Introduction to Glide Waxing and Ski Care
By Don Harmeyer
Basic Equipment Needed:
Ski form (profile) a must to support the full length of the ski during waxing and scraping to avoid damage to the ski
Wax Iron (not your mothers laundry iron) a basic wax iron insures a more accurate temperature to avoid burning and damaging your ski bases.
Scraper 5mm plexiglass is best, used to scrape wax from the base of the ski
Groove Scraper For scraping glide wax out of the base groove. A multiscraper can be used for this as well as scraping wax from the edges of the ski.
Brushes If you to buy 2 brushes : medium copper or bronze, and a standard nylon all purpose brush. If you were to by 3 brushes: medium copper or bronze, horsehair, fine nylon polishing brush. The larger oval brushes with a strap are nice and fit well in you hand but the less expensive rectangular brushes work well too.
Fiberlene Lint free, used like a paper towel to wipe the base after brushing and to clean off kick wax.
Work Bench In your basement or garage. Warmer space is better since the warmer the ski the better it will accept glide wax. Portable benches can be taken to races but are light and tend to move when scraping. You may need some clamps to secure your ski form to the bench.
Good Music Makes for a good wax job!
Ventilation A must to ensure your health and safety. Fluorinated waxes can be especially dangerous. No reason to spoil all of that training by damaging your lungs. The speed of your skis can only do so much for your performance.
Citrus Sol Concentrated citrus solvent. Often found at health food stores. Used to remove kick wax and klister from the wax pocket of classic skis. Nontoxic unlike base cleaner.
Basic Glide Waxing: please read all the way through before you begin
With the exception of the wax pocket / kick zone on classic skis, all work is done tip to tail !!!
Glide waxing is more than just melting the wax on the surface of the ski. By using proper iron temperature and the speed that the iron travels down the length of the ski you are actually warming the base and "opening" it up so that the glide wax can be drawn into the base of the ski. By using too low of a temp or traveling to fast from tip to tail you may not get much wax penetration. With an iron that is too hot, traveling too slow or stopping with the iron in contact with the ski, or not having enough wax on the base to keep the iron from coming into direct contact with the base you run the risk of burning the base. This must be avoided since once the base has been burned in will no longer accept wax and must have a stone grind to restore the base. This is the single biggest reason to argue using a legitimate wax iron not just a "travel iron". How long are you going to ski and how much will you spend on skis to justify to modest expense of a real iron. The more you wax your skis the faster they will be and the more fun you will have.
Step One, prepping the base:
Wipe the ski off, brush 6 - 8 times tip to tail with medium bronze or copper brush. If the ski is clean and was not skied in dirty snow or brand new, or recently stone ground, proceed to Step Three. To prepare the base for glide waxing it depends on how the skis were last used. If they just came from the store or you have skied in dirty snow then should first be cleaned by ironing a soft warm wax onto the surface of the ski and immediately scraping it off while the wax is still in the molten state. This is different than trying to get the base to open up and draw in the wax. Here you only pas over the ski a few times with the iron to melt the wax on the surface and then scrape it right off. Be careful however because a base that is warm is a base that is soft and susceptible to damage!! The scraper is always held with the top edge leaning away from you at a 45 degree angle. If you lean the scraper toward you, this will cause the scraper to dig into the base and damage the ski. Move the scraper forward while in contact with the ski but without exerting any downward force. Don't forget to remove the wax from the groove with your groove pen or multipurpose scraper. Let the ski cool for 15 minutes before proceeding to the next step.
Step Two, brushing:
Never brush a warm ski. Remember a warm base is a soft base and easily damaged. You do not want to raise new hairs on the base of the ski that can slow the ski. Brush the ski 6-8 time tip to tail with a medium bronze or copper brush. This will remove the wax from within the structure lines. The structure is the little tiny lines that were placed in the base when the ski base received a stone grind. The structure of the base permits the ski to glide across the surface of the snow without creating suction that would slow the ski. The purpose of a brush is to get into these fine crevasses were the scraper does not and remove the excess wax. The 6 - 8 passes may need to be increased if you are still getting wax off the ski. Wipe the dust off the ski tip to tail with a piece of fiberlene. (Or your long underwear sleeve if you are in a pinch)
Step Three, application of the days glide wax:
If you are working on new skis or skis that have received a fresh stone grind you should apply a few layers of a warm soft glide wax to saturate the base and help bind harder colder waxes that will follow. If interested, read the new ski prep guidelines on the Swix or Toko websites. How far you take it is up to you.
