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Posted

 

warm waxes are generally soft....cold waxes are generally hard.

 

I use warm waxes 95% of the time because I hate scraping cold waxes.

i've been using swix ch6 a lot this winter since it's been so cold with generally pretty dry snow and it's worked really well, lasted longer than normal, but holy crap does it suck to scrape. even hot scraping it, the stuff chips off instead of peeling off like a warmer, softer wax does.

Posted

Or u can google...

Johnny Law is much more informative and concise!

Don't have to wade through all the Google chaff...

 

Thinking of heading out Thursday afternoon. U interested?

What time you thinking?

i've been using swix ch6 a lot this winter since it's been so cold with generally pretty dry snow and it's worked really well, lasted longer than normal, but holy crap does it suck to scrape. even hot scraping it, the stuff chips off instead of peeling off like a warmer, softer wax does.

I've been using CH4 for cold days which scrapes off to powder.

Using some red from Race Wax for warm days, which is looking like what I'll use for this weekend.

ill be getting out! even though my pass is already payed for i do spend money at blue's bar. a budweiser and a shot of tequila cost me $13 before tip, what type of shit is that?

Yeah, with the prices Blue charges at the bar, they should stay open until May...

Posted

Johnny Law is much more informative and concise!Don't have to wade through all the Google chaff...What time you thinking?I've been using CH4 for cold days which scrapes off to powder.Using some red from Race Wax for warm days, which is looking like what I'll use for this weekend.Yeah, with the prices Blue charges at the bar, they should stay open until May...

I've been using Racewax green most of the season. I'm so excited to finally use some red.

  • Like 1
Posted

I got a 9 AM meeting. Hope to be on the road by 10:30. Translates to noonish arrival

 

Cool. Depending on how day goes, I'll try to break free and get up there 12-1.

Posted (edited)

Johnny Law is much more informative and concise!

Don't have to wade through all the Google chaff...

 

 

That's fucking right LOL

 

Wax was probably originally developed when skis were all wood and would soak up water, this created drag and also made already heavy skis even heavier. Today wax composition is still related to the hydrophobic properties of the materials in question but due to base material is of less concern.

 

Today wax is all about maintaining the thickness of the water underneath the ski. Skis use friction to melt a tiny tiny tiny bit of snow and then you glide on that water however like nearly all things it's a delicate balancing act. Too much water and due to the atomic structure of water and surface tension you get wet suck that slows the ski down, not enough water under the ski and you get dry friction. Both slow the ski down and both to a certain extent require different tools for solution.

 

Hard waxes produce a thicker sheet of water under the ski and softer obviously less water. Cold air has less moisture in in than the desert, hence relative humidity and not absolute humidity, thus when it's balls to the wall cold the snow is generally very dry and coarse so you use a harder wax. At blue mtn the snow with the exception of this year is almost always pretty wet and thus you want to use a softer wax because you want less water under the ski.

 

Harder wax has longer hydrocarbon chains (like gasoline products !!!!) and softer wax shorter chains, microcrystal shit is mostly bs but has super short chains and thus is very soft. Obviously you get a bunch of different materials in whatever company you like mix, fluro is really overkill in 99% of circumstances as it's been proven to not last very long, waxing technique and base structure is probably vastly more important if your using any decent hydro wax. It's even possible with the advent of UHMWPE bases that wax doesn't do a whole lot of anything.

 

For all the wax discussion it cracks me up how many retards are dropping hundreds on fluro compounds while running a cross structure with 1degree base bevel. You want a ski to go fast base structure is the number one factor in the game, it's got to be fresh and it's got to be linear, a 3/4 base bevel will reduce drag across the ski significantly, I mean there is a reason nobody is running a 1degree in super g and downhill.

 

I like Hertel Super Sauce, it's cheap, it doesn't give a fuck about temps and it's particularly suited to PA skiing. It's not as fast as a dedicated temp wax when the snow is very dry but with the exception of this year that's pretty fucking rare in PA and when I wax I don't have to think at all about what snow temp is. Hertel was a recreational skier in the 70's from the bay area, he introduced surfactants into ski wax, a surfactant is nothing more than a compound that reduces surface tension between two liquids or a solid and a liquid. Surfactants are really fucking cool, they have a head and a tail and they do completely opposite things, the tail usually repels water (hydrophobic) and the head usually loves water (hydrophilic) these two opposite forces reduce molecule size and thus reduces surface tension which is pretty fucking cool smart man stuff all so our dumb asses can slide down a hill while drunk and high.

