didn't seem
to deliver. Any advice appreciated.

Next up is to try some home ptex repairs...

-todd

I aint any good at waxing and stuff and i do not know whats right or wrong,
i get my mate to do it for me.

Try this stuff though, you put it on just before you go on the slopes, only
takes a couple of mins.

http://www.zardoznotwax.com/

Max

On Tue, 03 Feb 2004 22:25:59 GMT, (toddjb) allegedly
wrote:

- dripped All Temp flouro induced wax over entire board (half a bar)

That's a lot of wax... if it's a "normal" size bar (bigger than snickers
say), then you wasted a lot of wax.

- ironed wax in, kept iron moving.
- let sit in cold garage for 10 minutes or so.

As long as the wax was cold. I tend to leave it a little longer.

- scraped until no more wax came off
- brushed base with nylon brush (looked nice after this!)

Did you brush in the direction of travel, i.e. nose to tail?

Other than that, as someone else said a cool/cold temp wax maybe more
appropriate.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 09:58:21 GMT, Baka Dasai
allegedly wrote:

On 4 Feb 2004 09:03:39 GMT, Switters said (and I quote):

Did you brush in the direction of travel, i.e. nose to tail?

Are you sure this makes a difference?

It's better than brushing across the width of the board, agreed? :-)

Why wouldn't brushing tail to nose be faster?

Don't know. Why would it?

Cross-country skiers (the real expert waxers) have
always scraped from tail to nose.

Really? I always go from nose to tail. Any inconsistencies in my
brushing are then hopefully compensated for by being in the direction of
travel. If I make an abrupt start to the brush stroke at least the snow
underneath will "blow over it" like a cornice, rather then going against
it like a brick wall.

But, if as you say, the experts go from tail to nose (i.e. opposite the
direction of travel), then I'd be intrigued to know why this is better
than nose to tail.

I don't get out enough days to experiment with something like that
though. I just know what my waxing is pretty good and I generally pass
everyone on the flats. Those odd times I do get passed, take me by
suprise and makes me go back and wax :-)

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

Switters wrote in message . ..
On Tue, 03 Feb 2004 22:25:59 GMT, (toddjb) allegedly
wrote:

- dripped All Temp flouro induced wax over entire board (half a bar)

That's a lot of wax... if it's a "normal" size bar (bigger than snickers
say), then you wasted a lot of wax.


Yeah, it seemed like a lot. One of the online guides I looked at showed
a ton of wax on the board so I kind of copied what I saw. I guess I can get
less wax and just iron more, eh?


As long as the wax was cold. I tend to leave it a little longer.

Thanks.

"Max" wrote in message ...

Try this stuff though, you put it on just before you go on the slopes, only
takes a couple of mins.

http://www.zardoznotwax.com/


Ya know, I don't normally buy that type of stuff because everyone says
it only lasts a couple of runs. Has anyone tried this brand and liked it?

I got several samples of it from entering a race last year and just started
using it this year when I was between wax jobs. The stuff seemed to work
pretty good for a full day or two but for some reason I'm still skeptical of
any "snake oil" products.

-todd

(oh yeah, last post forgot to answer the question, yes, I scraped in the
direction of travel tip to tail, tail to tip.)

Yeah, it seemed like a lot. One of the online guides I looked at
showed
a ton of wax on the board so I kind of copied what I saw. I guess I
can get
less wax and just iron more, eh?

In your original post you said you scraped till no more came off.
Given that, the amount of wax you used may not impact performance at
all, you might have simply wasted a lot of wax. Unless, that is, you
simply didn't iron it in well enough.

You may have read my favorite waxing jingles in previous posts:

"Penetration, not lubrication"
"Thick sticks, thin wins"

I find it noticeably more difficult to do a good job waxing in the cold
than in warm temps. The wax hardens quickly, so you really have to
work at it to get it to penetrate deep enough. Waxing at 70F/20C is
much easier, it just goes right into the base.

Another thing - did you take your bindings off or at least loosen the
mounting screws before waxing and scraping? If you leave the bindings
mounted, it pulls up on the base a bit, making it hard to scrape it all
off right under the bindings, and you've got "thick sticks" right where
all your weight is when you're riding flat.

Mike T

On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 12:39:24 GMT, Baka Dasai
allegedly wrote:

Cross-country skiers (the real expert waxers) have
always scraped from tail to nose.

Really? I always go from nose to tail. Any inconsistencies in my
brushing are then hopefully compensated for by being in the direction
of travel. If I make an abrupt start to the brush stroke at least
the snow underneath will "blow over it" like a cornice, rather then
going against it like a brick wall.

That makes sense, and it's the same logic that's used by the
cross-country folks for scraping (although they end up with the
opposite conclusion). When scraping you always leave small ridges
across the board where the scraper has "skipped" a little. Those
ridges supposedly have a blunt edge where the scraper starts the
skip, and a more gradual edge where the skip ends. Therefore,
tail-to-nose gives you the "over-the-cornice" effect rather than the
"against-the-wall" effect.

That also makes sense in theory... and given then "they" have countless
years more experience than me, I would have to assume that the actual
shape of the skips is true.

I suppose that as I'm brushing afterwards I would counter the effect of
any ridges left by scraping. However, if I scraped properly in the first
place, the ridges should be minimal.

Seems like we agree though that as long as the scraping and brushing are
both done down the length of the board - irrespective of actual direction,
then it's the "right thing".

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

"Penetration, not lubrication"
"Thick sticks, thin wins"

How hot do I have to set the waxing iron? My wax does not seem to
'penetrate' very well. I'm waxing at approx. 11C and the wax doesn't smoke
off the waxing iron. Before scraping off I leave the board for a couple of
hours. After a half day of use the edges of the base are already dry, and
the board is only quick in the first few runs.
Thanks.