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murphysf

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Hello

I am relatively new to waxing. I purchased an iron, a couple of plastic scrapers, and a 3 pack of brushes (metal, nylon, horsehair) last season. Last year I waxed 3 sets of skis two times.

Tonight I just waxed 5 sets of skis. While waxing I thought about the below items. I am fairly detailed oriented and technical hence the type of questions.

1. Protecting the floor? I waxed in my garage on saw horses, put an old drop cloth to catch any drippings. I guess I could have also done it in my driveway. After waxing I moved the saw horses and skis to the driveway where I scraped and brushed. I then took a broom and swept the scrapings into my landscaping. I used Purl Purple, I hope this is ok and not environmentally incorrect. So the topic or question of this item is for a home do it yourselfer what are some of the tips or ideas that would help keep the area clean?

2. My two scrapers seemed to get all gummed up with wax How to deal with this? I am not asking about sharpening but how to clean them. I soaked them in hot water and then took a razor blade and gently removed the tacky wax.

3. Cleaning brushes? My last pass was with the horsehair brush. It seemed to hold alot of the fine particles. I tapped in on the driveway to shake some of the fine particles free? I thought to run it under the hot water tap and then leave it out to dry.

4. What are the consequences if the scrape job is not 100%? Will the wax just come off on the first few runs? Similarly what if the brush out with the nylon and horsehair brushes isn't the best? I only used the metal brush once, which was after I cleaned the bases and brushed the skis tail to tip before I waxed them.

5. I waxed up a bit toward the tip. Some of this wax didn't come off with the scraper or brushing? Is this poor waxing etiquette? If I wax a pair of skis for a friend and gave them back to him with a bit of visible wax toward the tips should he be disappointed?
 

mdf

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I find the gummy-wax problem is related to the specific brand or type. I ran into it one trip when I brought my travel tuning tools but forgot to bring wax :)doh:). The only wax I could find was some sort of One Ball Jay promoted as environmentally friendly.

I find most Swix or Briko waxes leave a hard residual that can be pried off pretty easily with another scraper.

So no answers here. Now some cross country grip waxes are meant to be gooey. Maybe some xc folk will have advice.
 

OldJeep

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I just scrape in garage. Gets on floor and tables, shop vac to clean it up.

Never used a wax that was so gummy that it didn't just flake off the scraper. Same goes for brushes, i usually just run them over tge edge of the table to clean them off.
 

Wilhelmson

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I'm relatively new to waxing, maybe 100 times.
1. It's really up to you. I wax in my basement and find any wax that sticks to my socks gives our hardwood floors a nice shine. We only provide our cats a litter box when we go away so that's a perfect time to sweep the floor.
2. That sounds like a lot of gooey wax. Consider using the shop towel method of ironing which is popular amount some here. The first few times I applied WAY too much wax. That soft wax should spread like butter so would be easy to over apply. When I started I was deathly afraid of burning the bases so I erred on the side of copious amounts of wax! -see #1 cleaning all those excess scrapings off the floor.
3. I just knock out whatever dust I can, while your're vacuuming the floor with your 5 horse shop vac (just kidding) how about getting the brushes?
4/5 Up to you, sometimes I don't scrape at all. If your friend were unhappy with the scrape job perhaps his expectations are too high, unless he was rebuilding your transmission or replacing your toilet in which case you better get those bases shiny.
 

Dwight

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2. My two scrapers seemed to get all gummed up with wax How to deal with this? I am not asking about sharpening but how to clean them. I soaked them in hot water and then took a razor blade and gently removed the tacky wax.

hmm, I use Purl purple too, never have had gooey wax. Over time wax does stay on scrappers, no matter what wax I use. Citrus cleaner can easily take it off. I just worry about keeping my scraper edges sharp with drywall sand paper.

Curious how long you waited before scraping and brushing? Was the wax still warm?

I shop vac floor area when done and use a garbage can to sweep from by bench counter.

Glad you started doing this. Always fun to wax your own skis.
 

NE1

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I use wax remover on the scrapers, then sharpen regularly with a Swix sharpener followed by a few swipes on a large taped down bastard file to keep the edge square.

I do find that wax shavings get ground into floor of my shop if I am not faithful about sweeping them away from my feet. (As one might expect, ground-in wax makes the floor slippery!)
 

KingGrump

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A single edge razor blade scraper makes quick work of removing wax from the side of the scraper.

