Waxing irons

I'm sorry but "waxing irons" are one of the biggest ripoffs in the industry. Only racers can justify spending big money on a f'ing iron. I think I paid $15 at Walmart for the cheapest one they had and it gets the job done like a champ.
 
^this^

I bought an $8 iron from walmart, and now, 8 years later, it's running strong. Go to Goodwill and pay $1.
 
dont buy a shitty clothes iron, they suck, you can never get a good wax and its really easy to burn the bases. Ive got the basic swix iron that still has temperature adjustment. It was like $50-60. These are really good and will do all you ever need unless your getting super competitive in racing. You can even get something cheaper than that, like one of those basic ski irons with no temp or anything, you can find those for like $30, wont be as good as something like the swix, but will still be a lot better than a clothes iron.
 
im laughing at people who say clothes irons arent as good. it doesnt matter if it says swix or singer on the top, its still just a wire plugged into a metal plate.
 
theyre not its a simple fact, do you need one? no youll manage just fine with a clothes iron, but are they better? yes.
 
Just get an old electric clothes iron. Make sure its not one with holes on the bottom. I got 2 for 5 bucks at value village and they work fine
 
I have an old thrift store clothing iron that appears to be from the 1970s. Cost 3 bucks. It works amazingly.
 
a wax iron is the way to go, buy the cheapest one you can find. mine cost 15 bucks and it has been working for the past 5 season, but it is time to upgrade as my heating element is starting to go a little crazy.

the reason a wax iron is better is because of the temperature control so you can use the recommended temperature on the wax. granted it isnt that hard to find the right temp on one w/o a dial. Also the heating element is thicker and its range of heat is less, so say you set it for 75 it will go to 70-80 on that setting, where a clothing iron has a much broader range. like 60-90. since it wasnt meant to sustain a constant temperature.

that is also when you get into higher end wax irons (dont do it, waste of money) is that they have a thicker and better heating element. so that way when melting waxes it stays more constant. this is pretty important when you start getting into melting flouros as they are a much harder wax and require a lot of consistency in the temperature, meaning that they smoke very easily. SO that is why race teams will have a fancy digital thermostat iron.
 
Old clothes iron from a thrift store. Looks for as thick a sole as possible and no steam holes. My boss in Canada used to work for Swix on the world cup the main main iron in our workshop was a clothes iron like this.
 
unless youre getting a 200 dollar one, they dont, and even if they do its completely unnecessary to have your iron dialed down the the tenth of a degree. as long as the wax melts and doesnt smoke, its going to be just fine. the only reason companies like swix and toko make irons is because they know they can sell them for way more than they are worth to people who think they need it.
 
this isnt true. its just as importnant for a clothes iron to stay consistent because certain linens burn really easily, and others take a lot of heat to iron out. the temperature of a clothes iron is almost exactly the same as a wax iron. take both irons apart, and you will see all of the same exact components.
 
I have a low end swix iron that I got at the end of the season last year, so far it has worked much better than the cheep old clothing iron that I used for a couple years, and it was only about $25
 
When I used to race I always used an old travel iron (no holes in it obviously), as did pretty much everyone apart from the rich kids. Just gotta try and get the temperature right on it.
 
screw it i got an iron from the thrift shop and its really nice. its a mad old one so its simple with no holes and the settings couldnt be simpler. and it was free cas it had a little tape around the cord
 
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