Waxing irons - dedicated wax iron or just get something from thrift store?

I wax up about every 5-6 days for each pair. Im mostly skiing Colorado in places like Steamboat, in Utah, and usually a week at Jackson. The runs I ski are all about traverses and runouts, so speed really helps. Even at the local Boulder hill some cattracks between lifts need speed. Edges I only do when I cant hold whatever we get in the Rockies that qualifies as ice, which is not much. So once or twice a year per pair for edges.

I think I believe somewhere in the back of my head that skiing dry bases fucks them up. Whether thats true or not probably doesnt matter much. Quick drip wax inside on the workbench, then a scrape a rotobrush outside when cooled. Take very little time, makes big impact. I just use universal wax. 90% of the benefit, 20% of the work.

I wax about every [emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]]-[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]] days as well. Hertel hot sauce pretty much does the trick [emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]]][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]]]% of the time, unless it’s super cold or super warm, then I’ll switch up the wax to something more temp specific. I use the Swix North iron. Not too expensive and still checks the “waxing iron” box, although the temp control can be a bit finicky.


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The shop at tsv had a wax belt. That thing was interesting. Most customers got that for a quick edge/wax tune. I think it worked ok.
We also had an "oven" which was just a plywood box with 200w light bulbs or something, I don't remember, but we'd put the skis in there so the wax would absorb in oh so nicely over night for the "special" tunes [emoji16]. I don't know shit, but I thought that was maybe over the top wishful thinking.Today I could chatgpt that and tell those kooks it was batshit crazy...or not [emoji23]

Bottom line is I always like my boards waxed, but I don't really like waxing my boards, so just stick to fall line turns is my preferred mo

What was the consensus on the phantom juice dps makes? That sounds like it's really made for people who can't or don't like to wax often.

that plywood box was just for warming up leftover pizza I hope you didnt put skis in there

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

that plywood box was just for warming up leftover pizza I hope you didnt put skis in there

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Actually we did use it to cure epoxy for base and sidewall repairs. That was its primary use and I'm not sure if that was needed either.

Hotboxing unmounted skis used to be a thing for saturating bases, pre-mount. I dont think its time or cost efficient for most skiers, much less a shop. We did charge extra but not much...now we just hotbox the whole shop.

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Spend the money on a decent iron, buy some quality wax and don't be afraid to put on too much. You can afford a little more wax loss, jfc. I'm sure you've got a few minutes to scrape.

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Dripping and scraping is a big mess that I'd prefer to avoid. If it worked better it might be worth it, but it doesn't.

some people don't scrape they claim the excess gets worn off but i see unscraped blue wax months later, they claim the wax left prevents base damage but i doubt it


I know when i hung out with the paid prowaxer guy at the skicross champs he took off every bit of wax he had put on the night before during prep and every bit of high flouro he had crayoned into the ski with the roto brush

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

However, I generally only wax for very wet snow. Being a California skier, I rarely ski on very cold snow. For the past 3-ish years, I’ve been mostly following the prescription from the skivisions guy: work out hardened digs on the edges, light touch-up/refresh of base structure and flattening, polish/sharpen edges. It usually takes a few minutes per ski and is much faster than waxing. I’ve only found a big benefit with waxing (in addition to the base structure/edge work) when in rain or wet spring snow (yellow wax).

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I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Sewell talk about it in more detail one or two other videos, but at about minute one, he discusses his base structuring and “no waxing” technique. https://youtu.be/IGmHz9pTfvE?si=7tX_L3PKVXWDdalq

I’ve been trying his technique and it’s been saving me a lot of time w/o noticeable loss of glide except in slush and with noticeable good edge hold. I will definitely wax for wet spring conditions, based on self experiments. If I have time, I’ll base and edge prep, including use of a coarser base stone (I have experimented much with sand paper yet). Then, i’ll crayon and iron yellow warm temp wax. I’ll scrape after it cools, and do another round of crayon and ironing warm temp wax. After scraping the cooled ski, I’ll use a nylon ski brush and then a swix base structure tool.

I’m skiing Sugarbowl, mostly. Sometimes I’m hotlapping in uniform all day long, rain, snow, or melt, on a few handfuls of piste and off piste runs, and sometimes I’m free skiing.

