Wiping skate wax instead of scraping

We were up at well known Nordic center a few weeks ago, and one of the
instructors showed us his waxing technique.

Instead of the usual melting and smoothing a thick layer and then
scraping.

He dripped the wax on, then spread it smoothly, while the wax was
melted he wiped with fiberlene, leaving a very smooth surface. Then he
brushed with several different brushes.

He said that alpine skiers have been doing (wiping rather than
scraping) this for years. I addition to being quicker to wax, it is
much less messy.

Is this an accepted technique? We are primarily recreational skaters
and look forward to our first marathon in March. So, super fussy waxing
is not what we really want to do.

mark

wrote in message
oups.com...
We were up at well known Nordic center a few weeks ago, and one of the
instructors showed us his waxing technique.

Instead of the usual melting and smoothing a thick layer and then
scraping.

He dripped the wax on, then spread it smoothly, while the wax was
melted he wiped with fiberlene, leaving a very smooth surface. Then he
brushed with several different brushes.

He said that alpine skiers have been doing (wiping rather than
scraping) this for years. I addition to being quicker to wax, it is
much less messy.

Is this an accepted technique? We are primarily recreational skaters
and look forward to our first marathon in March. So, super fussy waxing
is not what we really want to do.

mark

Mark, based on my own experience, and everything I've read or been
shown/taught about glide waxing, I don't think this would produce very
durable wax. I believe that you need to heat the wax into the base very
thoroughly in order for it to work well and be durable. The wax needs to
penetrate the base and this is accomplished by heating the base and wax - to
"open up" the pores on the base and to soften/liquify the wax to penetrate
the base. The epitome of this is the hot box technique.

Maybe these guys are heating the base before they do the wipe technique?
I'm thinking a warmed up base might soak up the wax? But I really doubt it
would work at all for cold wax of the range of Swix CH 6 or 4 and similar.

A similar technique (to the hot-box) that I've been using in the past season
has, I think, really increased the durability of wax on my skis. This is to
extend the time the base is warm by heating in the wax in multiple times
without letting the ski cool completely in between., especially with the
colder/harder waxes which need to get close to the base-damage zone of heat
in order to liquify. I iron in the wax, heating the base as much as is both
necessary and safe, but not as hot as I have done in the past. I leave a
larger margin of error. I let the ski cool a little then re-heat to that
level again, and repeat this sequence so that, in essence, the ski is warm
for an extended period, but never over-heated. I generally am waxing at
least two or three pairs of skis for my family and it works pretty well to
rotate through the skis. This really seems to have increased durability,
again, especially of cold/hard waxes. I do a lot of waxes like CH 4, 6,
start Green, Toko blue, etc.

I'm interested in what others think, though. I like to get 30 or more KM on
a wax job in cold, abrasive snow and have had much better success this year.
Maybe if one isn't looking for that sort of durability, the wipe method
might work.

Cam

My Toko wax mouse has a clip holder for Toko's fibertex equivalent.
The "paper" holds the melted wax and mops a thin coat of wax over the
base much like your wiping. The paper also seems to pick up the dirt
on the cleaning wax passes. The result is less wax scrapings.

Edgar

PS: you mentioned your first marathon- my lengthy opinion goes double if
you're doing a marathon. There is no substitute for thoroughly soaking in
multiple layers of good wax if you want to have marathon grade wax job. I
think it helps to really think about waxing well and soaking well especially
during the couple of weeks before the race so that your bases really get
saturated with wax. This will make your top coat(s) of final race wax that
much more durable. Just mho (I've only done a few 50K's and am not a fast
racer).

"Camilo" wrote in message
...
PS: you mentioned your first marathon- my lengthy opinion goes double if
you're doing a marathon. There is no substitute for thoroughly soaking in
multiple layers of good wax if you want to have marathon grade wax job. I
think it helps to really think about waxing well and soaking well
especially
during the couple of weeks before the race so that your bases really get
saturated with wax. This will make your top coat(s) of final race wax
that
much more durable. Just mho (I've only done a few 50K's and am not a
fast
racer).

Like you I am not a fast skier, but I do ski long distances. For that reason
I try to use Cerax, which is very easy to apply over a hydrocarbon wax.
Cerax is said to last 100 km., and I tend to use it simply to avoid waxing.
While the decesion of which flavor to use is difficult, I consider what the
ultrawax gurus say- Any wax that close is close enough. Probably true 80% of
the time.

Interesting that I was skiing away while striding with a far faster skier
than me last weekend. He complained that he had bad wax and I told him that
I just had on Star hydrocarbon. Then I remembered that I had put on Cerax
and told him so. Maybe that was the difference.

Using fiberlene over the iron after a serious penetration job does cut down
on scraping.

