Noob with a few questions regarding waxing

**gonediesel** · 01-06-2007, 11:55 PM

Few questions, Noobie here. I have been skiing and boarding for a while but I had been renting my equipment. Recently I just bought a set of skis for the wifey and a snowboard for myself. I am not sure the best way to transport them on my roof rack. Is the best way to transport the board/skis with a good coat of wax on them and then when at the mountain do a final wax scraping and hand brushing. Or should I just fully prep the board/ski and then transport them. I am not sure if the dirt and road crud will affect the wax job. Also is the wax job affected when placing the skis bottom to bottom and placed in the roof rack? My next question pertains when doing the hot wax job. Today I used a household iron with aluminum foil sheet attached to the bottom. I didn’t like the way it went. I ended up with some large wax clumps that were difficult to remove. I was wondering if an actual wax iron works better. I do not want to buy an actual wax iron if they are not any better than a regular iron. The problem I was having today is the iron didn’t seem to have a consistent delivery of heat throughout the iron bottom. So I couldn’t get a nice even melted wax film under the iron. Some areas were clumpy and other areas were melted fine. I ended up using a hot air gun to deliver a nice even coat of wax on the skis and it went smoothly. Do the wax irons have a more consistent heat delivery? Thanks for any input. GD

**Pow4Brains** · 01-07-2007, 12:10 AM

If you use the search function you will find a complete how to on tuning.

**marshalolson** · 01-07-2007, 12:11 AM

and basegrind those pock-marked bases

**gwat** · 01-07-2007, 12:24 AM

Please refer to epiciski.com
You will make many new friends there.

**ill-advised strategy** · 01-07-2007, 02:25 AM

lose the foil

no need for special iron, maybe yours just sucks or it ain't hot enough or you're not keeping it moving. There's no clump that doesn't succumb to a sharp steel scraper

don't worry about minor shit like road crud and little scratches unless you're racing, in which case you should never have your skis on a roof rack period. When I was racing I would put a clean sock over a tip and a tail then secure the skis together to bring them to the course.

uhh, yeah. and lose the foil JONG

**steve** · 01-07-2007, 07:52 AM

your normal iron might already be ruined, even with the foil on it. iron something you don't care about, make sure no wax got in the holes. if so, then you have a dedicated iron for ski tuning. if your iron is ok, then save your money -go to salvation army and buy a $5 iron dedicated to waxing skis.

I understand that road salt is bad for your bindings, but I don't know for sure.

here's the obligatory jong: jong.

-steve

**gonediesel** · 01-07-2007, 08:09 AM

Yeti, bro thanks for actually reading my post and answering my questions. its guys like you who actually make boards like this worth while visiting. I will look into getting a steel scraper. i was using a plastic scraper and steel 8" wide drywall spatula. the spatula worked fine on the skis but on the board it gave when scraping over the thick waxy spots. i will try the sock trick for the skis when trasporting and not worry about road grime since im not racing. it seemed like my worries were a bit overkill but i didn't want to waste the hours i spent getting the board and skis tuned. thanks again for your informative reply.

mash, i will read up on it. thanks for guideing me in a direction i had not thought about yet.

hey pow, thanks for the reply. i already used the search and found plenty of great info on how to tune the board. but unfortunately i wasn't asking how to tune. i know i like to beat around the bush a bit sometimes in my posts but if you read slowly, possibly you may actually notice this and be able to actually contribute to the thread. thanks for your lame reply anyways.

gwat, thanks for the link i will check it out when i am looking for some friends. right now though i am looking for technical info in this tech talk forum. thanks for your time though. GD

**PNW Skier** · 01-07-2007, 01:59 PM

If you are hard up for a ski wax iron I just got this one for christmas. It's pretty cool and was decently priced IMO. I do like the fact that I have better control over the heat with this iron. I could never get my other (clothes iron) to the right heat, it would either not melt the wax or the wax would smoke.

As has been said already the roof rack isn't great for your gear but as long as you cover the bindings up you'll be alright. Oh and face the ski tips toward the rear of the car.

Oh and...well, I guess I'm too much of a newb here to Jong you so I won't

**Pow4Brains** · 01-07-2007, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by gonediesel

hey pow, thanks for the reply. i already used the search and found plenty of great info on how to tune the board. but unfortunately i wasn't asking how to tune. i know i like to beat around the bush a bit sometimes in my posts but if you read slowly, possibly you may actually notice this and be able to actually contribute to the thread. thanks for your lame reply anyways.

You search really well.

**SuperGaper** · 01-08-2007, 08:56 AM

who the fuck the uses a metal scraper to scrape wax? sharpen your plastic scraper on a drywall screen or sanding block, and apply wax without clumping.

**Jer** · 01-08-2007, 09:22 AM

Propane torch.

**Core Shot** · 01-08-2007, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by gonediesel

Few questions, Noobie here. I have been skiing and boarding for a while but I had been renting my equipment. Recently I just bought a set of skis for the wifey and a snowboard for myself.

the fact that this post actually got any serious responses is truly pathetic.

there's a place for questions like these. Its called www.epicski.com