Razor blade scraper.jpg
 

DanoT

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To eliminate (or really severely reduce) the amount of mess, try this crayon method for waxing...HERE.

I have free access to a Wintersteiger infrared wax machine at my home mountain, but this rub on method for road ski trips waxing in my RV will be perfect. Ironically rub on waxing and no scraping is the mo for the infrared wax machine and its greatest attribute is time saving and no mess, just like Phil's recommended DIY method.:yahoo:
 

raytseng

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Here are some of my non-pro techniques I use.

0) If you used a dropcloth you shouldn't have had so much to sweep up. Get a bigger dropcloth. There is a tradeoff if you work outside. Maybe don't need to sweep; but even a gentle breeze may blow what wax dust you do have everywhere (see 5 below on reducing amount of extra wax to remove).

1) Keep a couple plastic cards for tight wax removal, specifically used creditcards/hotel room keys to help you.
You can use these to go to town in the tips and tails. I also use them to clear the edges instead of the notch on the plexi scraper

Note your main scraping of a base should in the direction of spreading butter on toast which also drives wax into the base; On the tips and tails or for excess lumps of wax, where it doesn't matter you could use chisel/pry direction especially with a creditcard or other tool.

2) To help clear your brushes, use a creditcard (or scraper, just scrape over the bristles a couple ways)

3) If you're not using super cold wax, use boiling water to clean your gear, over just tap temp hot water.
This doesn't mean, boil your tools on a pot on the stove. Use a kettle and pour the hot water over your gear outside. You can use a bucket to catch the nowwarm water let it sit to absorb the heatenergy and soften. Then use more full temp boiling water for final rinse, either use pair of tongs/strainer, or just hold things by the corner if you're a good pourer and don't splash yourself with scalding water (use your brain here for safety and figure out what works for you).

4) The brushing esp. since you have a horsehair should give you the shiny lustred finish to look nice, even if it's on a thick coat of wax.
Don't be afraid to put a little more armpower and in the brushing. You can brush polish a thick layer of wax to look nice but it will have no performance benefit. The performance benefits only come if you actually got the wax off and you're clearing out the structure. If you scratch at your base with your fingernail and a curl of wax comes up, you still have a full layer of wax on it.

4a) If your friend doesn't like your waxjob, F that guy, he can do it himself next time if he wants. (The brushing above can make things look nice though if you value appearance over performance). Doing a final wipe of the whole ski, with a shop paper towel to get off all excess white wax dust helps show off your work though.

By far, getting excess wax off is by far the most messy and labor intensive part. The snow and ice will eventually take extra off; First few runs may feel weird, and then performance may change through the day as your wax "fake structure" flattens out. If you feel flat patches of full wax after your ski day, or your fingernail is still pulling up curls of wax, you can just brush again to cut the patch of wax into structure again, so the snow can scrape it off.
If you feel it's not working out; you can pay the $5 (or sometimes 2 for $5 or free) for the shop or on-mountain quicktune to run your skis over the machine buffwax buffer. That will take off any extra of your ironed on wax in like 30seconds.


5)Look both into crayon, hottouch, and fiberlene method to end up with a thinner molten layer, so so you have less to take off. I personally use hottouch and fiberlene methods.
 
Last edited:

sparty

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1. Protecting the floor? I waxed in my garage on saw horses, put an old drop cloth to catch any drippings. I guess I could have also done it in my driveway. After waxing I moved the saw horses and skis to the driveway where I scraped and brushed. I then took a broom and swept the scrapings into my landscaping. I used Purl Purple, I hope this is ok and not environmentally incorrect. So the topic or question of this item is for a home do it yourselfer what are some of the tips or ideas that would help keep the area clean?

In reverse order, sweeping scrapings into the environment is a generally accepted practice that seems kinda questionable to me. I scrape in my tuning room and sweep up the scrapings, then put them in the trash. Ski wax (especially fluoro waxes) can have chemicals in it that are best treated as environmentally unfriendly trash. Of course, if you've ever seen scraping and brushing at a race start...well, that clearly isn't getting contained and cleaned up.

As far as protecting the floor from drippings, my #1 recommendation would be to use an area where you can just get over it. If it's a concrete floor in the basement or garage, wax drippings really shouldn't matter a whole lot. If waxing while traveling, then a tarp or drop cloth will work (just remember to fold the edges up and in and make sure it's fully folded before lifting, lest you dump all the scrapings out the end onto the carpet).

