Had my first waxing experience this weekend. After some learning curve, I think that I got the application side. I went with a combo of drip and crayon with the warm wax bar to make sure I have a good coating before putting an iron on there. Had the iron set to 130 C, as per the wax package. Scraping was done with a new plexiglass scraper that I sharpened to ensure flat and no burs. Wax is white and I noticed a small bit of black with some of the wax shavings. It was super small bits and only on some passes. I’m guessing that’s a bit of base. Base didn’t look like anything bad happened. Is that normal or was I pushing too hard with the scraper? Thanks.
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Wax scraping base
- Thread starter vtmecheng
- Start date
Did you let the wax cool?
I let the wax cool for days or months at a time before scraping.
Days if it's in between ski trips. Months for storage wax.
I let the wax cool for days or months at a time before scraping.
Days if it's in between ski trips. Months for storage wax.
Also
I don’t even bother scraping storage wax until the next season approaches. But ,after waxing skis since I was 10 , I’ve got about 50 years of waxing and scraping experience.
No idea what that works out to in hours but it has to be less than shaving. 
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It could be dirt, it could be ptex. It's normal. It could also be burnt wax if the wax was smoking.
guessing its base, sadly bases are usually not that flat, nothing to worry about though, should make the ski better if flatter
Ski base is black. I let it cool for an hour or so. The wax was definitely not smoking, I was careful to watch my iron speed and temp. I figured it was base and that some little flecks wasn’t bad but I also would rather ask than be wrong about this one.
I bet it was too sharp. Don’t realize that was a bad thing. I can still see the structure but I would hate for that to disappear over a few more waxings.
It's normal and I wouldn't worry about it. Once you start seeing a lot of ptex scrapings in the wax it's time to stop scraping and brush, but if you have a black base you will see a few and shouldn't be alarmed. As far as losing some structure goes, yes you are taking a minute amount if the top of the structure ridge away while wax scraping, but so does skiing wear it down, so structure is one of those things that needs to be recut periodically anyway.
If you could see the amount of ptex scrapings on my work bench after hand scraping a base high ski and I still have more to take down, you'd understand why I say don't worry about it. It's alarming to see all these scrapings and shavings and yet it's still not flat enough. Those scrapings are measured in microns. The ptex base is 1.5mm thick and a tough material. You literally cannot scrape a ski base away by hand unless you made a career out of it.
If you could see the amount of ptex scrapings on my work bench after hand scraping a base high ski and I still have more to take down, you'd understand why I say don't worry about it. It's alarming to see all these scrapings and shavings and yet it's still not flat enough. Those scrapings are measured in microns. The ptex base is 1.5mm thick and a tough material. You literally cannot scrape a ski base away by hand unless you made a career out of it.
You want structure to start to disappear. Sharp freshly ground structure is stickier than well scraped structure. And, of course, microhairs will come off the base.
bs on the too sharp thingy, ski is base high some places or base desided to change up a little bit in the heat
Thank you all for the info, it makes me feel a lot better about how everything went. It was a definite crash course for me this weekend because I learned to sharpen, repair ptex, and wax.
The question of sharp plexiglass scraper is interesting. I had tried scraping with the new one out the box and it was not going easy. After sharpening I didn’t have to put as much pressure into the ski and it was really smooth, which I figured could only be a good thing.
I will thank @Philpug for the YouTube video on waxing. While I didn’t do the shop towel trick (yet), I did find the warmed crayon method to be much easier than just dripping. It made the wax spread out more at the start so there was less time moving the iron around once melted to ensure coverage. I let more drips on than he did just so I didn’t go too little but still used less than when I just dripped.
The question of sharp plexiglass scraper is interesting. I had tried scraping with the new one out the box and it was not going easy. After sharpening I didn’t have to put as much pressure into the ski and it was really smooth, which I figured could only be a good thing.
I will thank @Philpug for the YouTube video on waxing. While I didn’t do the shop towel trick (yet), I did find the warmed crayon method to be much easier than just dripping. It made the wax spread out more at the start so there was less time moving the iron around once melted to ensure coverage. I let more drips on than he did just so I didn’t go too little but still used less than when I just dripped.
After all the waxing threads, people are still scraping?
I gave that up long ago for the " @Philpug shop towel method " no mess to clean, fast and Happy Wifey.
I use the shop towel method, but still scrape and brush. The shop towel method reduces the wax to scrap off significantly but for me not entirely. Do you brush or just ski it after shop towel method?
Might plexi thickness also play a factor in scraping away the ptex?
Feels like a 3mm plexi would be easier to bend and thus scrape away the middle of the ski (especially if one is pushing the scraper from the middle of the plexi/ski instead of pushing with thumbs over the edges) compared to a 5mm thick plexi.
Feels like a 3mm plexi would be easier to bend and thus scrape away the middle of the ski (especially if one is pushing the scraper from the middle of the plexi/ski instead of pushing with thumbs over the edges) compared to a 5mm thick plexi.
I’m using a 5mm.
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