Hot waxing with polar?

[lowangle al]

I use an iron to hot wax Swix Polar grip wax when I am using it as full-length- or heel-to-tip base.
(I crayon and cork Polar when I am using it as a kick wax).

I hot wax Polar for a number of reasons:
1) better wax absorption/retention.
2) better finishing/polishing
3) I actually find I waste less than when I have tried to cork the entire base.

Whether I scrape and polish Polar depends on snow conditions-
The harder, colder and drier the snow- the more I scrape and polish Polar.
Warmer than -20C I simply melt- let it cool- and then buff with cork.

More good info, thanks LC.

[Petetheswede]

I bought an iron very cheap this monday. Today i waxed six pairs of skis in no time. Sure is quicker than the cork.

[Cannatonic]

sorry, yes I do what those guys said - I will hot wax & scrape the full length of the ski. Then crayon & cork a thicker layer of the kick wax du jour onto the kick zone.

I was using masking tape to hot-wax and scrape the tips & tails with glide wax, then hot-waxing base binder into the kick zone, then crayon & corking kick wax onto the base binder. But it seems easier to hot-wax the whole ski with polar or green - then you don't have to mess around with masking tape and you don't need base binder. I think base-binder is for professional race-waxing.

[Jholmb]

How many miles/km's you can make waxing last? Lets say I go for 50km/30mil hike. Do i need to reapply wax if conditions stay same? I live above arctic circle in Finland, so we have more continental type of weather, long cold periods in mid winter and melt/freeze cycles in spring.

Thinking of buying more faster and skiable touring ski's for next winter and debating between waxable and waxless skis. I have a pair of Annum's now and i'm quite happy of good all around performance they provide.

Thank you.

[CMS]

Jholmb,

If you want faster skis don't buy waxless. I only use my waxless skis when temps get above 32* F and I don't want to use gooey waxes. Waxless skis are slow and noisy.

If you want to save wax when hot waxing crayon the wax on then iron you will use no more wax then corking it on.
Then I like to buff with a scotch bright pad.

[Jholmb]

What I try to ask is, if I wax my skis how many kilometers I can ski before base goes dry. Of course theres many variables, but I talked with my friend and he informed that you can put many layers of wax before the trip so no need to add glide during the trip. Something like that .

[lowangle al]

It depends on conditions, in soft fresh snow you may get 50K out of your wax. I don't ski that far but my kick wax will sometimes last for multiple outings. I put my glide wax on pretty thin and it seems to wear out sooner, but I haven't hot waxed mine in which they say helps, and put it on thicker. The good news is that if you have to reapply on the trail it only takes from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on if it's the kick wax, glide wax or both.

I would say that a waxable ski will be a lot faster even if you need to stop and reapply wax a few times.