I used to use Toko wax impregnated cloth. I don;t think they make it anymore
because of penetration problems, and lack of staying power. (Hmmm...sounds
like I'm discussing something other than skiing here.) Maybe OK for Alpine
skiing, but not Nordic distances.

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY

The wipping technique is described in the Swix handbook as a method to
clean the base from dirt.

The wipping may in fact extract wax from the base by succion.

wrote:
We were up at well known Nordic center a few weeks ago, and one of
the
instructors showed us his waxing technique.

Instead of the usual melting and smoothing a thick layer and then
scraping.

He dripped the wax on, then spread it smoothly, while the wax was
melted he wiped with fiberlene, leaving a very smooth surface. Then
he
brushed with several different brushes.

He said that alpine skiers have been doing (wiping rather than
scraping) this for years. I addition to being quicker to wax, it is
much less messy.

Is this an accepted technique? We are primarily recreational skaters
and look forward to our first marathon in March. So, super fussy
waxing
is not what we really want to do.

mark

On 21 Jan 2005 02:37:48 -0800, wrote:

The wipping technique is described in the Swix handbook as a method to
clean the base from dirt.

The wipping may in fact extract wax from the base by succion.

If there is enough wax left on the base to need to scrape or brush
more, is this really a problem?

JT

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My comment re the Toko wax mouse should have read "Toko's FIBERLENE
equivalent...", not fibertex.

The Toko equivalent of fiberlene is Toko's "Base Tex" which is thicker
than the fiberlene.

Looking at the Tognar website they say:
SWIX HOT WAXING PAPER
Use a sheet of this lint-free absorbent paper between your iron and the
ski or snowboard base during your last tip-to-tail pass when hot
waxing. It absorbs excess wax and dirt, helps protect the base from
overheating when applying cold waxes, and leaves a thin and uniform wax
layer that requires less scraping afterwards.
http://www.tognar.com/wax_tools_hot_...t ml#WAXPAPER

I wonder what Rob has to say about Toko's wax impregnated cloth
mentioned by Gary.

Edgar

"Edgar" wrote

Looking at the Tognar website they say:
SWIX HOT WAXING PAPER
Use a sheet of this lint-free absorbent paper between your iron and the
ski or snowboard base during your last tip-to-tail pass when hot
waxing. It absorbs excess wax and dirt, helps protect the base from
overheating when applying cold waxes, and leaves a thin and uniform wax
layer that requires less scraping afterwards.

http://www.tognar.com/wax_tools_hot_...t ml#WAXPAPER


I think the key here is that it wipes off the wax with the last pass of the
iron - there have already been prior passes to heat the base to increase
penetration of the wax. I would think the net effect would be the same as
scraping, especially with the harder waxes which you scrape while warm
anyway. The trade off sounds to me like replacing the messy wax shavings
which tend to really spread around the work area with wax-soaked fiberlene
tissues, which are neater and don't spread around. But it does add more
waste, actually increasing the total amount of "stuff used' for waxing.

Cam

Gary,

I used Cerax for the same reasons a few seasons ago when I started
skating. I found that it was sometimes hard to predict the effect of
the wax in certain conditions, like cold blowing snow. I've tried
Cerax 1-4 in that condition and it is always like I've stapled sand
paper to my skis.

I'm now comfortable with the FastWax line and can wax pretty
confidently for most conditions. Instead of dripping most waxes, I
crayon them on and then iron. Seems to work well (except for White)
and leaves much less wax on the floor.

chris
ne iowa


Gary Jacobson wrote:
"Camilo" wrote in message
...
PS: you mentioned your first marathon- my lengthy opinion goes
double if
you're doing a marathon. There is no substitute for thoroughly
soaking in
multiple layers of good wax if you want to have marathon grade wax
job. I
think it helps to really think about waxing well and soaking well
especially
during the couple of weeks before the race so that your bases
really get
saturated with wax. This will make your top coat(s) of final race
wax
that
much more durable. Just mho (I've only done a few 50K's and am
not a
fast
racer).

Like you I am not a fast skier, but I do ski long distances. For that
reason
I try to use Cerax, which is very easy to apply over a hydrocarbon
wax.
Cerax is said to last 100 km., and I tend to use it simply to avoid
waxing.
While the decesion of which flavor to use is difficult, I consider
what the
ultrawax gurus say- Any wax that close is close enough. Probably true
80% of
the time.

Interesting that I was skiing away while striding with a far faster
skier
than me last weekend. He complained that he had bad wax and I told
him that
I just had on Star hydrocarbon. Then I remembered that I had put on
Cerax
and told him so. Maybe that was the difference.

Using fiberlene over the iron after a serious penetration job does
cut down
on scraping.

I used to use Toko wax impregnated cloth. I don;t think they make it
anymore
because of penetration problems, and lack of staying power.
(Hmmm...sounds
like I'm discussing something other than skiing here.) Maybe OK for
Alpine
skiing, but not Nordic distances.

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY