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| Tech Tip # 17 |
January 28, 2002 |
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Skis will never glide well nor reach their full potential until hard waxes have penetrated into the base. By hard we mean the more plastic synthetic waxes designed for cold and abrasive snow. The classic example of such a hard wax is Start Green (which is available again at Sierra Nordic), although most wax companies now make similar waxes for very cold snow such as STAR TF18 and TOKO HF Blue. In addition to these regular waxes, there are now specially designed hard synthetic “base” waxes, such as STAR MAP Black and TOKO Grey Molybdenum.
These waxes improve the glide of the ski in three ways. First, they give better “dry slide” in abrasive snow conditions, such as new very cold snow, wind blown old dry snow, snow that is transformed (has melted and refrozen), and man-made snow. Once worked into the base, these waxes slowly mix with the wax-of-the-day and fortify those waxes for abrasive conditions.
Second, these waxes tend to stay in the base and literally hold onto the wax-of-the day, making it last much longer. This also means the daily wax can be applied sparingly and quickly, just refilling the surface layers of the pores in the base. So not only does the daily wax last longer, it is quicker and easier to re-wax. No more ironing back and forth as just a quick light coat briefly melted into the base is enough to replenish the surface layer.
Third, the hard plastic waxes seem to fortify the base and help prevent minor dings and scratches.
The secret to getting these hard waxes into the pores of the base is to always start with a couple layers of a soft base impregnating wax, such as STAR Uniblock yellow (we have never found a better wax for this purpose). This soft wax is ironed onto the base until it is molten across the entire base. Then it is wiped off the base when still molten, and the hard plastic wax is ironed in while the ski is still warm. The soft wax penetrates easily, then mixes with and draws the hard wax (which penetrates poorly) into the base. By warming up the base with the soft wax, it is also easier to melt on the harder wax.
For more information on waxing in a hard glide wax, go to Tech Tip 8 on applying STAR MAP Black:
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