Wax shelf-life and other tuning questions

A handful of questions:
I've had some Dakine wax for about four years (haven't been able to board as
much as I'd like to lately). Does wax go "stale"? Same deal with some Red
board cleaning solution--to use or not to use? (Or, regardless of how old it
is, am I better off just melting some cheap wax onto the board and scraping
it off warm, then doing a second wax?) And what's the best all-purpose way
to go--cold wax or wax for spring conditions? I'm going boarding in Mammoth
in a week. Last month, it was downright hot midday, then icy-cold by 2:30 or
3. A warm day in a cold place in the middle of winter--what kind of wax fits
that bill? Also, the lodge has a machine that can wax a board in about 60
seconds. There's a drum, and the tech drags the board over it a couple
times. Seems more akin to a quick wax than a real one. Thoughts?

Wait, there's mo I have a Burton Custom, which has an orange sintered (I
believe) base. A shop used black p-tex to repair it--said that black would
adhere better to a light color. After a day of riding, the p-tex along the
rail came out, which is also what happens whenever I try p-texing at home.
The gash being fixed isn't large, so I'm wondering if what happened is due
to (a) shoddy work (b) the nature of p-tex, or (c) the nature of sintered
bases. Got heaps of other questions, but I don't want to wear out my
welcome.

Opinions on any or all of the above would be much appreciated.

Personally if you want better performance I would recommend you get some
Fluorinated wax, a Swix Lo-Fluoro wax would fit the bill, though more
expensive than regular hydrocarbon wax which is what you likely have with
the Dakine wax. Fluorinated waxes reduce friction thereby increasing glide.
Make sure your wax iron is set low to begin with, the first time waxing with
fluoro wax you should do it outside as if the iron is so hot that the wax
smokes you'll want to be in a well ventilated area. Breathing fumes from
fluoro wax isn't good. If you can measure the temp of your iron, make sure
it stays below 300F.

For a base cleaner you should only be using a citrus based solvent, this is
the safest for p-tex in my opinion. You can get it in several grocery stores
under various brand names. Goo-gone, Citrix, Citrisolve. Just make sure you
get pure solvent, and not just a citrus based surface cleaner.

You're probably not going to be able to tell the difference between a cold &
warm wax. A cold wax will last longer due to the fact it's harder. When
riding man made or granulated snow, which doesn't happen often, I use cold
wax. For everything else I use a warmer rated wax. The only time I would
have my board waxed on a wax roller is if I happened to forget to wax my
board and it felt noticeably slow. I usually wax a 2" strip along each edge
after every weekend of riding, and then strip the entire base and rewax
after every two weekends. Why just an edge wax? because being that I like to
carve I ride my edges mostly and the wax wears away quicker in that area.

P-tex repairs around the edges are tough, p-tex doesn't adhere to metal,
you'd need to use something called copolymer string available on
http://www.tognar.com, it will bond to metal. Even this stuff will
eventually wear out, but in my experience it is more durable than just p-tex
for along edge repairs. You can melt it in with a lower wattage or temp.
variable soldering iron. The color of p-tex is irrelevant. Black p-tex bases
however will sometimes have graphite in them.

Good luck.

-Tom

"msegal" wrote in message
...
A handful of questions:
I've had some Dakine wax for about four years (haven't been able to board
as
much as I'd like to lately). Does wax go "stale"? Same deal with some Red
board cleaning solution--to use or not to use? (Or, regardless of how old
it
is, am I better off just melting some cheap wax onto the board and
scraping
it off warm, then doing a second wax?) And what's the best all-purpose way
to go--cold wax or wax for spring conditions? I'm going boarding in
Mammoth
in a week. Last month, it was downright hot midday, then icy-cold by 2:30
or
3. A warm day in a cold place in the middle of winter--what kind of wax
fits
that bill? Also, the lodge has a machine that can wax a board in about 60
seconds. There's a drum, and the tech drags the board over it a couple
times. Seems more akin to a quick wax than a real one. Thoughts?

Wait, there's mo I have a Burton Custom, which has an orange sintered
(I
believe) base. A shop used black p-tex to repair it--said that black would
adhere better to a light color. After a day of riding, the p-tex along the
rail came out, which is also what happens whenever I try p-texing at home.
The gash being fixed isn't large, so I'm wondering if what happened is due
to (a) shoddy work (b) the nature of p-tex, or (c) the nature of sintered
bases. Got heaps of other questions, but I don't want to wear out my
welcome.

