Rub on wax

[frenchgirl]

I went to the ski store today and when I asked questions about waxes the salesperson discouraged me from the hot wax stuff and told me to put the rub on wax. I was wondering what would happen if someone was to melt the rub on wax instead of rubbing it on?

 

[volklgirl]

Likely nothing.

Why would said person steer you away from regular wax??? Rub on wax is really only good as an added coat over top of a well waxed base. As I keep saying....your goal in waxing is to have wax in the base, not on it. Rub ons without a good base coat do nothing to protect the base of the ski and are skied off within 1-2 runs.

 

[frenchgirl]

Likely nothing.

Why would said person steer you away from regular wax???

I don't know. It is the second store where I've had that problem. Maybe because I am a woman or look clueless??? I just wanted to learn so that I could it myself. I have seen pictures on the net but I would like to have someone show me how. So far I have had the store do the hot wax/tuning but it gets expensive.

 

[Robyn]

I'm guessing it's the woman/clueless look thing. There is no way a rub on is actually better than a hot wax. It's good for touch ups between hot waxes.

 

[SueNJ]

I don't know. It is the second store where I've had that problem. Maybe because I am a woman or look clueless??? I just wanted to learn so that I could it myself. I have seen pictures on the net but I would like to have someone show me how. So far I have had the store do the hot wax/tuning but it gets expensive.

I think you may have hit on something here. I guess they figure why should they show you how to do it if it's a way for them to make money?

 

[frenchgirl]

I did not ask them to teach me but I asked what I needed. To be honest I did not see much in terms of waxing stuff. I wonder if they are out of most things.

 

[Robyn]

You may need to look to an online source for tuning gear.

 

[altagirl]

I did not ask them to teach me but I asked what I needed. To be honest I did not see much in terms of waxing stuff. I wonder if they are out of most things.

Not that I have bought wax at a ski shop lately, but I know the last time I tried, most of them don't stock much of anything in that department. (And if they do, it's the itty bitty little blocks of expensive wax....)

I'm sure it's because they make money tuning skis - if they sell tuning gear, or inexpensive bulk wax, they are making it look easy/cheap to do it yourself. If you have to special order wax and tuning supplies... it looks complicated and you have to be really committed to doing it to go that route.

 

[Shannon D]

Tognar Toolworks is great. We have purchased most of our tuning gear from them. They have some how-to documents that help the beginner learn to care for their equipment as well as more advanced techniques such as hotboxes. www.tognar.com

 

[altagirl]

It's one of those things...

The ski shop that used to hook us up with that kind of stuff - i.e. they would sell us the bulk blocks of wax they used in the shop pretty cheap... went out of business several years ago. :(

The shops that are left... only sell ridiculously expensive and teeny tiny blocks of race wax. And therefore we buy wax either online or through a friend with a shop connection who buys a large bulk order every few years.

So I get WHY shops would do what they can to keep people paying for ski tunes. And as much as I like to support the brick and mortar shops... I'm not made of money. I'll pay out the nose for quality bootfitting... but I can tune skis myself. And if shops choose not to stock basic tuning supplies, I'll buy them online.

And I also recommend Tognar.

 

[frenchgirl]

Thanks for all the info!

 

[Swamp Dog]

get thyself an iron, some wax, scrapers, and brushes. It's not rocket science! There's nothing like the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

Of course I wouldn't know. My non-skiing husband insists on doing it LOL

 

[Jilly]

Every so often I see kits on Tramdock or SAC. Keep an eye! The irons are usually separate.

 

[Swamp Dog]

Epic Ski has some good threads about tuning and maintenance, waxing tips, and where to buy supplies.

Tuning and Maintenance Forum

waxing routine

there are lots of other good threads there, but I'm watching House!

 

[volklgirl]

You may also want to check the Gearipedia section right here on our very own theSkiDiva.com site. Look for the "gear care and tuning" article.

As was stated above....tuning and/or waxing your own skis is "not rocket science".

 

[CAdreaming]

These are great info!

My DH waxes his skis twice during the ski season. - once before the first skiing of the season and once after the last skiing of the season.
We did get our skis hot waxed this season when the season started but now I know that waxing does not last for the entire season, we will wax our skis more and will get some of those bigger chunk waxes through online.