Set the iron temp based on the specifications of the wax you are using. Typically if you notice the iron smoking the temp is set too high for the wax being used. Allow the iron to get up to temp. Holding the iron above the ski a few inches, push your block of glide wax onto the iron until it begins to drip onto the base. Then move the length of the ski and back, dripping wax onto the base. Another method that can stretch you supply of glide wax is to touch the wax to the iron to warm the end of it and then take the block and rub it on the base like a piece of chalk. Either way make sure that you have enough wax on the ski so that the iron will not come into direct contact with the base. Next, starting at the tip of the ski run the iron the length of the ski without pushing down. The speed of the iron movement is important. Too fast and you will not warm up the base for good wax penetration, too slow and worse you will burn the base! What speed is right? You should probably have a few inches of molten wax traveling behind the iron as you make you way down the ski. More than this and you are moving too slow, less than this are you are moving too fast. Melt all of the wax onto the base, typically 4 -5 passes tip to tail is sufficient. More than this and you risk heating the base up too much. If you are questioning yourself, place a clean finger on the base. If it is too hot to keep it there then you have heated the ski too much. Take you time. Be careful about immediately returning to the tip and making another pass. A good rule is if the wax is still molten, don't place the iron back on the ski.
When you are done with that ski, carefully remove it from the ski form and place it somewhere to cool with the base facing up. On top of a box is good. You want to have the base facing up so that as the ski cools gravity can help the wax penetrate the base. Don't stand the ski up.
Allow the skis to cool for at lest 15 minutes before you scrape them.
Step 4, Scraping:
Stand at the tip of the ski facing toward the tail. When we talk about having the angle of your scraper tipped away from you that means to place the scraper on the ski perpendicular to the length of the ski and tip the top edge toward the tail. This is very important to avoid ski damage. If the top edge of the scraper is tipped toward you this will cause the bottom edge of the scraper to dig into the base of the ski.
Always scrape the groove of the ski first with a groove pen or multi scraper angled away from you. This way if you slip out of the groove you still have a layer of wax over the gliding surface of the ski to help protect the base from damage.
Proper scraper use is important to avoid damaging your skis. Always use a sharp scraper. If your scraper is dull it won't take the wax off as easily and you will be tempted to push down on the skis and damage the base. You can buy a scraper sharpener for this but 200 or 220 grit sand paper works great. Keep the scraper at a 90 degree angle and move it back and forth lengthwise. Some scraper sharpeners can create a concave edge on your scraper and will in turn do the same to your base so be careful.
Scrape tip to tail removing the wax in layers. Don not push down and try to take all of the wax off in one or two passes. Warmer wax will easily come off in layers as it is scraped where colder waxes will come off like powder. When scraping colder waxes if you are "chipping" the wax off with the scraper it can be one of two causes. Either you are pushing down too much and trying to take the wax off in one pass rather than a layer at a time, or when ironing you moved the iron to rapidly down the length of the ski and did not heat up the base. This can result in an air pocket forming between the wax and the base so that the wax does not penetrate the base. With cold waxes a sharp scraper will also help cut off the micro hairs on the base that are standing up in the cold wax. Hairs on the base will slow the ski.
You are not trying to get every last bit of wax off with the scraper. You really should not be seeing and black material in the layer of wax that you are scraping off. If you are this means you are pressing too hard and you are actually removing base material. The two exceptions to this might be if you are hot wax cleaning the skis and while scraping the wax off in a molten state you are removing the dirt from the ski. Or, you are removing many micro hairs from a very ragged ski.
Carefully use your multiscraper to remove the wax from the side edge of the ski. Again, no downward force into the ski, scraper angled 45 degrees away from you and travel tip to tail on both sides.
Step 5, Brushing:
Remember the purpose of the bush is to remove the excess wax from within the structure lines.
Remember, scrape less, brush more. The sequence of brushes that you use depends on what brushes you have and how hard the wax is. If you have glide waxed with a colder (harder) wax a few passes of a medium copper or bronze brush would be the way to start. Like scraping, do not push down hard. Brush tip to tail, starting at the tip of the ski and traveling all the way to the tail. Why tip to tail? If there are any micro hairs you want them to lie down so that as you ski they will remain down and their impact on the glide of the ski will be less. Follow next with an all purpose nylon brush or if you have it a horse hair brush. A horse hair brush is nice due to how fine the bristles are and it does a really nice job of getting into the structure of the ski. Brush, brush, brush until you see no further wax dust forming at the tail of the ski. Finish with a fine nylon polishing brush if you have it and make several passes tip to tail.
If you have waxed your skis with a warmer (softer) glide wax you can start brushing with a standard nylon all purpose brush or your horse hair brush. Tip to tail, several passes and finish with a fine nylon polishing brush.
You do not need a large selection of brushes to get started. Start with the two mentioned above and then decide if you would like to add to your selection later.
Step 6, Final ski care and handling:
Finish by wiping off the side wall of your ski (your piece of fiberlene works well for this). If you now have any pieces of wax on the base of the ski go back and brush the off with your horse hair or nylon brush and again finish with you polishing brush. Your base should have a nice shine to it and no wax should be visible. Any visible wax will diminish glide.
