Waxxing?

It works fine. I don't scrape every time, but like someone else said, as well as I said, after the first run it's all smooth.

Most days I scrape it off, but it's not completely necessary.
 
i wax my skis as soon as i come in off the hill and then scrape and brush them the next time before i go out
 
No actually.. If you consider the science of waxing, you'll notice that there is a reason people scrape their skis after they wax.

The idea of a wax is to create a flat, hydrophobic, base of the ski to reduce friction and also to reduce impurities in the base of the ski.

On an ideal (flat) wax, when your ski glides on the snow, it creates enough friction to melt the snow underneath and essentially lubricates a the ski's ride. In warm conditions too much water melts, creating a sluggish suction

between the ski and snow (the same way a glass of water sticks to a

glass table). In colder temperatures less water melts, the lubricating

layer is reduced and the ski glides less smoothly.

Hence the different structures of Hot and Cool weather wax.

When you don't scrape, you're giving the negative surface (In this case, the snow) something to grab onto (the imperfections, or "bumps" in the wax), therefore "pulling" the wax off your ski entirely in chunks at a time... Enhancing the friction and creating the unwanted suction on your ski.

So ALWAYS scrape the wax.

 
Okay, thanks. I kinda understood that before, but now it makes a little more sense.

But like I said, Those bad chunks and that do get pulled off within a run, which is usually a warm-up, and I wouldn't need to go super fast, anyways.

Yes, scraping would save that one slow run, I know, but sometimes I'm in a hurry to finish waxing, so I can sacrifice one run.

You're right, but I'm just lazy.
 
I think what he was trying to tell you is when those "chunks" get ripped off. They pull off more wax than you want to come off.
 
i've heard pple use scotch brite pads (green side of those sponges i think). is that buffing? i have always melt wax on, smooth it out, and scrape. i dont do anything after like buffing.
 
Buffing pads are cheap... cheaper than sponges... But if you can find a sponge that's not already "pre-soaked" with soap and whatever, (Whenever I buy sponges, I notice they're slightly damp in the package, with a bit of soap), I think that might work.

As for not scraping: Yeah. when you don't do it, you're essentially just negating the purpose of waxing... either scrape, or don't wax at all.
 
i'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one. my bluebird wax i scrape immediatly. is this supposed to make the waxing last longer or something?
 
No, a hot scrape is for cleaning your bases. If you iron on the wax and immediately scrape it without letting it harden, it pulls the dirt and impurities out of the "pores" of the base. However, it also pulls out all the old wax, so you need to rewax, let harden and then scrape a second time, or you are negating the purpose of the wax.
 
I wax them myself, usually when bases start to get real sticky, around every 1 or 2 weeks depending on snow conditions.
 
I'm sure you could argue either way. I personally just let them chill for an hour or so. I like to wax all my skis at the same time if possible. So I will wax one pair let it chill, and then go on and do my other skis. By the time I am done waxing them all, they are ready to start scraping.
 
I just bought the dakine tune kit it comes with almost everything you need except an iron and the kit was like $60
 
I think I'm going to hot wax this season. usually I'll just use a bar of wax and tune them every few days I'm out.
 
A lot of shops will save all the hot waxes for later when getting close

to closing up, they just drip, spread and set aside for the morning

for scraping.

If you're not waiting a 1/2 hour for the wax to dry, it's very possible

that the wax hasn't done it's entire job yet by sucking out the

impurities.

As far as waxing, waiting, scraping, and repeating: I haven't heard of

that. I would imagine that yeah, it does help, but only inf you're

really needing that extra speed, (ie. Racers).
 
Yea I have also heard about putting your skis in a hot area near a heat register or sauna or something, and keeping the skis there for a few hours before scraping because the heat allows the wax to continue to penetrate the base.
 
It takes 15 layers of wax (15 wax-scrape cycles) to fully saturate a new ski.

And whoever was arguing about scraping vs not scraping, scrape one ski sometime this season then see if you can tell the difference when you put them on after lunch.
 
Never.

Due to the race base, if you wax them you'll warp to hyper speed, bending the space-time continuum.

But those are pretty fast skis, it really depends on what you ski and how often, but you shouldn't have to worry about waxing them too often.
 
i have this kind of wax that says "viper paste wax" and its in this little jar and it comes with a little foam circle that you use to put the stuff on to your skis and the guy at the shop said you just leave it dry and then use it?

is this kind of stuff bad?
 
no, i'm pretty sure race bases also need more maintenance overall. Needs waxing more frequently, a softer base that gets damaged more easily. so more wax if you care about speed.
 
Before you drip the wax on, you forgot to use a base cleaner and scrape the other shit off first so that it bonds better with the base, and at the end you should probably finish it with some steel wool, and some cork to get the lines going.
 
Base cleaner=bad idea, it dries the hell out of your bases, hot scraping is a much better way to clean them.
 
Right...

If you could spell and were a credible source of knowledge (not just being an ass to people), maybe I'd believe you.

But you can't and you aren't, so I won't.
 
i hate to break this to you, but your supposed to scrape off every bit of wax you possibly can once its dry.
 
actually, race skis have softer, more porous bases. this allows them to absorb wax better, which is really important. wax helps to preserve bases, and waxing those skis more often will help them last longer. also, throw a coat of wax on for the summer and dont scrape it off. this helps keep the bases from drying out. half of you have no idea what youre talking about but you wax your skis yourselves anyway, which is strange.

if you need any help, go to swixschool.com. other than being a gigantic ad for tons of swix products you dont necessarily need, its got all the basics you need to get started or re-learn how to do what you think youre doing.
 
I wax about 4-5 times a week, seeing im out nearly every day. I usually wax at night, after ive been riding all day, and then all night. It just protects my base, and I do it myself so its cheap, and easy to do.
 
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