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Originally Posted by SKIP IN7RO

4 out of 5 dentists recommend Star or Holmenkol for the nice cork handle

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I collected them in a plastic bag and then one timea surfer asked what I was going to do with them. Instead of tossing them he wanted them for his surf board bottom...

So those that have the convex waxing iron. Unless it is convex both directions, what would stop you from turning the iron 90 degrees and have each of the convex edges then touch the ski?

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

Dripping and scraping is a big mess that I'd prefer to avoid. If it worked better it might be worth it, but it doesn't.

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I ski a lot w/ a dude that owns a ski shop. I can watch the dude pull away from me gliding flats--trust me, it makes a difference!

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Id think at Alpy, storms lean towards wetter snow, dont your skis get sticky or glopped up sometimes?.

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When storms come in warm, the sheer density and funky layers are usually the noticable thing about the snow, to me. Personally, the only time i notice sticky snow at Alpy is late spring... pretty much never midseason even on warm days. I always say to friends, and i think its true... if the snow is sticky find something steeper... or bumpy. And alpy pretty much only has that.

Just had to SimpleGreen the shit out of my touring skis to get pollen/sap off them. Now im wondering if i should wax with warm wax or alltemp, becuase im going to do a halfassed scrape and dont really want to foul my skin glue... but also warm wax would certainly suit the conditions for any forthcoming June tours. Decisions, decisions.

warm wax n scrape is a good way to clean a base

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Originally Posted by tuco

I ski a lot w/ a dude that owns a ski shop. I can watch the dude pull away from me gliding flats--trust me, it makes a difference!

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If he owns a ski shop I suspect there's more going on than just differences in waxing technique. Personally, I noticed zero difference after I switched from drip/iron/scrape to crayon/iron/no scrape. The only wax that matters is the wax that is absorbed by the pores in the PTEX. Nothing is actually left on the ski after half a run at most.

i think base structure and quality of base might be huge-er than we think


I got some 2nd gen verdicts with a deep rill pattern P-tex from china that were slow compared to buddies i was skiing with but got faster as the weatehr got less cold and the snow got more wet

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

If he owns a ski shop I suspect there's more going on than just differences in waxing technique. Personally, I noticed zero difference after I switched from drip/iron/scrape to crayon/iron/no scrape. The only wax that matters is the wax that is absorbed by the pores in the PTEX. Nothing is actually left on the ski after half a run at most.

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I think he glides like Bill Johnson. That is a bigger difference.

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

i think base structure is huge-er than we think

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Absolutely. Especially wet snow.

Wax race.

Whos in?

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Wax race.

Whos in?

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I'm fucking in! Switch to the road!

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Originally Posted by jackstraw

I'm fucking in! Switch to the road!

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FKNA suhweeeet!

Id love to beam around the vill witcha. Maybe next season? Interested in some EuroBBI?
Thats going on the shortlist of events for next spring in Suisseland.
You know, bitd, we had to haul ass from the top of casper to get to thunder before the tramriders did. Learning to glide as fast as possible from the Doug crew was an early lesson. Dudes were like the wind and always got the best first tracks.

If youre not fast nowadays, yer fuckin 37th.

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

If he owns a ski shop I suspect there's more going on than just differences in waxing technique. Personally, I noticed zero difference after I switched from drip/iron/scrape to crayon/iron/no scrape. The only wax that matters is the wax that is absorbed by the pores in the PTEX. Nothing is actually left on the ski after half a run at most.

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Originally Posted by RShea

I collected them in a plastic bag and then one timea surfer asked what I was going to do with them. Instead of tossing them he wanted them for his surf board bottom...

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The difference is definitely the waxing, his skis get waxed over n over! But I thought you were talking the difference from wax vs bareball'n

That wasn't meant to include RShea

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

FKNA suhweeeet!

Id love to beam around the vill witcha. Maybe next season? Interested in some EuroBBI?
Thats going on the shortlist of events for next spring in Suisseland.
You know, bitd, we had to haul ass from the top of casper to get to thunder before the tramriders did. Learning to glide as fast as possible from the Doug crew was an early lesson. Dudes were like the wind and always got the best first tracks.

