The Wax Thing

[Hans]

Was wondering which waxes you use at the bottom and sidewalls of your Swoard or other carvingboards, fluor or non-fluor, experiences, tips, best choice (Asking for opinions, because I am going to wax my own boards for the first time).

Cheers, Hans.

[nils]

I'm using basic wax (pink or yellow depending on snow temp) that is conditionned in 1 kilo bricks (cheapest around 1 kilo= 12/13 euros) and each can last up to 25 boards waxing.
I've used once fluoride wax: its hell expensive and haven't noticed any difference ( told that the vapors when you melt it are cancerigen).

So basically except if you're racing and looking for 10th of seconds difference, I'd wax with basic stuff and do a good scraping job + low texture (especially on the swoard's base that has very little structures since it is NOT stone sanded on purpose).

N.

[Hans]

Nils, thanks for the answere

I'm using basic wax (pink or yellow depending on snow temp) that is conditionned in 1 kilo bricks (cheapest around 1 kilo= 12/13 euros) and each can last up to 25 boards waxing.N.

Which brand of wax do you use, because the price/quantity is excellent, can I get it online with an internetshop?

do a good scraping job + low texture (especially on the swoard's base that has very little structures since it is NOT stone sanded on purpose).N.

Which sort of brush (nylon, horshair or something else) do you use for the low texture?

Greetings, Hans.

[audacium]

Hi Hans,


I totally agree with Nils. It is not worth buying especially expensive wax if your are not a racer. In addition you would even have to consider snow temperature etc. if you really want to "tune" your board with the right wax.
Personally I am using the red universal wax from Holmenkol, I am very content with it. It comes with 2 x 250 g and costs something around EUR 18.
Even it is maybe a little bit more expensive it does not matter that much.

First, 500 g of wax hold for quite some time even if you use a lot of it. You will see, in the beginning you will need a lot of wax to wax your base thouroughly, but with some exercise you will see how surprisingly little wax one needs to re-wax the base completely. A few drips every few centimeters are more than enough. Excessive wax on the base only means much more scraping after ironing
Second, the base of Swoard boards is really excellent, it needs very little waxing (so my impression) but still glides extremely well (I can overtake most skiers without any problem).

Third, in EC you are riding on the edge most of the time, so your base is not much used - but no joke, I have ridden my board for several days without waxing (4-5 days) it once in between, only at the end of the last day it started gliding more slowly.

I think any universal wax from Holmenkol, Toko etc. should be fine.


Greetings, Eduard.

[pokkis]

Nils wrote: especially on the swoard's base that has very little structures since it is NOT stone sanded on purpose

What is reason for this? I run normally all my carving boards with stone for better glide.

[Hans]

Thanks, Eduard

First, 500 g of wax hold for quite some time even if you use a lot of it. You will see, in the beginning you will need a lot of wax to wax your base thouroughly, but with some exercise you will see how surprisingly little wax one needs to re-wax the base completely. A few drips every few centimeters are more than enough. Excessive wax on the base only means much more scraping after ironing

After how many times waxing do you clean the wax of your board with a cleaner, or must you do this cleaningthing every time before every waxtreatment?

Just one more question, do you use a special iron or a domestic iron?

Greetings, Hans

[audacium]

Hmmm, frankly, I do not have a scientific answer to this and opinions seem to differ on this question. That is:

I for myself clean my base before evey waxing, but maybe this is too much. I simply want to be sure that apart from wax rests there is no grease or whatsoever on the base left before I apply the wax and burn anything "malicious" even deeper into the base.
But I know people who think that it is not necessary to clean the base so often, and I even know people who do not clean their base at all before waxing but still claim to have no problems with their base. So maybe all this cleaning is a marketing ploy of the cleaner companies ...?

But it does no harm to the base, I strongly suppose. Thus, as it does not take too much time either, I go quickly with a soft rag and cleaner over the base, rub it thouroughly and check whether it looks clean and has a "consistent" look all over (no grease stains, wax rests etc.) Only then I go on with waxing.

You know, it is all about love and devotion for my Swoard it has to be caressed to carve well...

But I would be happy to here the opinion of someone else on this!! Do I exaggerate with my cleaning...?


Best, Eduard.

[kjl]

I apply cleaner on my base before every wax. I notice I get a lot of dirt each time I wax (every 2 riding days).

I used to spray the cleaner on the board, wait a few minutes, and then rub it off with a paper towel. I think maybe this way doesn't really pull that much dirt out. Now I spray the cleaner on the board, spread it around lightly so that all of the board is wet, wait for a few minutes, and then I take a wax scraper and scrape the board, just like scraping wax off, and it squeezes out a ton of dirt, each time. Very gross. I don't know if having all that stuff in your board when you wax is very bad or not, but it looks really dirty and probably isn't good to have in there. Also, base cleaner is cheap...

[rilliet]

Hi Pokkis,

Nils wrote: especially on the swoard's base that has very little structures since it is NOT stone sanded on purpose

What is reason for this? I run normally all my carving boards with stone for better glide.

This is a characteristic of the P-TEX 4000 ELEKTRA.

I have personnally experienced 4 kinds of base materials:
P-TEX 1000, P-TEX 2000, P-TEX 2000 ELEKTRA, P-TEX 4000 ELEKTRA.

P-TEX 1000: this is the common one, used in most of the boards. It glides very well on cold snow, but is bad on warm snow (spring and summer snowboarding). It needs to be very often waxed to work correctly.

P-TEX 2000: the contrary of the P-TEX 1000. Bad gliding on cold snow, but excellent when it's warm. Need less waxing maintenance.

P-TEX 2000 ELEKTRA: better gliding than P-TEX 1000 and P-TEX 2000 in any snow condition. Needs few waxing maintenance.

P-TEX 4000 ELEKTRA: the best gliding I have ever tried. I wax it about once a month (let's say every ten days of snowboarding). Bad gliding with coarse grinding. It nearly doesn't slide in a direction that is perpendicular to the structure. That's why it should be very fine. Stone finish is just marketing and a non-sense with this kind of base.

Note that the waxing recommendations of the wax manufacturers (kind of wax with a given temperature) are matching the P-TEX 1000 only.

Jacques

[harald]

Personally, I am not into the different qualities of bases and brands of wax. As a Norwegian, however, I am loyal to Swix wax. I also think that the normal wax is good enough for freeriders and freecarvers. As it is mostly only the edges of the sole that is worn, those should be waxed more often than the whole sole. How often depends on snow conditions. In my local area there is normally artificial snow and very icy which is rough to the sole so the edges of the sole turn greyish after each session. Therefore, I wax it each time to preserve the sole. It is also the common experience that it is more important to wax the sole often than hit the wax of today's conditions perfectly. How often you should remove the wax a cleaner also depends on the snow. When the snow is dry, it should not be necessary, but when the snow is wet in the spring and summer with a lot of dirt in it, it should be done after each session.
A normal iron with possibilities of adjusting the temperature can be used. My problem is to wax the sole under the bindings and inserts as they cause the wax not to melt properly. Any others with that problem and a good suggestion of of to fix it?