Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

For those of you who iron in swix polar or green as a base, I’m curious what iron temp has been most effective?

I think I am the exception. I cork in my Polar with a natural cork. I cork it in vigorously and make it shine. You can also feel a bit of warmth to it when I’m done.
I have a new to me waxless ski, that will get the iron soon. I need to find my wax iron, I have not used it in quite some time!
Maybe @lilcliffy or @Woodserson can help before this thread falls too far down the list

If you have an actual wax iron can't you just set it to a middle temp and forget it for all waxes? That's what I have done for years, I figure the temp of the iron varies quite a bit during the process anyway. Just gotta get the hang of moving the iron just ahead of melting so you see it solidify in a couple seconds as you pass by.

Middle might work - I’ve never used an iron before. I just want to make sure I don’t cause any smoking or excess fumes because I’ll be doing this indoors. I could go to my garage, but it’s usually (and now) well below freezing and I don’t have a good table.

If I'm ironing on a layer of Polar, I stick to the minimum temp on the iron. You don't really need much heat. Grip wax is quite a bit softer (lower melting point) than even the warmest temp glide waxes - by design the friction from a cork is enough to heat it up and spread it out.

You're not really trying to get the wax to penetrate like you would with a glide wax. You just need enough temp to smooth out the Polar into an even coat.

I’m not an expert on this stuff, but I suspect that, unless you’re a racer, the whole idea of hot waxing grip wax is a bit over the top. I have fooled around with that sort of thing, but I tend to go overboard on tech sometimes.
I’m pretty sure that wax irons are designed to hold a more even temp than a clothes iron (I have the inexpensive SWIX iron). I think the plates have more mass to keep the temp stable.
Unless you have a real quality iron that digitally displays the temp, there is no way for us to accurately tell you “what temp” to set it at.
Start low and work your way up to what works. Don’t let the ski bases get too hot.
You never want to see the wax smoke. Changes the composition, not good to breathe the fumes.
I’m not suggesting don’t do it, just that I don’t think there is much payoff.
Also, you will probably end up going through wax faster if you use an iron.

Others might think or know different.

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Not sure I think any waxing is over the top. It doesn't take much skiing for the bases to start looking dry especially right behind the kick zone where, I suspect, most of your weight is. The wax is a good protection for your bases as well as, of course, for performance. I spend a lot of dough on my skis and like to take care of them.

For waxing temps, yes you never want it to smoke. Where I said the temp of the iron varies, yes I know wax irons have a thermostat to control temp. As with any thermostat, there is a range of temps from where the element turns on and off. I wax in my garage that is usually set at 39f in the winter and when I start on a cold ski I'm certain the temperature of the metal of the iron base drops quite a bit. Doesn't matter, what I focus on is the speed of moving the iron. If you stay in one place too long irregardless of temp you can scorch the base. Waxing is all about watching the melt and adjusting the speed of the iron. With a softer wax it just takes less time.

Thanks everybody. I’m not sure I’ll iron every time, but thought I would try it on my new skis for extra protection/durability, especially because we had some abrasive snow conditions. We finally (after 3 weeks of dry) got about 4 more inches of 10 degree F fresh snow last night, with steady frigid temps forecast over the next three days, so I may try ironing first, and then after it starts to wear off, applying and corking only from heel forward when when it gets closer to 5 degrees.