If youre not fast nowadays, yer fuckin 37th.

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Yeah, not sure I'll make it to the village next yr or not. You ditched to euroland last time I was there! [emoji16]

My ski vaca are reserved for my kids. BC and Euro are on the short list for next year. Trying to hit as many new spots as possible before I'm dead

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

If he owns a ski shop I suspect there's more going on than just differences in waxing technique. Personally, I noticed zero difference after I switched from drip/iron/scrape to crayon/iron/no scrape. The only wax that matters is the wax that is absorbed by the pores in the PTEX. Nothing is actually left on the ski after half a run at most.

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Trying to wrap my head around why crayoning wax on and ironing in vs dripping then ironing would produce a differing result. The only difference I see in your statement is the scrape vs no scrape! So why not just say scrape vs no scrape? Don't see why the wax transfer mode matters here! I drip because it's faster than crayoning(for me) but that doesn't mean it's any less efficient on wax or scraping. I don't have wax running down my sidewalls onto the floor. I'm pretty judicious w/ the wax and also end w/ no scrape. During the cold season, I'll scrape though, I do think it affects glide then. I do enough traversing out and then back to lift that no glide wears you the fuck out!
One of the things my buddy used to use was Zardoz, but last I checked it was phased out over forever chemicals. I know he's not grinding a spring structure though

Fucking western skiers are dumb as fuck

Yet somehow we can figure out how to do a Shift mount w/ out the toepiece falling off whilst skiing---go figure

Never happened, nice try though

""Trying to wrap my head around why crayoning wax on and ironing in vs dripping then ironing would produce a differing result. The only difference I see in your statement is the scrape vs no scrape! So why not just say scrape vs no scrape? Don't see why the wax transfer mode matters here! I drip because it's faster than crayoning(for me) but that doesn't mean it's any less efficient on wax or scraping. I don't have wax running down my sidewalls onto the floor. I'm pretty judicious w/ the wax and also end w/ no scrape. During the cold season, I'll scrape though, I do think it affects glide then. I do enough traversing out and then back to lift that no glide wears you the fuck out!''


I had some blue on the tail of a ski I didnt quite all get and it was there for most of the season until i scraped it off so i donot buy into the no scraping needed


I was the topside go-for at national ski X so I hung out with the wax tech at the top, buddy had waxed in town the night before for -5 then before each run he crayoned in a little piece of nasty fluro the size of my finger which he then corked in he then roto brushed the fuck out ot that ski so this guy was getting paid to take off every bit of wax and or every bit of fluro this was the nationals so he must be good cuz they pay him to do this

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Originally Posted by buttahflake

Never happened, nice try though

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You sure? I mean, I remember the thread rip started, w/ pics and you as the stated "supervisor"!

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

""Trying to wrap my head around why crayoning wax on and ironing in vs dripping then ironing would produce a differing result. The only difference I see in your statement is the scrape vs no scrape! So why not just say scrape vs no scrape? Don't see why the wax transfer mode matters here! I drip because it's faster than crayoning(for me) but that doesn't mean it's any less efficient on wax or scraping. I don't have wax running down my sidewalls onto the floor. I'm pretty judicious w/ the wax and also end w/ no scrape. During the cold season, I'll scrape though, I do think it affects glide then. I do enough traversing out and then back to lift that no glide wears you the fuck out!'' I had some blue on the tail of a ski I didnt quite all get and it was there for most of the season until i scraped it off so i donot buy into the no scraping needed I was the topside go-for at national ski X so I hung out with the wax tech at the top, buddy had waxed in town the night before for -5 then before each run he crayoned in a little piece of nasty fluro the size of my finger which he then corked in he then roto brushed the fuck out ot that ski so this guy was getting paid to take off every bit of wax and or every bit of fluro this was the nationals so he must be good cuz they pay him to do this

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Originally Posted by RShea

I collected them in a plastic bag and then one timea surfer asked what I was going to do with them. Instead of tossing them he wanted them for his surf board bottom...