 

Surfactants probably shouldn't work in waxes because while they reduce surface tension they are almost always wetting agents and again you don't want to much water under the ski. What Hertel did is discover SDS, SDS is a weird molecular structure compound that a dumb ass hick from Reading like myself doesn't fully understand but what it does in wax is essentially ball up where the outside of the ball is hydrophobic and thus creates a layer of almost ball bearings under the ski. The bigger WC wax companies are pretty fucking tight lipped but they of course quickly stole Hertel's use of surfactants, they add all manner of shit into their mix to increase glide, lately their focus has been on reducing dirt in the ski base both from snow and from the shit we pump into the atmosphere.

 

Pretty fucking cool shit all things considered.

 

EDIT: Shit I forgot we skied last night, it was really good. The grip to speed ratio was at all time levels, Razor's was scary fast. Also AS got in a fight with some wanna be racer, they threw down and AS killed him. I helped him dump the body at the Zinc/Asbestos mine in Palmerton. AS is now apparently a fucking faggot !!!!!! but he did spit the best line ever which is do you even race bro ?

Edited by Johnny Law
  • Like 5
Posted (edited)

Hah so why did somebody call AS a faggot?

 

He has lawyer genes

I need to be at blue more. Been such a slacker season so far for me at only 40 days..mainly so PASRs get a quality report.

 

There are maybe 10 people on the entire hill, 6 of which are coming down Razors. AS is up front far left, I'm far right, Toast was behind but then zipped past on the far left. My two friends were in the back, said wanna be racer is on some kind of old solly racing ski making short radius turns, all the sudden once he hits the lower headwall he goes full trail width. At this time AS is trying to go by and they get close, not like OMG close just within 5ft, Toast then goes flying by.

 

When we get to the lift corral, he's flapping his gums at AS but doesn't yet realize he's with 4 other dudes. AS asks him if he even races bro and the already spicy wanna be is now in full ape shitty mode. I ride up and try to mellow him out, say hi ask him what's up. He's still fuming and once AS is about 20ft away he's run out of words and goes with you fucking faggot!!! Not loud enough that AS could hear. It was pretty funny, he wanted to be tough but wasn't actually gonna piss anyone off. Who knows maybe he didn't get a BJ at home or something.

 

I really think he was pissed because he thought he was the only person on the hill with skills, so then to have three peeps pass you one of which who has a better short game shrank his dick and he had to compensate.

Edited by Johnny Law
  • Like 2
Posted

I was at the top of Razors head wall at a standstill...he was passing Razor back, and I reeled him in by the top of the bottom headwall. I passed him...no drama. Next thing I know I have some 5'4" guy on 170cm "GS" skis in my face in the lift line. He clearly wasn't going to be civil, so the best defense is a good offense. We exchanged some words for less than 10 seconds then JohnnyLaw stepped in as my muscle and took care of the situation ;) Apparently he said something when I was out of range.

 

Otherwise, conditions were so prime last night. Best evening conditions of the year by far.

  • Like 4
Posted

 

That's fucking right LOL

 

Wax was probably originally developed when skis were all wood and would soak up water, this created drag and also made already heavy skis even heavier. Today wax composition is still related to the hydrophobic properties of the materials in question but due to base material is of less concern.

 

Today wax is all about maintaining the thickness of the water underneath the ski. Skis use friction to melt a tiny tiny tiny bit of snow and then you glide on that water however like nearly all things it's a delicate balancing act. Too much water and due to the atomic structure of water and surface tension you get wet suck that slows the ski down, not enough water under the ski and you get dry friction. Both slow the ski down and both to a certain extent require different tools for solution.

 

Hard waxes produce a thicker sheet of water under the ski and softer obviously less water. Cold air has less moisture in in than the desert, hence relative humidity and not absolute humidity, thus when it's balls to the wall cold the snow is generally very dry and coarse so you use a harder wax. At blue mtn the snow with the exception of this year is almost always pretty wet and thus you want to use a softer wax because you want less water under the ski.