2. My two scrapers seemed to get all gummed up with wax How to deal with this? I am not asking about sharpening but how to clean them. I soaked them in hot water and then took a razor blade and gently removed the tacky wax.
a) As others have noted, another scraper (I'd use the short edge, not the edge one would use on the base) or a metal straight-edge should work pretty well
b) are you hot-scraping as part of a base-rejuvenation cycle? If not, you may not be allowing the wax enough time to cool (45 minutes is what I'd consider minimum acceptable time; 1-2 hours is probably better).

3. Cleaning brushes? My last pass was with the horsehair brush. It seemed to hold alot of the fine particles. I tapped in on the driveway to shake some of the fine particles free? I thought to run it under the hot water tap and then leave it out to dry.

I've had good luck using the short edge of a metal scraper to knock the fine particles loose while over a trash can, with the hope that most will float downwards. For best results, wear a respirator while doing so, or at least be sure not to inhale.

4. What are the consequences if the scrape job is not 100%? Will the wax just come off on the first few runs? Similarly what if the brush out with the nylon and horsehair brushes isn't the best? I only used the metal brush once, which was after I cleaned the bases and brushed the skis tail to tip before I waxed them.
Brushing recreational skis post-wax is largely unnecessary, particularly if you're skiing on firm snow. I only brush race skis post-wax when they'll be strapped and carried to the start; otherwise, any excess wax is likely to get skied out in the first few hundred feet (not even the first full run) anyhow. Pow skis I might scrape a little more carefully and take one or two passes with a nylon brush, as the drag will be more pronounced and the soft snow may not manage to remove the excess wax.

Also, brushing should be tip to tail, and brushes should always be used in one direction (many have arrows on them; if not, put them on your brushes), as the bristles will "learn" the direction.

5. I waxed up a bit toward the tip. Some of this wax didn't come off with the scraper or brushing? Is this poor waxing etiquette? If I wax a pair of skis for a friend and gave them back to him with a bit of visible wax toward the tips should he be disappointed?
If he doesn't like it, he should wax his own skis. ;)

In all seriousness, getting the last remnants off the non-running surface of the tip can be a PITA and is functionally irrelevant on groomed snow. In deeper snow, particularly with a big ski with a large, rockered tip, I could see it having some impact, but if it's far enough to the tip that you can't effectively scrape it, it's probably not going to affect performance. For aesthetic purposes, yes, it annoys me a little, but not enough to make me willing to spend an extra five minutes trying to clean it up (I'm thinking of the wax dribblings that are on the tip of one of my slalom skis right now; the tip protector protrudes below the base, making scraping the actual tip challenging, and I know there's a clump of wax there from my last tune).
 

Doug Briggs

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1) don't let the wax hit the floor: My bench

2) use another scraper to scrape the scraper

3) don't let your brushes touch anything that isn't clean. you can get grit on the brush from your driveway which will translate to your ski's base.

4) wax is most effective when it is not seen. you won't win races with excess wax on your skis but you won't cause any harm apart from wax tends to cause grime and debris to stick to your bases.

5) wax at the tip isn't a problem per se, but the job will look more workman-like if it is removed.
 

Jacques

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Hello

I am relatively new to waxing. I purchased an iron, a couple of plastic scrapers, and a 3 pack of brushes (metal, nylon, horsehair) last season. Last year I waxed 3 sets of skis two times.

Tonight I just waxed 5 sets of skis. While waxing I thought about the below items. I am fairly detailed oriented and technical hence the type of questions.

1. Protecting the floor? I waxed in my garage on saw horses, put an old drop cloth to catch any drippings. I guess I could have also done it in my driveway. After waxing I moved the saw horses and skis to the driveway where I scraped and brushed. I then took a broom and swept the scrapings into my landscaping. I used Purl Purple, I hope this is ok and not environmentally incorrect. So the topic or question of this item is for a home do it yourselfer what are some of the tips or ideas that would help keep the area clean?

2. My two scrapers seemed to get all gummed up with wax How to deal with this? I am not asking about sharpening but how to clean them. I soaked them in hot water and then took a razor blade and gently removed the tacky wax.

3. Cleaning brushes? My last pass was with the horsehair brush. It seemed to hold alot of the fine particles. I tapped in on the driveway to shake some of the fine particles free? I thought to run it under the hot water tap and then leave it out to dry.