Opinions on any or all of the above would be much appreciated.




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"msegal" wrote in
:

A handful of questions:
And what's the best all-purpose way to go--cold wax or wax for
spring conditions? I'm going boarding in Mammoth in a week. Last
month, it was downright hot midday, then icy-cold by 2:30 or 3. A
warm day in a cold place in the middle of winter--what kind of
wax fits that bill?

Well its really the snow temp and not the air temp you should be
concerned with. But I can't imagine you really needing blue wax.
A pink should be fine, but you probably would be well served by
a universal flouro. And if it gets really warm, instead of
rewaxing with a slush wax just for a day, go out and get some
NotWax and keep it in your pocket. That will get you thru any
slushy day.

mike

Many thanks.

"TomTom" wrote in message
news:CIoRb.237$1O.125@fed1read05...
Personally if you want better performance I would recommend you get some
Fluorinated wax, a Swix Lo-Fluoro wax would fit the bill, though more
expensive than regular hydrocarbon wax which is what you likely have with
the Dakine wax. Fluorinated waxes reduce friction thereby increasing
glide.
Make sure your wax iron is set low to begin with, the first time waxing
with
fluoro wax you should do it outside as if the iron is so hot that the wax
smokes you'll want to be in a well ventilated area. Breathing fumes from
fluoro wax isn't good. If you can measure the temp of your iron, make sure
it stays below 300F.

For a base cleaner you should only be using a citrus based solvent, this
is
the safest for p-tex in my opinion. You can get it in several grocery
stores
under various brand names. Goo-gone, Citrix, Citrisolve. Just make sure
you
get pure solvent, and not just a citrus based surface cleaner.

You're probably not going to be able to tell the difference between a cold
&
warm wax. A cold wax will last longer due to the fact it's harder. When
riding man made or granulated snow, which doesn't happen often, I use cold
wax. For everything else I use a warmer rated wax. The only time I would
have my board waxed on a wax roller is if I happened to forget to wax my
board and it felt noticeably slow. I usually wax a 2" strip along each
edge
after every weekend of riding, and then strip the entire base and rewax
after every two weekends. Why just an edge wax? because being that I like
to
carve I ride my edges mostly and the wax wears away quicker in that area.

P-tex repairs around the edges are tough, p-tex doesn't adhere to metal,
you'd need to use something called copolymer string available on
http://www.tognar.com, it will bond to metal. Even this stuff will
eventually wear out, but in my experience it is more durable than just
p-tex
for along edge repairs. You can melt it in with a lower wattage or temp.
variable soldering iron. The color of p-tex is irrelevant. Black p-tex
bases
however will sometimes have graphite in them.

Good luck.

-Tom

"msegal" wrote in message
...
A handful of questions:
I've had some Dakine wax for about four years (haven't been able to
board
as
much as I'd like to lately). Does wax go "stale"? Same deal with some
Red
board cleaning solution--to use or not to use? (Or, regardless of how
old
it
is, am I better off just melting some cheap wax onto the board and
scraping
it off warm, then doing a second wax?) And what's the best all-purpose
way
to go--cold wax or wax for spring conditions? I'm going boarding in
Mammoth
in a week. Last month, it was downright hot midday, then icy-cold by
2:30
or
3. A warm day in a cold place in the middle of winter--what kind of wax
fits
that bill? Also, the lodge has a machine that can wax a board in about
60
seconds. There's a drum, and the tech drags the board over it a couple
times. Seems more akin to a quick wax than a real one. Thoughts?

Wait, there's mo I have a Burton Custom, which has an orange sintered
(I
believe) base. A shop used black p-tex to repair it--said that black
would
adhere better to a light color. After a day of riding, the p-tex along
the
rail came out, which is also what happens whenever I try p-texing at
home.
The gash being fixed isn't large, so I'm wondering if what happened is
due
to (a) shoddy work (b) the nature of p-tex, or (c) the nature of
sintered
bases. Got heaps of other questions, but I don't want to wear out my
welcome.

Opinions on any or all of the above would be much appreciated.




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.571 / Virus Database: 361 - Release Date: 1/26/2004