Waxing Iron Temps

[guitar73]

so yesterday i was hot waxing my skis and it seemed to me that i couldn't get the waxing iron to the right temp. i have the green wintersteiger waxing iron and i was using the yellow base prep wax from glide-on hydrocarbon wax (from slidewright), set the iron between 100 and 110 deg C (per slidewright recommendations). i noticed that the wax wouldn't melt easily. i use the drip-on method. i gradually increased the temp up until the wax easily melted and workable...approx. 140 deg C. the wax didn't smoke. this doesn't seem right to me.

 

my question is this....does anyone else run into this situation where the working temp of the iron ends up being hotter than the wax manufacturer's recommended temp? if not, i wonder if the thermostat on the iron is faulty.

[NMSKI]

That has happened to me with the Swix iron I have. I just go with the lowest possible temperature that melts the wax and make sure there's no smoke when I'm ironing it in. I figured it might happen because I keep the wax in my garage where it's cold, and maybe the temperature listed on the wax is for melting at room temperature.

[Johnny Law]

Some Flouro mixes are really only crayon on.

 

Also wax irons are really a modified short so the temp indicator may or may not be all that accurate. Really $$$ irons are generally the same except they have taken the time and precision to make sure when it says its 110 its actually 110.

 

As long as you aren't burning bases or huffing the fumes the extra temp shouldn't be a problem.

[AtomicSkier]

I generally use the lowest setting on my swix, too. I make sure I crank it up a little when I use flouro...

[RootDKJ]

I looked up the melt temps of the wax I'm using and use a Fluke infrared thermometer to calibrate the iron to the needed temp.

Edited January 4, 2013 by RootDKJ

[Justo8484]

I generally use the lowest setting on my swix, too. I make sure I crank it up a little when I use flouro...

 

so that's why i find waxing skis while drinking beer to be a therapeutic activity?

[guitar73]

so that's why i find waxing skis while drinking beer to be a therapeutic activity?

 

absolutely!

[JollyJake99]

I bought an inexpensive digital multimeter from Sears that has a "thermocouple"(?) attachment. It reads in either F or C degrees. After I've let the iron warmup for 5-10 minutes, I hold the probe against the sole plate in 4 or 5 different locations to get readings; if the temp is right, iron away, or make the needed up or down adjustment and remeasure.

[sibhusky]

I turn on the iron, rub wax until it starts dripping. If it smokes, I lower the dial a tad. Iron in wax. Use iron with Fiberlene to mop up excess.

 

Don't over think it.

Edited March 30, 2013 by sibhusky

[JollyJake99]

Yes!! The last pass with the "Fiberlene" makes scraping a whole lot easier!!!!

[Johnny Law]

Yes!! The last pass with the "Fiberlene" makes scraping a whole lot easier!!!!

 

Maybe I'm out to lunch but scraping is pretty straight forward, you can do it really anywhere and if you crayon particularly on fluro overlays you can do little to no scraping.

 

I'd worry with a fiberlene pass your pulling off that outer layer of wax.

[guitar73]

I'd worry with a fiberlene pass your pulling off that outer layer of wax.

 

ya, that was my thought as well.

[sibhusky]

The only "layer" that matters is the one touching the ski. The rest comes off. I resisted Fiberlene for years and finally tried it. I'm a convert. Scraping is a cinch now AND you can SEE the dirt that comes off the ski with each pass of the Fiberlene. I'd always thought that, after extensive pre-season prep and only skiing on mid-winter snow that the dirt issue was negligible. Apparently not. Something black always comes off with the first pass, less on the second, and none on the third. Tells me that was something I could have been forcing IN to the base during the scrape period, so I'm sticking with it.

[Johnny Law]

The only "layer" that matters is the one touching the ski. The rest comes off. I resisted Fiberlene for years and finally tried it. I'm a convert. Scraping is a cinch now AND you can SEE the dirt that comes off the ski with each pass of the Fiberlene. I'd always thought that, after extensive pre-season prep and only skiing on mid-winter snow that the dirt issue was negligible. Apparently not. Something black always comes off with the first pass, less on the second, and none on the third. Tells me that was something I could have been forcing IN to the base during the scrape period, so I'm sticking with it.

 

This gets into a strange area of wax in which scientific studies concluded the pore structure of the base is not large enough for wax to penetrate but I was saying your pulling working wax out of the base structure with the fiberlene pass. A hotbox is probably the better way to go anyways but it would be interesting to examine the base structure rather than the wax. Essentially which exposes base structure better, scraping or fiberlene......

 

IDK the whole wax thing is weird, on one hand it certainly makes the ski faster on the other hand its pretty clear that the wax molecules are too big for the base structure......probably would be better just spending the time skiing LOL

[sibhusky]

The pass with the Fiberlene is done WITH the iron, so it's not pulling anything OUT of the pass, just absorbing wax that is still liquid. If I was allowing the wax to cool, maybe I'd be pulling something out of the base, but at this point it's liquid. You can see there is still wax on the base, believe me. They still get set in a hot room (utility room) to slow down the rate at which the wax cools, then get scraped 6 - 12 hours later, and brushed like crazy. Although I think in the spring wax may or may not be key (I think it's a clean, fresh structure, personally), I know that on the cat tracks (and we have many here) I am rarely passed unless someone has been in a tuck TRYING to pass me. It could be I'm a good glider, or...it could be that I take care of my skis. Good glide = time saved. Today, I beat friends who I was skiing with, and started down the trail at the same time as, by the amount of time it takes to remove my boots and get my shoes on. Normally, from a SKIING perspective, they would beat me, hands down. But...not when it's all about the glide. This couple knows beans about wax..and it showed.

[JollyJake99]

I agree with Sib, yes, there's still wax on the base after the Fiberlene pass.

But Sib, I don't have time to wait six hours before scraping unless I watn to get up extra early and scrape in the AM before going. What should I do?

[mbike-ski]

fiberlene doesnt provide enough hockey viewing and beverage sipping time - i prefer scraping

[guitar73]

I agree with Sib, yes, there's still wax on the base after the Fiberlene pass.

But Sib, I don't have time to wait six hours before scraping unless I watn to get up extra early and scrape in the AM before going. What should I do?

you don't have to hot wax everytime before you go skiing. this season, i usually hot-waxed our skis a few days before we headed out and then did a quick touch-up with the swix f4 rub-on wax. that seemed to work out well and it saved me time.

[sibhusky]

Unless you're doing seven days a week, I don't see the issue. Tune and wax the evening of the day you get home, then scrape and brush the next day. I ski five days a week, it's planned into my week. Using the Fiberlene significantly cuts back on the scrape time. Roto-brush cuts way back on brush time. Now the bulk of my time is edge polishing. Used to be scrape and brush was what I hated the most.

 

I do look at the weather forecast to make sure the wax will be right, but it's no biggie.

Edited April 12, 2013 by sibhusky