If it is cold out and you are using a cold hard was you can place you skis outside to "tighten" up the base and "squeeze" a bit more wax out of the ski. Bring them back in and brush again with your standard all purpose nylon brush or horse hair if you have it. Finish again with the fine nylon polishing brush.
Now hold your skis together with ski ties but use them properly. As you know the top ski tie goes on first and then the other tie is placed on the tails of the skis. The tail tie can often be push onto the ski quite snugly but sometimes pushing the tie on the tip of the skis too far down can cause the ski bases to come into contact with each other. This is bad and will result in the bases being scratched, usually at right angles to the base structure. This will diminish glide.
Introduction to Kick Waxing – A.Grab
Wax vs. Waxless Waxless (fish scales) – simple most versatile, good for back country, little/no work, slower less experienced skiers Wax – substantially faster, touring center w/tracks, time/knowledge on waxing required
How to find the wax pocket Kick – 110% engaged/weighted ski on flat smooth surface; card under foot cannot come out Glide – 50/50 weight on both skis; card under foot easily slides Find the pocket - with equally weighted skis, slide card forward and back until engage; mark wax pocket Different skis, same length have different stiffness and hence different wax pocket Mismatched skis for skier can lead to: little/no kick; little/ no glide; poor performance; frustration
Know the snow!! Crystal structure – jagged vs. round Temps overnight through ski period (snow temps will rise slower than air temps) Sun vs. clouds Age – new vs. old Texture – fresh/soft vs. packed/reworkd/recycled Older, warmer (32-35 degrees) and “iced” snow more difficult to wax for (nice to have waxless skis in quiver for extreme conditions) Check websites for recommended wax
Arsenal of Kick Wax Start simple (5-6 different waxes) Expand over time (binders, klister, etc)
Start simple and expand knowledge over time Colder - easiest 32+ - gets tricky Binders Klister Binders, Klister, kick wax combo
When to re-clean wax pocket - too much wax built up - need binder - racing, or long outing - trying to put cold wax over warm wax - have time / energy
How to clean wax pocket (D.Harmeyers notes) - lightly sand tip to tail
Cold vs. Warm Cold ski is stiffer and slightly harder to engage wax pocket often requiring more wax layers Cold wax is harder and easier to apply cork Warm wax is softer, has tendency to gum up
Ideal - wax indoors w/bench Wax easier to apply when warm Stroke wax on lightly tip to tail covering wax pocket leaving last half inch w/o wax as wax will be drawn there by corking Corking heats up and smooths the wax Cork out any places that gummed up Put multiple (2-6) layers depending on last wax, length of time on snow, conditions, etc. Cork vigorously both directions then tip to tail 5-6 strokes Wax pocket should be smooth and shiny
Outdoor waxing – more primitive, get the job done, on trail adjustments Place tail on top of foot Cork both directions – fast and furious – need to generate more heat More difficult working w/cold wax, cold skis
Test out and Adjust Wax ALWAYS test out kick before heading out, ask what is working adjust to your skis/ability ALWAYS carry 3 waxes to allow re-waxing on the trail (same wax, one colder, one warmer)
General Tips: Many thin layers vs. few thick layers Cork each layer Pyramid layering: thicker under foot, thinner towards glide zone Layer of colder wax first to help create bind Cork tip to tail when finishing – smoother glide Build layers according to changing temps Going a bit warmer – improves kick, hampers glide >> When in doubt or for younger less experience skiers. More experienced skiers and supplement weak kick with good technique A little warmer wax right under foot for a bit of extra kick Carry small scraper in spring conditions or long treks to clean off snow (or scrape against other ski) Losing kick? Swap skis – inside edge loses wax on long snowplows Experiment and talk with other skiers – Part science, part art
Binders Usually required for warmer temps, coarse/old snow and ice, and Klisters Helps adhere waxes to ski in course conditions Apply in thin a thin layer Cork in for quick/simpler bind Iron in and layers for extremes Applied to totally clean and lightly sanded wax pocket Let cool completely before applying kick wax
Klister Small dabs, rub out w/thumbs tip to tail Broad spectrum, buy as needed? Cleanup (D.Harmeyer note)
Floro vs. Non Floro - $ for additional performance
Klister Cleanup
For those of you who are
wondering what to do with that sticky mess called klister, here are some guidelines.
One other little trick
at the end of a race or practice that involved klister is to wrap your skis
before putting them into your ski bag and contaminating the inside of your
bag. Plastic wrap from your kitchen works well for this. The
hardware store also sells 5 inch wide rolls with a built in cardboard handle
that allows you to spin it around your skis.
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Waxing Notes |