 

Harder wax has longer hydrocarbon chains (like gasoline products !!!!) and softer wax shorter chains, microcrystal shit is mostly bs but has super short chains and thus is very soft. Obviously you get a bunch of different materials in whatever company you like mix, fluro is really overkill in 99% of circumstances as it's been proven to not last very long, waxing technique and base structure is probably vastly more important if your using any decent hydro wax. It's even possible with the advent of UHMWPE bases that wax doesn't do a whole lot of anything.

 

For all the wax discussion it cracks me up how many retards are dropping hundreds on fluro compounds while running a cross structure with 1degree base bevel. You want a ski to go fast base structure is the number one factor in the game, it's got to be fresh and it's got to be linear, a 3/4 base bevel will reduce drag across the ski significantly, I mean there is a reason nobody is running a 1degree in super g and downhill.

 

I like Hertel Super Sauce, it's cheap, it doesn't give a fuck about temps and it's particularly suited to PA skiing. It's not as fast as a dedicated temp wax when the snow is very dry but with the exception of this year that's pretty fucking rare in PA and when I wax I don't have to think at all about what snow temp is. Hertel was a recreational skier in the 70's from the bay area, he introduced surfactants into ski wax, a surfactant is nothing more than a compound that reduces surface tension between two liquids or a solid and a liquid. Surfactants are really fucking cool, they have a head and a tail and they do completely opposite things, the tail usually repels water (hydrophobic) and the head usually loves water (hydrophilic) these two opposite forces reduce molecule size and thus reduces surface tension which is pretty fucking cool smart man stuff all so our dumb asses can slide down a hill while drunk and high.

 

Surfactants probably shouldn't work in waxes because while they reduce surface tension they are almost always wetting agents and again you don't want to much water under the ski. What Hertel did is discover SDS, SDS is a weird molecular structure compound that a dumb ass hick from Reading like myself doesn't fully understand but what it does in wax is essentially ball up where the outside of the ball is hydrophobic and thus creates a layer of almost ball bearings under the ski. The bigger WC wax companies are pretty fucking tight lipped but they of course quickly stole Hertel's use of surfactants, they add all manner of shit into their mix to increase glide, lately their focus has been on reducing dirt in the ski base both from snow and from the shit we pump into the atmosphere.

 

Pretty fucking cool shit all things considered.

 

EDIT: Shit I forgot we skied last night, it was really good. The grip to speed ratio was at all time levels, Razor's was scary fast. Also AS got in a fight with some wanna be racer, they threw down and AS killed him. I helped him dump the body at the Zinc/Asbestos mine in Palmerton. AS is now apparently a fucking faggot !!!!!! but he did spit the best line ever which is do you even race bro ?

Very informative. Concise... No :-)

 

SDS is sodium dodecyl sulfate, dude u referred to did not invent it, just really a very clever use for it.

 

Back in my lab rat days we used SDS in our gels to unfold proteins so we can seperate them.

 

I like using it for skis better

Posted

Very informative. Concise... No :-)

 

SDS is sodium dodecyl sulfate, dude u referred to did not invent it, just really a very clever use for it.

 

Back in my lab rat days we used SDS in our gels to unfold proteins so we can seperate them.

 

I like using it for skis better

The only protein I want to unfold is a steak. Medium rare.

  • Like 3
Posted

Very informative. Concise... No :-)

 

SDS is sodium dodecyl sulfate, dude u referred to did not invent it, just really a very clever use for it.

 

Back in my lab rat days we used SDS in our gels to unfold proteins so we can seperate them.

 

I like using it for skis better

 

I didn't say he invented it I used the word discovered. He did discover in terms of it's use in ski wax.

Posted

First report: 78 westbound a cluster fux from pot hole repair

 

That sucks. I've been enjoying testing my car's emergency handling capabilities :glare:

Posted (edited)

Got around that with fake name and give them a shop location.

U sir are CIA material.

 

I can be a real shit-for-brains at times. Was thinking of doing the same thing 45 min after the fact

 

What did u demo?

Edited by tarponhead
Posted

U sir are CIA material.

 

I can be a real shit-for-brains at times. Was thinking of doing the same thing 45 min after the fact

 

What did u demo?

I didn't demo anything... J.C. Jones from Buckmans Whitehall did though!

 

Some crap from Atomic. I think he caught on after a few runs... I had to dip out and head to work around 10 so I didn't get to scam the rest.

 

J.C. Jones had a good time trying them though!!

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