4. What are the consequences if the scrape job is not 100%? Will the wax just come off on the first few runs? Similarly what if the brush out with the nylon and horsehair brushes isn't the best? I only used the metal brush once, which was after I cleaned the bases and brushed the skis tail to tip before I waxed them.

5. I waxed up a bit toward the tip. Some of this wax didn't come off with the scraper or brushing? Is this poor waxing etiquette? If I wax a pair of skis for a friend and gave them back to him with a bit of visible wax toward the tips should he be disappointed?


1. Protecting the floor? Use a big drop cloth. I use a dedicated ski shop, so I don't worry about it. All the wax drippings give the floor traction.

2. My two scrapers seemed to get all gummed up with wax How to deal with this? As long as the edge is good, don't worry about it.
Use wax remover such as Toko HC-3


3. Cleaning brushes? Don't brush warm wax. Use a shop vac to clean after each brushing session.

4. What are the consequences if the scrape job is not 100%? Your skis will lack glide. You need to brush them totally clean.

Will the wax just come off on the first few runs? If the wax job is really poor quality along with the wax, maybe. Just don't do it. Scrape & brush until total clean.

Similarly what if the brush out with the nylon and horsehair brushes isn't the best? Use steel or brass first. Nylon & Horeshair are for final polishing only.

5. I waxed up a bit toward the tip. Some of this wax didn't come off with the scraper or brushing? Is this poor waxing etiquette? Yes, work harder, you can do it.
 

hrbngr

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--for keeping scrapers sharper, this is nice option, though not for everyone: https://shopcoldriver.com/products/edgr-scraper-sharpener I love using it, but totally overkill.

--for non gooey wax, drop cloth if u want, but scraping and brushing require a firm stance and good shoulder work, so make sure ur dropcloth is stable/grabby, not slidey.

--there are some nice options for brushes if u are having trouble removing the wax, you can use a drill with a nice rotobrush for quicker removal, ex: https://www.slidewright.com/toko-red-creek-roto-brush-black-nylon-10-mm.php

- use the one scraper to remove the majority of wax from the other, than any citrus cleaner will take care of the rest. Buy more scrapers. always, always handy. the guy selling the scraper sharpener has some great pricing on multiple thickness scrapers: https://shopcoldriver.com/t/wax-scrapers. Also, of note, his edge guides are--bar none--the best i have ever used. https://shopcoldriver.com/products/sst-file-guide

- Finally, the better iron you buy, they more heat it will hold and the better the results. An iron with a reliable digital temperature control will allow you to get the wax on your skis more consistently, and closer to the recommended temperature for application by the manufacturer.

I guess this is some down the rabbit hole kind of stuff, but it sure is nice using good tools to perform this generally tedious task.
 

CalG

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Please note that any 'digital' display can be so far off calibration that any decent analog display would be better.

After all, we are talking about a bimetal junction and a couple of resistors to determine the signal. The A to D conversion has it's own set of errors. Why?

I suppose if one can not read an analog meter, a numeric display instills confidence. But it does NOT assure accuracy.
 

KingGrump

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--for keeping scrapers sharper, this is nice option, though not for everyone: https://shopcoldriver.com/products/edgr-scraper-sharpener I love using it, but totally overkill.

--for non gooey wax, drop cloth if u want, but scraping and brushing require a firm stance and good shoulder work, so make sure ur dropcloth is stable/grabby, not slidey.

--there are some nice options for brushes if u are having trouble removing the wax, you can use a drill with a nice rotobrush for quicker removal, ex: https://www.slidewright.com/toko-red-creek-roto-brush-black-nylon-10-mm.php

- use the one scraper to remove the majority of wax from the other, than any citrus cleaner will take care of the rest. Buy more scrapers. always, always handy. the guy selling the scraper sharpener has some great pricing on multiple thickness scrapers: https://shopcoldriver.com/t/wax-scrapers. Also, of note, his edge guides are--bar none--the best i have ever used. https://shopcoldriver.com/products/sst-file-guide

- Finally, the better iron you buy, they more heat it will hold and the better the results. An iron with a reliable digital temperature control will allow you to get the wax on your skis more consistently, and closer to the recommended temperature for application by the manufacturer.

I guess this is some down the rabbit hole kind of stuff, but it sure is nice using good tools to perform this generally tedious task.

I believe you are posting on the wrong thread. :huh:

This is the dude you are looking for.
 

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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My two scrapers seemed to get all gummed up with wax

Hmmm. You're letting skis and wax cool thoroughly before scraping, yes? Like for twenty minutes or more?
 

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