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Tips and tails don't wear away like the middle of a ski. You know, like the area you're standing over! Damage from rocks is generally worse under foot too

Didn't I state that I scrape when it's cold? Looks like I did to me. I don't tune or wax for racing dude

I have heard folks claim not scraping prevents base damage from rocks !


a good reason to knot scrape is you lost your scraper the kids Biathalon coach told me every year he gets a bunch cut at the plastic shop



and every year they all have dissappeared by end of season

I use a little waxing iron I got on sale at steepandcheap many years ago. It says Dakine on it but has not turned my skis into a snowboard yet. I've used a thrift store iron, but the wax iron is less of a PITA.

I ski much less than most of you, but I don't get the "I don't wax my skis because I only ski in these three types of snow" thing. If you aren't trying to do a fancy race tune, it's not that hard. Drip or crayon some wax on, run the iron over it a few times, scrape it with some piece of plastic, brush it with any old stiff nylon brush (can probably use a shoe brush). If that's all too hard, just get some of the spray-on glide wax they sell to put on the glide zones of waxless XC skis. It's better than having snow stick to your bases. Leave the snow on the ski hill where it belongs.

If any of you were really baller you would drop your skis off at the ski shop to be waxed

During some really warm workdays this spring(afternoons where I normally would not be lapping the groomers if I wasn’t working), I started rubbing on f4. It made a noticeable difference. It was also very noticeable when it was worn off a 5k vert feet later.


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So is it penny wise and dollar stoopid (or the other way around) if you pay thousands and thousands of dollars for ski gear, hours and hours of research, perfect access vehicles, tires, passes, outerwear, make bad life decisions, etc to slide on snow and then go half-assed on keeping where the rubber meets the road anything but ideal by going cheap or simply being lazy? https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...eeth_smile.gif
Some random thoughts:
-conventional wisom used to be that it'd take a minimum of 20 wax cycles to 'season' bases to glide at their optimal level. Once you get that optimal glide, your waxing frequency may be able to be reduced.
-proper base structure is part of the mix. Brushing frees the structure of wax increase the glide the first run onward.
-A clothes iron isn't beveled/rounded around the edges like a wax iron IIRC. You could ease the edges with a file, then stone/diamond. Use an IR thermometer to check iron base temps
-rub-ons or liquid waxes generally are easy on, easy off without adding heat. Ironing after application is best. If no iron is available for mid-day adds, you can try letting the bases face the sun to warm, expand and possibly get absorbed. A roto-cork can create friction heat to help increase durability. Use over a harder base wax.
-err towards harder/colder waxes based on the nightime low (snow temp) vs a warner wax base on air temps for increased durability.
-optimal glide does make for easier and better turns.....for those who actually like to make turns and carve
-run-outs, slogs, traversing & cat tracks really benefit by proper waxing.

Those of us who drip and scrape instead of cranyon and no scrape essentially do so becasue we are not convinced that canyoning on only enough wax that you dont need to scrap results in full wax coverage. If you are going so thin that you dont need to scrape then you are probably not fully filling bases in everywhere.

And you may not care. And thats cool. But thats why we choose to drip. And to each their own.

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Originally Posted by EWG

Those of us who drip and scrape instead of cranyon and no scrape essentially do so becasue we are not convinced that canyoning on only enough wax that you dont need to scrap results in full wax coverage. If you are going so thin that you dont need to scrape then you are probably not fully filling bases in everywhere. And you may not care. And thats cool. But thats why we choose to drip. And to each their own.

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A tweener approach is to touch the wax to the iron bottom to coat it, then apply to the base. On harder waxes, especially with sharp edged clothes irons, the drips can pop off the base.
To add to above post, sintered bases are basically a zillion faces/facets within peaks and valleys (not pores). You are trying to coat all of these faces/facets and the more waxings, the more these get the wax adhered to them. Start with a soft base prep wax and build up to harder waxes for good 'saturation & coating'.

Hot Take: Being overly concerned about waxing your skis is like being overly concerned about your tires rolling resistance while doing bike park laps.

flat take: Waxing your skis is like pumping up your bike tires. I don't have strong opinions about how you do it, or whether you should do it before every ride or just once a week or once every two weeks. But if you don't do it ever, the quality of the ride is gonna suffer.