Re: glide wax - myth or magic?


"Big Z" <zinna5@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1140143339.405851.59660@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I don't think anyone really addressed the waxability of no wax skis
satisfactorily in this thread ... not that any of you seriously
considered it i.e.
since you mention basic paraffin rather than high end fluoros. anyway
it "would be a huge waste of money to use high end glide waxes on the
tips and tails (glide zones) of no wax skis and under no circumstances
should you grip wax the kick zones of them. also by their very nature
waxless skis are NOT BUILT to handle the heat necessary to apply the
better glide waxes to them with an iron ... any glide wax you apply
needs to be "corked" in.

I speak from experience; I tried to iron in a base prep wax on a pair
of old waxless skis I had (instead of relying on WD-40 or silicone
sprays which unfortunately don't have good adhesion to the ski and have
to be reapplied often). the result was that the p-tex or whatever it
was on the bottom began to melt ... i.e. what you'll notice is that the
skating race skis and waxable classic skis are made of better quality
graphite and other materials which have the correct heat resistance and
porousity to handle good glide waxes. these types of glide waxes
really only go in well when you iron them in.

I'm new at waxless so YMMV, but I recently waxed 4 sets of skis and had no
problem that I could see. The first 'guinea pig' was an older pair of
Rossignol waxless and the remaining three were all realtively new Karhu BC
type "short and shapely" skis. On all, I followed what I'd read which was
to keep the iron moving at a speed which would leave a trail of melted wax
2-3" long. I used Paraffin, not really because I'm too cheap to buy wax,
but mostly because it was all that was avail on short notice, and I wanted
to test it's use on untracked snow.

Of interest, one of the links suggested to me, mentioned using paraffin wax
for the first wax jobs on new skis
http://www.fwpages.com/home/index.php?site_config_id=28&page_selection=729 :
"Ski waxes are blends of paraffins (candle-like waxes) and micro-crystalline
and noncrystalline polyethylene (plastic waxes). Paraffin and polyethylene
waxes melt at about the same temperature and blend easily. This is why a
soft paraffin wax used for a ski's first waxing(s) will result in good
absorption - the paraffin wax blends with the residual amorphous
polyethylene left within the gaps as a result of the sintering process."

I'm going to experiment with using paraffin for periodic hot waxing to heep
the bases clean and protected, followed by an iron-on glide wax or maybe a
wipe on before daily outings such as Swix F4.

I may be wrong regarding the temperature/melting issues - is it that the
harder waxes require a significantly higher temperature?

a




in the interest of economy and realistic expectiations for your waxing
dollar all that's really needed for cheap waxless skis is "maxi-glide
maxx-waxx" or lemon pledge if you're really cheap and want to avoid the
icies ...

perhaps if you have a pair of Fischer RCS Waxless which have actually
won a World Cup or two during those crazy transitional temperatures ...
it might be worth it to experiment with some of the more expensive
glide waxes ... to try for better performance.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: glide wax - myth or magic?
    ... I don't think anyone really addressed the waxability of no wax skis ... waxless skis are NOT BUILT to handle the heat necessary to apply the ... better glide waxes to them with an iron ... ...
    (rec.skiing.nordic)
  • Re: glide wax - myth or magic?
    ... I realize that there are important improvements in wax technology ... will paraffin get me there? ... By far it's more important to have a well fitting pair of skis than the ... In the 80's we essentially used parafin for glide. ...
    (rec.skiing.nordic)
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    ... carnuba wax, the hardest and highest melting point natural ... It is both chemically and physically very different from paraffin: ... They are all lubricants because they share the property of melting at the pressure point and forming a film of high strength separating the sliding components. ... If the water film remained it would be. ...
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